Minds Beneath Us (PC) Review

Hop into a new body and get moving in this mind bending, mysterious and twisty storyline. Players take control of a couple of characters, co-existing in their minds, intermixed with their conscience both running the show. This is a unique premise that is played for some really interesting scenarios in the story. As the player progresses they learn a lot about the dystopian world that this future is, where the poorest in society are exploited to power the gargantuan AI services of the world. The writing is a very strong component of the game with characters naturally expositing about the world without having to stand and dump it all at once. It can take a while to adjust to the pacing of the dialogue, meaning the opening is a little stilted but later on it's great and offers a fantastic amount of depth and choice.

Visually, this game is really rather interesting. Utilising a side-on perspective, it layers the world with loads of little incidental details while presenting a very clear cyberpunk-esk future setting. All aspects of the presentation are in alignment with this theme, including the user interface which does a good job of arranging the game's functions while showing information in a pleasing way and making it clear when a character is just thinking rather than talking. It all has a nice colour scheme with cool neon light highlights in the streets and a cold clinical lighting in the workplaces. Each character is full of personality despite having no face and the animation work is fantastic at bringing them to life. For example, things like the partner of the second player character tucking her hair behind her ears and subtle little movements that show the body language of the characters at any given time really just make the presentation pop.

The gameplay is quite light, mostly feeling like a point and click adventure. This is due to the game's focus on story and dialogue, however it also has a decent amount of action mixed into main events with quicktime events raising their heads every now and then and often being instant fails. A little crude perhaps but it adds some much needed investment to the game where otherwise players might start to let their attention drift. There are also a few times where the pacing slows up a little and the game throws some puzzles at the player. These are never too complex, although this reviewer got stuck in room one when they missed a character nodding at an environmental item to interact with! So do pay attention and things will be just fine.

When it comes to sound design there is a lot to love with decent variety in background tracks and a fair bit of ambience as well. It's all made to fit the moods and the ebb and flow of the story without distracting the rader from the important things. However, the fact the characters are unvoiced will likely be polarising for some players. There is a lot of reading and no option to listen instead, however, it fits just fine and most will be able to enjoy it, especially if visual novels are a medium the player is interested in.

Naturally with choices and loads of dialogue to get through a second or third playthrough may be needed to really get the most of the writing and characters but presumably most players will be trying not to mess up each character's life as they play. It's a really good time, although the slower moments might grate a little on repeat plays.