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Death Stranding may not yet be considered the instigator of a new kind, but serious dissemination simulators continue. Lake, the Gamious developer, is a much better attempt to replicate career path. There are usual letters and parcels to deliver, and you interact with real humans instead of Geoff Keighley’s holograms. It is a truly relaxing experience, but the game has trouble doing a lot more with its premise.

This is because its casual game loop consisting of delivering the mail the day and meet friends at night is a little too stretched. You will pass hours of work to drive around Providence Oaks as Meredith Weiss, drawing a course through the city to rationalize your stops. You will receive a list of houses to deliver envelopes and packages, then you can take as much time as you want to go there. Launch the radio up to 11 and forget your worries; It’s an excellent title to relax.

Apart from work, you can choose to find friends, revive old flames or forge new relationships. A very basic dialogue system drives history, allowing you to choose with whom Meredith interacts. Secondary quests can train from these meetings, giving you something else to think during your service.

However, cracks begin to appear as you play. There is not enough meat on the bones so that the experience remains engaging during a full game, the loop starting to run out may be a third of the way. Not enough new elements are introduced, which makes the lake too shallow from beginning to end.

Too many technical defects then hinder your digital retirement. Constant stamaies and persistent texture slightly blur the screen, and the problems as if it were raining inside are just a little disappointing. We then met a bug that forced us to recharge our backup a few times.

Yet Lake is the perfect palette cleaner after a heavier title. It is refreshing for not having to worry about an end of the world or an uncontrollable God determined to destroy. However, it is also this simplistic nature that holds it from a first class stamp.

• Relaxing to play short bursts
• Pleasant characters with whom interact

• Just cool enough, really

• The gameplay loop is too basic

• Some bugs and problems

Not bad 6/10

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Revision copy provided by Whitethorn Games