The best way to describe Lake is that it's a game for people that don't really play games. The kind of people that play Candy Crush and spend their time watching rom-coms and the like. I say this, because as an actual "game", Lake falls VERY short. The lack of a compelling narrative doesn't help, either.
The gameplay is fine, but the gameplay loop is boring. The idea of driving around and delivering packages or mail isn't all that bad of a concept. The problem is the lack of variety. You'll be doing deliveries the same way everytime, with absolutely no challenge or obstacles to overcome. It's repetitive. Now, I'm not expecting action-packed set pieces, but I'm expecting some sort of constraint or at least some variety in the mission design. The game just isn't compelling to play.
The story, or lack thereof is another aspect of the game that just feels like it doesn't exist. The idea of a slice-of-life adventure game isn't a bad idea. In fact, a few graphic adventure games actually do some interesting things with the concept. But Lake goes nowhere with its story. You meet a diverse cast of uninteresting characters, with no compelling plot points to keep you invested. Characters and dialogue are really only here for the sake of it - even then, some of the writing isn't all that great.
Lastly, the presentation. The art direction is good, the environments are fairly well designed and the character models work for the aesthetic and tone. But that's all there is to the presentation, really. The technical performance (on PS5) is inconsistent and the rendering results in a lot of pop-in. The soundtrack is filled with repetitive singer-songwriter tunes that aren't bad, but the songs here lack variety. Also, some of the voice performances in this game either feel too animated or too robotic to be anything of positive note.
Lake is a gateway game. A game for people who being introduced to the world of interactive entertainment. There are many better graphic adventure games out there that are much more worth your time. I couldn't recommend Lake to the most hardcore of adventure game fans. There's just nothing here. Again, the gameplay is fine for the first hour and the art direction is good, but the game lacks variety and narrative intrigue.
