June 17th 2025.
Let's take a closer look at MindsEye, the highly anticipated game from the producer of GTA 5. Despite its promising origins, MindsEye has been receiving a lot of negative attention lately, and for good reason. In fact, it's been deemed as one of the most poorly made video games of all time, even worse than its already tarnished reputation suggests.
In today's gaming landscape, being compared to the successful Cyberpunk 2077 is usually seen as a positive thing. However, in the case of MindsEye, this comparison is far from desirable. Both games share a similar fate, with Sony even offering full refunds to owners due to the overwhelming amount of technical issues. But while Cyberpunk's issues were mainly technical in nature, MindsEye's problems run much deeper.
The game has a complicated history, which we won't dive into too much here. However, it's worth mentioning that it was originally intended to be a part of the highly anticipated Everywhere game creation tool. This tool was being marketed as an adult version of Roblox, but due to unforeseen circumstances, MindsEye was released first.
The development of Everywhere has been a rocky road, with numerous delays and sky-high budgets. Many investors were drawn to the project due to the involvement of Leslie Benzies, the mastermind behind the Grand Theft Auto series. However, things took a turn for the worse and Benzies left Rockstar Games in 2016 under less than favorable circumstances.
One of the main issues with MindsEye is that it was clearly released before it was ready. Perhaps there was a financial deadline that had to be met, but regardless, the timing couldn't have been worse. It was released in the midst of the highly anticipated Switch 2 launch and Summer Game Fest week. This led to a delayed release of this review, as press copies were not sent out ahead of time. And unfortunately, we can confirm that the game's failures have not been exaggerated.
MindsEye is essentially a third-person shooter set in an open-world city, similar to GTA. However, the game itself is entirely linear, which greatly restricts the player's freedom. The story follows an amnesiac former soldier who uncovers a planet-threatening conspiracy, but the execution falls short and feels like a cheap sci-fi knockoff.
Despite touching upon themes of unchecked military and police powers and the reliance on artificial intelligence, the story fails to fully explore these ideas. This is a missed opportunity, considering the timely relevance of these topics. The characters, including the protagonist, are underdeveloped, which is surprising given Benzies' background in creating memorable characters in the GTA series.
The game's driving mechanics are reminiscent of the original Driver game from 1999, and not in a good way. The driving is clunky and lacks any sense of weight, making it an unpleasant experience. The cover-based combat is also hindered by broken AI and an overall lack of polish. Enemies often fire in the wrong direction, and their bullets move so slowly that you can simply walk between them.
On the PlayStation 5, the game is capped at 30fps but often struggles to maintain even that. This results in a choppy and stuttering gameplay experience, which is a shame considering the impressive graphics when they do work correctly. There's also a strange blurriness to the visuals, which is distracting and unappealing.
Some of the game's issues can be attributed to its unfinished state, but there are design choices that are simply baffling. For example, there is no melee combat or any kind of dodge or roll mechanic. This, combined with the poor AI and performance problems, make the game feel outdated and unpolished.
The missions in MindsEye are repetitive and uninspired, with a heavy focus on driving to different locations. This can become tedious, as some missions require you to simply trigger a cinematic by driving to a specific spot. There are a few variations, such as a stealth sequence and some drone missions, but these only serve to make the overall experience even worse.
The game also includes some missions that were meant to showcase the Everywhere concept, where players could design their own missions. However, this feature is not available on the console version, and the included examples are lackluster and uninteresting.
MindsEye's short length of around 10 hours can be attributed to its original plan as episodic content. However, the game's lack of replay value and high asking price make it a hard sell. It's unlikely that the story will be continued, which is disappointing considering the cliffhanger ending.
In the midst of a busy few weeks in gaming, MindsEye manages to stand out as one of the worst releases of the year. It's not even enjoyable in a "so bad it's good" kind of way, as it's simply insulting to the player's intelligence and time.
In summary, MindsEye is a terrible game that fails to deliver on its promising premise. It's clear that the game was released before it was finished, and the end result is a broken and outdated experience that is not worth anyone's time or money. Let this be a lesson to always wait for reviews before purchasing a game, no matter how highly anticipated it may be.
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