MindsEye Review

Nowadays, developers can improve their products long after release, but does that always result in a better overall experience? That’s the question we’re looking to answer with Build A Rocket Boy’s controversial title MindsEye. So, has a bit more work fixed some of the pressing issues, or does it need to go back to the drawing board?

There’s no getting past the controversy that MindsEye had when it was first released back in June 2025. The game suffered from poor performance, while the campaign was noted to be pretty slow with a simplistic mission structure. Personally, I never played it when it was first released, so I am coming at this relatively fresh.

MindsEye has you take on the role of Jacob Diaz, a veteran with a case of memory loss, plus a strange device planted in his neck. You will join him as he hunts for answers in the near-future city of Redrock, fighting against corruption and rogue AI. The plot is decent, with some interesting twists and turns, while the characters are well-detailed, albeit a bit one-dimensional at times. However, MindsEye takes a while to get going, with the initial few hours mostly focused on driving to a location, shooting a bunch of people, then repeating that. 

Gameplay feels like a pretty standard third-person shooter mixed with a Grand Theft Auto-style driving. The actual controls are simple enough, including the driving, which feels responsive on both controller and keyboard. Meanwhile, combat is fluid, with a good mix of movement and cover. However, the actual guns you get to play with are a bit dull. You get access to a drone that comes with a wealth of special abilities, including an ever-useful grenade launcher, but it takes a while to make an appearance.

One complaint made a lot when MindsEye first released was that the enemy AI was poor, often just standing in random places. Personally, I didn’t encounter anything that bad, as the AI appeared to respond to whatever I was doing. The bigger issue was the lack of enemy variety, as you spend most of your time shooting mercenaries, rather than the robots that I would have hoped to fight. They do appear at points, but it's not as often as I would like. Also, one odd thing is that there is no melee button in the game, which means you end up being stuck at range. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it’s strange.

The other problem is that, outside of the main campaign, there’s no real reason to actually explore the environment. Redrock is an interesting concept, including the odd sandstorm that creates some impressive destruction, but there’s no real reason to go anywhere other than the next mission point. There are side quests of a sort, but they’re not really hard to find.

If you look at the MindsEye Steam page, you’ll notice that it’s stated to have an “ever-expanding gameplay experience.” This is due to new content that’s constantly being added through the building tools by players, a dedicated team, or even by making your own creations. These missions can take several different forms, but they have no real impact on the plot, plus vary wildly in quality.

Visually, MindsEye is a pretty impressive-looking game, with all the details like the vehicles and city looking just futuristic enough (while still being grounded in reality) to be effective. The character models and sound design are also gorgeous, so it’s just a shame that you don’t get the chance to see more of the world outside of the main mission. 

So, is MindsEye fixed? Personally, the performance didn’t have too many issues on my laptop. There were some stutters during the odd cutscene, but nothing that I haven’t seen before. However, the issues with the actual mission structure are still present. MindsEye is an interesting story, but it really fails to stand out in a lot of ways. You can have fun, and the story is interesting after you get past the initial slow pace, but it’s not groundbreaking.