Lake

“Time marches on and sooner or later you realize it is marching across your face.”

Lake is a game about a specific time in some people’s lives, usually when they are in their thirties or forties and suddenly realize that everything has passed in the blink of an eye. It was just yesterday that they were going to school, worried about grades and homework, and now they’re adults with bills and responsibilities. Their childhood friends are now married and with kids, living in another town. They were so busy working, studying, producing, and meeting deadlines that when they finally stop to take a breath, they realize that more than a decade has gone by. It’s a game about nostalgia and regret, one in which the protagonist reflects on her own life and the choices she made. Unfortunately, Lake seems afraid to delve deep into these subjects, reaching the credits before it can fully develop its characters and themes.

We play as Meredith Weiss, a middle-aged white woman who returns to her hometown of Providence Oaks in Oregon. Despite being on a 15-day vacation, she takes up her father’s job – he’s on vacation as well, drinking margaritas – as a postman. The game is structured around days: in each one, she drives a white truck around the small lakeside town, delivering mail and interacting with some of the residents.

The first thing the game gets right is that it makes this task the most soothing one possible. Delivering the mail has no time limit, no complexities, no way of failing, no penalties whatsoever. We just drive the truck to the destination of our choosing – the houses are all marked on the minimap – while listening to the warm music playing on the radio and enjoying the bright and vibrant colors of the environment. We can’t run over people or damage the vehicle, and even if we bump into a police car nothing happens. Lake is interested in building a stress-free environment, and so removes any element that could pose a problem to the player.

Sometimes Meredith will make comments on the mail she’s delivering, wondering if some letters are party invitations – as they were hand-written in the same way – or realizing she may be just delivering bills to people. There are even some intriguing moments, such as when she has to deliver what is clearly a badly-wrapped chainsaw to an abandoned shack in the middle of the woods.

Sometimes, when Meredith is going to deliver a letter or package, a scene plays out where she interacts with a town resident. During her shift, Meredith reencounters childhood friends and meets new faces, such as the young couple who lives in an RV by the lake – she’s forthcoming, he’s paranoid – or the enthusiastic girl who works as the town’s mechanic. These scenes make the bulk of Lake’s story moments, being the time where these characters are mostly introduced and developed – sometimes, they invite the protagonist to meet them after work, which may lead to some additional cutscenes at the end of the day, if the player agrees to go.

Providence Oaks is supposed to feel peaceful and relaxing, an idyllic place, but most of its people speak of it as if it were a prison. When they recall the time Meredith left when she was young, they often use the word “escape” and a tone of respect. Meredith meets a lot of characters who want to leave, seeing no future for them in the town. One of them is the owner of the local video store who is obviously failing to make a profit selling and renting movies in a small country town.

At the heart of Lake’s story is a juxtaposition between country and city life. Meredith’s job is the element that represents the city and it’s painted as a tiresome and abusive one: her boss constantly calls her during her stay in Providence Oaks, making jokes that imply that the concept of a paid vacation is absurd while sending her more than a hundred pages of material for her to read and revise during her time off. City life is depicted as draining and busy, but it’s where the money lies: there’s a promise that pleasing her boss and doing a good job may make Meredith rich.

Life in Providence Oaks, on the other hand, is tranquil almost to the point of dullness. Everything quickly falls into a routine there, which is mirrored by the game’s structure, with each day playing out the same: Meredith drives to almost the same houses – there are not many in town – and interacts with the same people. Rinse and repeat for fifteen days.

Shops are also empty and there are few jobs and career opportunities, which means Providence Oaks is a town that scares away the young, who are given no reason to see a financial future for themselves there. And yet, it’s still a peaceful and soothing place to be. In other words, Providence Oaks may be a perfect place to go visit during your vacation – just like Meredith is doing – but not one to settle in afterward.

The big choice at the end of the game – does Meredith stay or go – is a natural consequence of how the player views Providence Oaks. On the one side, there’s her job pushing the player to favor the more relaxed country life, especially after each time her boss – who calls her almost every day – masks the abusive nature of his constant requests and remarks with a playful tone. On the other side, there are the various people she meets that want to leave the town: Providence Oaks may offer a simple and relaxing life, but it may also end up being a lonely one.

There are two characters Meredith can start a romance with and each of them favors a different choice: one stays in town, while the other leaves with or without Meredith. This means they also play a part in the final choice, maybe leaving the protagonist with the lifestyle she wants, but heartbroken in the process.

Meredith is going through a period in life where she’s prone to reflect on the choices she has made. When she comes across Kay, a dear friend from school, she is taken aback by how the energic girl she knew is now a fully grown woman, having to take care of a couple of kids while working in a restaurant. Their interaction is fueled by nostalgia and regret as they remember the time they spent together as kids fondly but lament how being afar meant they missed crucial moments in each other’s life. A long time ago, they thought their friendship would last forever, but when Meredith went away, the truth is that they didn’t even remain in touch: they were not angry with each other, it was just life getting in the way and, when they realized, many years had already passed by.

As Meredith drives around town, she reminisces about the past. The player can do a bit of exploring while delivering the mail to reach a couple of places – a church and a tower – where Meredith reveals some of her memories, if only too briefly. The game would have benefited from doubling down on this aspect, making these memories more significant while also allowing more places on the map to explore on the player’s own pace.

Some elements in Lake are too superficial. Characters are mostly flat ones, defined by one general characteristic. There’s the young man at the motel who is too busy playing computer games to pay attention to others and learn some manners. There’s the reclusive writer who is arrogant to others. There’s the old friendly cat lady who really likes her cats. Each interaction with them revolves around these traits.

Some characters do stand out, however. Richard is a man who lives near the woods and is trying to stop companies from building flats in the area. Because of the game’s colorful look, we grow attached to these trees – they are part of the town’s charm, the reason why it’s so beautiful and relaxing to drive around. The game pushes us to side with the character and assist him on his quest. But what makes Richard more interesting than his neighbors is the hints of a past trauma regarding a relationship, which makes him act stiff and awkward when near Meredith. It’s a bit of mystery giving more shades to a character.

It’s a pity, then, that we have to spend most of the time with the blander residents of Providence Oaks. The narrative becomes shallow, as if it were afraid of delving deep into these characters and end up shifting the focus away from the relaxing – but purposefully dull – act of driving around town. Even the ongoing conflict regarding another postman, Frank, ends on an anticlimactic note.

Finally, the sense of repetition that permeates the game is also exacerbated by the music, as the only radio station on the truck plays just ten or so songs – even if some of them are thematically relevant, such as Goodbye Memory Lane.

Lake provides a relaxing experience while tackling some interesting themes, if only it had explored more of them instead of focusing on the repetitive task of driving around town delivering mail.

August 23, 2022.