MindsEye Reviews
The reality of things here is that MindsEye was simply not ready to be released. It needed more time in the oven. In fact, I’d even go as far to say that if it had more time in the oven, it wouldn’t be as critically panned. Do I think it would’ve been good at all? Not necessarily. There are many core issues MindsEye suffers from that are key to it not hitting its full potential. MindsEye is a game that exists, a game that didn’t deserve the fate it received, but it is what it ended up being.
MindsEye carries an immense weight of expectations, particularly given the involvement of Leslie Benzies, one of the chief architects behind GTA’s monumental success. Yet, Build a Rocket Boy has ultimately failed to bear that burden. The problems extend well beyond technical glitches and bugs—although these are serious in their own right—to reveal a fundamentally disjointed vision, where each element of the game feels isolated from the others. A compelling narrative and engaging characters cannot compensate for an experience fractured by poorly designed minigames, disconnected puzzles, frustrating quick-time events, and tedious, repetitive sequences. The end result is a product steeped in a strange nostalgia for outdated mechanics, clinging to them without meaningful updates or engaging reinvention. The gameplay is simplistic, the world lacks interactivity, and the remarkable potential of Unreal Engine 5 is largely squandered, if not outright neglected. There are some bright spots — particularly in the writing, cutscenes, and certain driving segments — but these are far too few to redeem a game that falters precisely where it should have shined.
MindsEye does not seek to compete with the giants of futuristic RPGs or reinvent cyberpunk, but it finds its place thanks to straightforward gameplay, a well-written story, and a fair length.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
MindsEye is a bafflingly bad game made worse by asking fans to simultaneously fund and make their development hell opus, Everywhere.
MindsEye isn't a total failure—it just feels like a half-finished product rushed to market under the weight of expectation and hype. If you're curious, it's best to wait for a deep sale or for Build a Rocket Boy to deliver substantial patches.
As it stands, MindsEye is a cautionary tale with star power behind the scenes that cannot carry a game that lacks polish, balance, or soul. For a game trying to explore the intersection of consciousness and technology, it's ironic that MindsEye itself feels so utterly lifeless. A mind-bending vision is lost in translation, where high-concept dreams crash into low-effort design.
Mindseye wants to be a cyberpunk thriller. It wants to challenge players with ideas about AI, control, and identity. But instead of exploring those themes with depth and care, it trades them for predictable set pieces, forgettable characters, and unremarkable gameplay. There’s a great game buried somewhere deep in Mindseye’s concept. But what shipped feels like a mid-generation Xbox 360 game, not a modern narrative-driven experience. It’s not offensive or broken beyond repair—it’s just unambitious, uninspired, and instantly forgettable.
MindsEye is the worst kind of failure, a soporific one.
MindsEye is the embodiment of wasted potential—a game burdened by an identity crisis, plagued by poor launch performance, and set in a world that promises depth but delivers nothing, leaving even the most hopeful players disheartened, as no amount of patches can fix its shallow missions, monotonous gameplay, linear design, and uninspired story.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
While not the worst, MindsEye is far from being a satisfactory game. Its technical glitches and performance issues (though not severe in my case) add to its list of flaws. Its saving grace, if any, is the impressive visuals. However, these cannot make up for its shallow world, dull combat, and host of other faults. If you’re seeking quality in a game, MindsEye isn’t for you.
MindsEye had huge ambitions and a bold vision. Instead, we received a game that lacked cohesion, polish, and suffered from scattered design and limited gameplay. Despite the visual brilliance of the cinematic scenes, they don't conceal shaky technical performance and a linear style that lacks content. Ultimately, MindsEye is an incomplete experimental experience that may appeal to some fans of interactive storytelling, but will leave most disappointed.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
For those hoping several patches could make MindsEye into a possibly well-executed game, there’s no salvaging the mess left behind in Redrock.
I have no idea what happened for MindsEye to come out at such a pitiful state, but even if it worked as intended, it would have been, at best, a truly mediocre cover shooter with a subpar “what if big techs were bad” story (spoiler alert: they also are in real life). But when you add in the horrendous framerate, poor optimization, braindead enemy AI, and countless bugs, then there’s no way to recommend this trainwreck, even to those looking for an ironic playthrough of a crappy game.
"Despite a strong story and generally impressive performances, MindsEye is marred by baffling design choices, missing quality of life features, and a slew of technical troubles."
In its current state MindsEye certainly isn’t anything special, but if you are willing to take a risk on something that has a solid foundation, oodles of potential but might just end up leave you a little dissatisfied with the final result, MindsEye is worth a try – but maybe wait until its performance is ironed out.
Mindseye is a game that falters on nearly every level. It’s story is an interesting enough concept, but it seems to be in such a rush to get to the finish line that any semblance of character development or emotional attachment is completely brushed over without a thought. Pair the average story with the fact that the game runs awful on even the beefiest of rigs, has the most barebones gameplay loop in recent memory, and clocks in at a meager ten hours to complete and you have what amounts to a half-baked experience that should be avoided at all costs.
Mindseye sets up a big, cinematic experience with flashy cutscenes and a futuristic world, but it doesn’t come together. The action gets repetitive fast, the world feels empty, and technical issues are hard to ignore. There are moments that show potential, especially in the visuals and voice work. But right now, it’s not something you’ll want to stick with for long.
Outside of a very few semi-positive points I think MindsEye just fucking sucks. It's buggy, it's boring, the story is bad, the gameplay is bad, and it runs like garbage. Don't play it. Don't support a studio that is now having their team work "around the clock" to fix a myriad of issues that should have never made it to release. Don't buy it now nor even when it inevitably gets a deep discount.
MindsEye fails with buggy missions, disastrous frame rates and some of the worst AI we’ve seen in modern gaming. You’ll find the odd spark here and there that’s enjoyable, but you shouldn’t have to trudge through layers of cookie-cutter content to be entertained.
Mindseye was supposed to be an ambitious entry from IO Interactive. What was delivered is a bug-filled, unoptimized, and less-than-desirable mess instead. Almost to no one’s surprise, MindsEye needed a lot more time to polish its core aspects and mechanics.