Mind Diver Review

Indoor Sunglasses’ story-rich, first-person detective game, Mind Diver, explores what it’s like to delve into a person’s subconscious, a premise that reminds me of films like Inception or Dreamscape. But instead of manipulating an imaginary REM-cycle world, this title tasks you with rebuilding a character’s actual memories by filling in forgotten details, all in an effort to solve a missing person case. As the titular diver, it’s up to you to find the clues, the victim, and the truth, while literally swimming in an ocean of someone’s cryptic past.

That someone is Lina Kukanová, a woman experiencing sudden memory loss and whose boyfriend has gone missing. This is the first time that Mind Diving has been approved for criminal investigation, so the stakes are high for you and your company to do what you’re trained to do: help Lina remember.

Mind Diver’s visuals are captivating, portraying memories as self-contained bubbles floating in a vast ocean. Not only did Lina’s inner world feel like a surreal, mysterious place as I explored it, but it also felt reminiscent of walking through an art museum or viewing a single moment captured in a photograph, with each new set telling its own story.

The unique art style is definitely the first thing that drew me in, simply from the game’s trailer. Everything feels like a real-world snapshot, but slightly distorted in a dreamy yet disorientating way. For instance, there’s a lack of clarity when you’re looking at items and characters’ faces, which I thought was great for conveying the haziness one might have when trying to recall people and places. It’s also cool that Lina’s inner world technically draws on real life, as the developers used 3D scans of actors and Danish locations for the art. Aesthetically, the game really hits a home run; the sombre, pensive soundtrack complements the moody atmosphere, as well.

Since you’re dealing with broken memories in Lina’s mind, you’ll encounter several Memory Holes (void-like spheres) that can be restored by picking up and dropping the right item into them. The object can be hidden in the immediate scene you’re exploring, or it might be in a neighbouring memory. You could even be looking for a person to slot into the empty space. If you pick up the wrong thing, don’t worry, as you can drop it and it’ll seamlessly return to its original location.

To deduce what you need, you’ll listen to Echoes, which are voice snippets, usually replaying a conversation between Lina and another character. Using context clues from the audio, whether that be the dialogue itself or ambient noises, you can easily figure out what item you need to restore a Memory Hole. Once filled in, you’ll get to listen to new Echoes, piecing together more of the story from the details they hold.

The gameplay is tightly structured, giving you a cluster of memories where you’ll have to fix all Holes before being allowed to move on to a new Region with different recollections to witness. You do get to swim between memories and restore them in any order, which is a nice touch of freedom and nonlinearity.

I got quite bored with the puzzles, though, as it never took much deduction to figure out what item you needed in order to mend a Memory Hole. The solutions feel like checks to make sure you were paying attention to the dialogue, but they aren’t that challenging. It was also a bit unsatisfying that some of the new Echoes you’re rewarded with were very tiny pieces of conversation that didn’t flesh out much compared to the initial audio snippets you’re given. Most of the time, I could already infer what the memory was presenting without the extra dialogue.

I’d say Mind Diver is a good fit for those looking for a light investigation experience or beginner-friendly puzzler. Those searching for a more complex mystery game (à la Return of the Obra Dinn) would find this gameplay lacking. I felt more like I was being guided from clue to clue in a walking sim fashion rather than piecing it all together myself.

That said, if you go into it more for the story and less so for the “detective” aspect, then I think you’ll have a better time. I love how grounded the narrative is in Lina’s relationship, exploring love and loss in a way that resonates. The writing hit many emotional moments well, and it did so with tight pacing. The sci-fi aspect of Mind Diving is also a pretty compelling concept; in fact, I frequently thought Mind Diver’s tale could absolutely fit into a season of Black Mirror.

Additionally, the voice acting is one of the best parts of the game, rivalling the captivating visuals. With how often you’re listening to Echoes across Lina’s mind, you’ll really come to know her character’s personality and others simply by their voice. Though the memories are frozen scenes, the audio makes it feel like you’re seeing things in motion, from two people falling in love to discovering a tragedy.

Even considering the light and somewhat lacking deduction gameplay and its short four-hour runtime, I’d recommend Mind Diver if you’re interested in its story or enjoy casual puzzlers. The great voice acting and visuals are also very good reasons to dive in.