izigame.me

MindsEye: Our Expectations Were Low From You But Holy Fuck!
Sometimes, the fall of a certain thing creates its own ecosystem. The death of trees sustains fungi, and termites for decades while the body of a whale sustains deep-sea organisms. Shipwrecks become artificial reefs, hosting corals and marine life. Carcasses spawn carrion ecosystems, attracting scavengers. In case you're still wondering what this is all about:
People love controversy alright, but it wasn't uncalled for. A game's failure, especially one surrounded by substantial money creates its own ecosystem, making the flop the most interesting, most talked-about thing. Life born from death.
Ah, back to the pixelation and hey, its best buddies, the 22 framerates! Here’s where this game will stand in a few years:
a) Overanalyzed by video essays,
b) Sought by trophy hunters in the $5 bargain bin,
c) If delisted (given its semi-niche status), it becomes the next Ride to Hell.
And as reductive as it sounds, I always say, "A game’s direction is everything." Inside me, two wolves battle: the overanalyzer, desperate to understand what went so catastrophically wrong, and the other one screaming, "To hell with it".
Can’t ignore that it was directed by Leslie Benzies. The echo chambers suggested he had something going on. But if anything, MindsEye feels like the direct result of poor leadership and decision-making. Whatever happened behind the scenes, this game had no business being released. Now, where we at? I, for one, if happened to see another Leslie game, I'd immediately go ''Lol, so what?''. As far as the studio concerned debuting with such a game sealed a fate worse than of Unknown9's. I still have some sort of sympathy given the fact people just work on the project and they could be as well threated with their jobs but there's nothing to salvage here, even if I tried to.
It’s hilarious how it was immediately compared to GTA just because of its director. GTA has more charisma, character, and capability in its pinky finger than MindsEye has in its entire fucking being. This game can’t even come close to the Saints Row reboot, and proving the naysayers right —that it would be worse off— remarkable.
This game wasn’t meant to be explored. Yes, there’s a general lack of interest in crafting dense urban environments, probably because it’s a massive effort. But arcade corridor shooters are rare too. MindsEye had no business going semi-open-world; it should’ve been a tight, linear experience akin to Anarchy Reigns, Army of Two, Homefront, or even Marlow Briggs. Instead, it’s much worse and at least 3–4 hours longer. There used to be "mid" but fun games that wrapped up in 3–5 hours. MindsEye isn’t even that.
MindsEye is barely experimental. Everyone knew it looked bad, and it’s no surprise the studio lacked confidence, fueling all the press and sponsored stream controversies. What truly annoys me is the fact I bought the game because of strong regional pricing, and the studio gave a free deluxe upgrade, something you rarely see. After such genorosity, seeing what it turned into, I’ve lost all interest in upcoming content, rendering the free bonuses worthless. I think players should be eligible for refunds on Steam as well, like PSN’s handling of the matters, a first after CP77.
There were skeptics, and I get it. I always try to judge things for myself. I finished this game in one sitting, clocking roughly 10 hours. I constantly checked a YouTube walkthrough to gauge my progress, and every time I realized it wasn’t ending, I wanted to scream! It was pure agony. I don’t want this game near me ever again.
This turned into more of an immature rant than a review, I know but these are my unfiltered, raw emotions. I hate this game for what it is. I can’t simply stand it.
MindsEye's failures do include and not limited to: Pixelazation, broken DoF, bad lightning, terrible framerates, a shallow gunplay that lacks impact, no melee, brainfucked AI, 2010's old fashioned ''One Man Army'' types of missions which lack any substantial thought, bad music (I don't remember anything from the BGM other than it was an annoying loop sounding like it was an AI experiment), bad puzzles, side objectives not meaning any shit and so on.
The story starts off ok and goes too convoluted for the scale of the game. Awful ending, awful characters—it’s one of those scenarios where you recruit someone, see her for like 5–10 minutes on screen, she disappears, and your "relationship" progresses over comms (all while you drive through a goddamn desert and probably aren’t even listening). Then suddenly, she becomes the most important thing ever to you, and everyone threatens you over her.
There’s a tower-defense-type side objective where I got a gold medal without any effort, and I don’t even know what that was about. I think these are supposed to be tutorials, like, "Oh, see? You can build this too!" I don’t give a single fuck about your "EVERYWHERE", dude.
Free roam was locked behind main story completion, and by the time I finished the game, I’d lost all interest. Everything acts like a prop in this game. So then, one must ask: Why go through all this trouble to create an open world? You don’t even have a goddamn map. Just a minimap with a marker, a world devoid of anything interactable, and a GPS routing that always fucks up.
The driving isn’t half bad and is probably the best thing the game has to offer—but you can’t even drive any car you want. It isn't sandbox fine, but you’re stuck with Jacob’s car unless the game lets you switch in certain missions. Jacob loves his company car too fucking much!
The traffic is outright disastrous. Apparently, nobody in Redrock knows how to fucking drive: One person jams the entire traffic flow. Crossroads get clogged even when the route is clear and the light is green. Cars line up in gridlock despite there being a wide-open lane.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3498403736
You have a drone. That little thing at least makes the game slightly less unbearable even if not exciting. Your guns might as well be worse than airsoft props — no recoil, no bullet drop. Just stay behind cover and occasionally shoot randomly into the air. I promise the bullets will find their way. I barely died once or twice until the final third of the game, where it suddenly went full bullshit. At some point you raid a ziggurat, do Tomb Raider-esque puzzles. All the things GTA was notably famous for.
The game looks blurry and as oily as a fucking Gustav Klimt painting once you step outside the cutscenes. I'll say night time is better, but the DoF is too messy, and despite what some might claim, the draw distance is not that good. We see all that distance, foliage at the state of Unreal, and then go back to play this. What are we doing here? Ngl, the UI & HUD are very clean.
I hardly got 60 fps with DLSS Quality and frame generation on (4K with a 5080). There were moments when the frame rate completely cracked and I was getting 15-25. Yes, with FRAME GENERATION. Without it, I was barely seeing 30 fps with DLAA or TSR without much going on the screen.
You can kill a few at your company's factory - you can get away with that. But killed too many? No no no, we can't allow that. Then enters a quote from Robin Hood (which later on I learn is an in-game moniker). That said, you can kill anyone in the open world without consequences because there are no cops to chase you off, lmfao. And seriously, what are those quotes all about? Why gimmick COD in the worst way possible?
I could do this all day if Steam allowed me. Believe me I have a strong disgust going on for this clusterfuck of a dung pie. MindsEye is one of those games I've played. One of the shittiest at it. To conclude here's an inspirational quote from Jacob Diaz:
''Everyone's playing someone.''
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Here's the damn curator. Out of characters. Ciao.

Intro

MindsEye is a disaster, plain and simple. While there are some good elements here, the game is a broken, unoptimized, and unfinished mess you should NOT support. Let's start off with the positives before going into the long list of negatives…
EDIT: Here is a video of what I encountered in only 3.6 hours of gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yr8ipAivwU

Pros

-The career is really good. Not only are the cinematics great, but the characters, voice acting, and general story are very interesting. There is a lot of lore and depth here that you can get immersed into.
-Graphically, the game does look good. Texture quality, lighting, environment detail, car models, gun models, etc are all high quality.
-The world looks amazing. Despite some floating objects, there is a lot of detail, and the general atmosphere is top tier. Seeing the drones flying around, robots walking, and the grounded futuristic look really sells the near future setting of the game.
-Vehicle wise, I like many of their designs as they fit in perfectly with the world. Also, the driving physics are surprisingly good. Their handling is pretty responsive and never really understeer. The vehicles feel rather heavy, and there is really good suspension physics when turning and going offroad.
-Shooting feels fine. I saw some people say it doesn’t feel impactful, but I don’t agree. Guns pack a decent punch, and some have pretty nasty recoil. Enemies aren’t bulletspongy as many will die from a headshot kill. Also, the ragdolls are pretty funny with they fling back when they die.
That's really all the positive things I can say as the rest is just not good…

Cons

-The game is so glitchy and unpolished it's insane. I’ve had issues with object / texture pop in, floating objects, animations that don’t transition smoothly from one to another, dialog getting cut off, invisible items, cars emitting sparks on dirt, so much more.
-The optimization is poor. I am running the game at 4K, medium quality preset, and AMD FSR 3 on balanced mode. Even with these settings, I’m getting insane stutters / freezes and huge framerate drops. With how high end my PC is, it's unacceptable how horrendously this game runs. Here are my PC specs:
OS: Windows 11 Pro 64Bit
Storage: 2 TB Samsung 980 Pro SSD
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
GPU: GIGABYTE Gaming Radeon RX 9070 XT OC
Motherboard: GIGABYTE X870 AORUS Elite WiFi7
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5-5600 CL36
-The depth of field effect sucks. It applies way too close, so the game has a blurry look over everything that isn’t like 10 feet in front of you. It also has weird artifacting in the cutscenes, which is super distracting. EDIT: Thankfully, you can turn it off now.
-No melee or explosives whatsoever. This means the main combat is just shooting, using hacked robots, and your drone abilities. THAT'S IT!
-The AI is brain dead. This goes for the enemies you fight, and the NPCs who walk / drive around. Enemies just don’t know where you are or just randomly shoot into walls. The NPCs driving around crash into stuff and each other.
-Side missions are hamfisted in the story with portals that just break the immersion. You don’t have to do them, but having those in the world itself would have felt much better.
-No police system, which is explained by a bullshit lore reason where the company you work for makes it so the police robots don’t go after you. Just brilliant!
-The robot enemies are some of the most unintimidating enemies ever in a video game.
-Freeroam mode is locked until you get further in the story.
-The races you can do are only time trials as you never race against any AI opponents.
-Can’t steal cars. It has to be the vehicles that the mission provides.
-Going slightly off course in some missions will completely fail them. There are also sections with hidden time limits, so you can fail having no idea why it happened.

Final Thoughts

Unless you buy MindsEye wanting to experience how bad it is (like myself), then just avoid this game. The positive aspects just can not make up for the game’s poor quality considering this is a $60, non-early access title. Its a fucking joke!

60 Euros for a Pile of Sh*t

I usually try to be fair in my reviews – even when a game isn’t that great. But Steam only gives you “thumbs up” or “thumbs down,” and that doesn’t leave much nuance. Still, this isn’t about small flaws. This is a full-priced game at €60, with a Deluxe Edition for €80, and what we got feels like a rushed, broken mess. No review copies, no early access for press – that alone usually smells fishy. But this? This reeks.
I’m the kind of gamer who likes to go in blind. I avoid trailers, don’t follow hype, maybe glance at a few screenshots. That approach has served me well – even with games like Cyberpunk 2077, which disappointed many. I had no expectations, so I enjoyed it for what it was.
What I can’t stand, though, is when games are clearly unfinished and shoved out the door just to cash in. I’m not talking about unmet promises – I’m talking about raw, broken products that clearly needed another year in development.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3496751872
Let’s Start With What Works
Before I go full nuclear:
The story is actually good. I’m invested, I’m enjoying parts of it – and that’s exactly why I’m so angry. There’s potential here.
I like the music, and the visuals in cutscenes are solid. Facial animations are fine. I don’t need hyperrealism, but it’s nice to look at. The game also runs decently well, even with my older hardware – thanks to AMD FSR, I can play on epic settings without issues.
And Now for the Garbage
The voice acting sounds like it was recorded during lunch breaks. No emotion, no energy.
The NPCs are absolutely braindead – pedestrians, enemies, drivers, all of them. Cars constantly crash into each other, and nothing happens. No panic, no one gets out, no police, no reaction. You can ram into traffic, and the worst you’ll see is some generic damage modeling – that’s it.
In games like GTA or Cyberpunk, there’s at least some consequence or chaos. Here? Nothing.
There are graphical glitches everywhere, textures flicker, distant environments look blurry and cheap. When you walk over dead enemies, their bodies twitch like ragdoll puppets – it’d be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.
Driving feels terrible, especially with mouse and keyboard – clearly designed for controllers.
The enemy AI doesn’t exist.
The world feels empty, even though people are technically walking around.
The game keeps pushing you from one cutscene to the next – normally I love linear, cinematic games. But here it feels like they’re rushing players past the 2-hour refund window. Clever tactic – scummy execution.
Final Verdict
What an absolute joke.
An unfinished mess, shoved out way too early. Instead of polishing the game, they throw money at streamers to fake enthusiasm, while completely skipping the press – probably afraid of the inevitable backlash.
Because even though the story had me hooked, the rest of this game is a flaming dumpster fire on my SSD.
This could’ve been something great – if they had just given it another year.
Instead, they served us a half-baked product, counted on hype and confusion, and flushed quality control down the toilet.
Screw this system that keeps dumping broken games onto our hard drives just to make a quick buck.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3496751833
Deutsch
Ich bin meistens fair in meinen Reviews – auch bei Spielen, die mir nicht gefallen. Dass Steam nur „Daumen hoch“ oder „Daumen runter“ erlaubt, hilft da wenig. Aber hier geht’s nicht um Kleinigkeiten, sondern um einen Vollpreistitel für 60 Euro (80 Euro für die Deluxe Edition), der sich anfühlt wie ein unfertiger Rohbau. Keine Testmuster im Vorfeld, keine Reviews – das hat oft schon einen miesen Beigeschmack. Hier riecht es regelrecht nach Abzocke.
Ich bin jemand, der sich gerne überraschen lässt. Ich meide Hype, schaue ein, zwei Trailer und steige dann unvoreingenommen ein. Damit bin ich bisher gut gefahren – auch bei Titeln wie Cyberpunk 2077, das viele enttäuscht hat, mich aber, ohne Erwartungshaltung, unterhalten konnte. Was ich aber überhaupt nicht leiden kann: Wenn Spiele völlig unfertig auf den Markt geprügelt werden. Nicht wegen nicht gehaltener Versprechen – sondern weil sie offensichtlich ein weiteres Jahr Entwicklungszeit gebraucht hätten.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3496751742
Was (noch) funktioniert
Bevor ich komplett ausraste:
Die Story hat mich gepackt. Und genau das macht mich so sauer – weil ich merke, da steckt Potenzial drin. Die Musik ist atmosphärisch, die Grafik in Zwischensequenzen ordentlich. Gesichter und Animationen sind okay. Auf meiner älteren Hardware läuft das Spiel überraschend rund – dank AMD FSR sogar auf höchsten Einstellungen.
Und jetzt zum Müll
Die Sprecher*innen klingen, als hätten sie beim Einsprechen nebenbei Kaffee gekocht.
Die NPCs? Komplett hirntot – egal ob Gegner, Passanten oder Verkehrsteilnehmer. Autos krachen ineinander, niemand reagiert. Keine Panik, kein Aussteigen, nichts. Wenn man selbst Unfälle baut: bisschen Blechschaden, das war’s. In Games wie GTA oder Cyberpunk passiert da wenigstens irgendwas.
Es gibt permanente Grafikfehler, flackernde Texturen, und beim Umherlaufen über Leichen verhalten sich die Körper wie Gummipuppen – wäre es nicht so traurig, wär’s fast lustig.
Die Fahrzeugsteuerung? Katastrophe – klar auf Controller ausgelegt, aber auf Maus/Tastatur einfach schwammig.
Gegner-KI? Nicht vorhanden.
Die Welt? Leer und steril, obwohl sich vermeintlich Leute bewegen.
Das Spiel schubst einen von Zwischensequenz zu Zwischensequenz, als wolle es bloß die 120-Minuten-Grenze knacken, um Rückgaben zu vermeiden. Clever – aber zynisch.
Schlachtung
Was für eine Frechheit.
Ein unfertiger Haufen Code, der zu früh aus dem Studio gekrochen kam. Und statt weiter zu entwickeln, pumpt man Geld in Streamer, die das Ding feiern sollen, während man die Presse ausschließt – wohl in der Hoffnung, dass sich der Sh*tstorm erst nach der Rückgabefrist entfaltet.
Denn so sehr mich die Story auch interessiert hat – der Rest ist ein dampfender, verbuggter Kackhaufen auf meiner SSD.
Ein Spiel, das ein Jahr Entwicklungszeit mehr gebraucht hätte, aber stattdessen für den schnellen Euro in den Early-Cashgrab-Modus geschickt wurde.
F*ck dieses System, das uns immer wieder unfertige Games auf die Rechner rotzt.