PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Here’s a curious one. Created by a team that was set up by a former Rockstar employee who was – at least in part – responsible for Grand Theft Auto‘s meteoric rise to fame, sci-fi action/adventure cover shooter MindsEye was greeted with what we’ll politely call “less than stellar” reviews upon its release in June 2025. Now, after months of behind-the-scenes tinkering, the game’s seventh major update has been released, along with the announcement that this latest iteration is intended to serve as a “brand reset” for the game. So, how’s MindsEye doing these days? Worth a look?
Despite its pedigree, MindsEye‘s similarity to GTA pretty much begins and ends with its open-world setting. The Las Vegas-esque desert city of Redrock, with its futuristic skyscrapers and neon-soaked streets, appears at first glance to be a very enticing playground that evokes fond memories of exploring San Andreas back in 2004, but although you’re able to drive around and take in the sights, there’s little else to do other than follow the story. Apart from a handful of side missions, MindsEye is a very linear experience that pushes you through its single-player campaign without concerning itself with distractions, mini-games, encounters, collectibles or anything else that might get in the way.
Some distractions would be very welcome, as although the campaign is very short (around 8-10 hours), it gets very repetitive very quickly. The first two thirds of the game mostly involve driving or flying almost unreasonably long distances, shooting a small amount of baddies, then travelling all the way back to where you came from. The driving does feel decent enough, but there’s not so much as a single radio station to keep you company – the only soundtrack is lengthy exposition dumps from your colleagues, none of whom are especially endearing or interesting.
Between drives, gunplay is similarly limited, allowing you to swap between around a dozen weapons with only a handful of meaningful differences between them and no upgrades or mods to change things up in any way. MindsEye positions itself as a third-person cover shooter (think Uncharted or Gears of War), but its cover mechanics are so restrictive – you’re not able to fluidly move around corners or between cover, for instance – and inconsistent (some walls just won’t let you take cover against them) that playing the game as intended is sometimes more difficult than it should be.
Elsewhere, visuals are often fuzzy and seem out of focus, both in the distance and at close range, although the endless catalogue of bugs and glitches that reportedly plagued the game at launch do seem to have mostly been taken care of. A couple of hiccups were encountered during this review playthrough which required a full game restart to fix, so there’s definitely still work to be done, but it’s pleasing to see that some progress does seem to have been made.
MindsEye is an intriguing proposition. For every positive, there’s a frustrating negative that pulls the game right back down. Driving feels great, but there’s so much of it that the eventual appearance of a “skip journey” button feels like a godsend. Your drone abilities are super useful and fun to use, but their long cooldown times and clunky controls take the enjoyment out of using them. The campaign builds to a handful of genuinely tense and challenging final missions, but the journey to reach that point is still a fairly rough ride. It isn’t beyond hope – the basics are all in place, and it would be fantastic to see the game turn things around, utilise its environments more effectively and become something much bigger and more well-rounded than it is now. For the time being, though, a generous two stars for the campaign’s final couple of hours is the highest praise we can give.
