MINDHACK (PC) Preview

With a hypnotizing art style that draws in players, MINDHACK is a game that dazzles with its unique elements. The game provides an interesting world, oddball enemies, and a questionable storyline that will make you wonder if what you are doing is right. MINDHACK left me with one important question. Do I have any free choice or is my life completely in the hands of the ever-present artificial intelligence that controls the facility?

Considering that artificial intelligence is at the forefront of tech news these days, I believe that this question is something that will become very important in the coming future. However, is this game the one that can carry such a message or does it get weighed down by minimal gameplay? Let’s get into it

While the first game to come from developer VODKAdemo? certainly has an interesting storyline, there is not much in terms of gameplay. Being a visual novel, this is to be expected. If you are into that sort of thing, then this is probably for you. However, visual novels are not my normal cup of tea as I tend to buy games where I am actively doing something.

The only time that I felt like I was doing something was during the MINDHACK portions where you are reprogramming an individual to remove the bugs that exist within them. During this part of the game, it turns into a typing game where you have to hit the correct keys in order to overwrite the bug.

Talking more about the gameplay, there honestly isn’t much to it. MINDHACK switches from choosing what responses to give in certain parts to various characters to a typing game where you have to type in the highlighted letters on the screen. From what I could tell, there was no problem with taking my time in these situations as I never received any kind of time penalty. The game did seem to care about some of the responses that you give to the characters that you are hacking though, as the subjects were more resistant to the supposed ‘treatment’ that you are administering.

During the typing portion of the game, I purposefully messed up a few times to see what would happen. Nothing of significance seemed to occur beyond the game having the screen flash to indicate that you typed the wrong letter.

The story of the game is the primary thing that carries the experience. While MINDHACK instantly starts off in a place of severe confusion with the death of a patient, the game bobs and weaves between giving you a sense of safety and severe dread for the situation that you are being thrown into. There are times when a situation calls you to start acting in such a way that seems to untangle the threads that hold together the main character and the facility that you work in.

It is important to note that the story isn’t complete at this time since the game is still in Early Access. The developers have stated that they intend to add 8-9 more chapters over the next year or so. It will be interesting to see if the story can keep people in the loop.

While I don’t often discuss this in my reviews or previews, the soundtrack for this game appears to be a vital part of its success with fans of visual novels. MINDHACK’s music certainly helped to emphasize the shifting moods that occur within the main character (someone who you never truly see) and to give each of the bugged individuals an increased sense of identity.

It also tends to set a tone of eeriness when there is an impending decision that the game is forcing upon your character in order to progress the story. This can be a nice change from the generally relaxing music score for the facility, but from time to time it can feel repetitive.

While MINDHACK is still in Early Access, I have some issues with the lack of impact your decisions have on the narrative. However, over the course of the Early Access period, I expect quite a few things to change, including the way that I feel about the game. Let us know in the comments what visual narrative games you enjoy. If you are looking for other games similar to this one, I would suggest checking out Alexx Aplin’s review of Coffee Talk Episode 2.

A PC review copy of MINDHACK was provided by VODKAdemo? for this review.