State of Mind Review

The combination of neon lights and scantily-clad women, robots being evil and scantily-clad men is something that's hard to resist. It easily draws comparisons to modern cinema's greatest filmmaking machine. The flickering haze that this combination of dystopian grime, mystique and magic will make you feel like Blade Runner is right around the corner. These comparisons are inevitable, but with the right amount of originality, sci-fi can be a pleasant burden.

State of Mind's cinematic opening hurries us past all aesthetic clichés. We follow Richard Nolan, our injured protagonist, as he makes his way to the hospital. We are in 2048, and Richard Nolan wakes up in a grimy hospital confused about everything.

After suffering memory loss due to his "accident", he takes part in some tests with a doctor to regain strength. This sequence helps the player get to grips with the controls and the basic facts about Richard's life. However, neither the movement tests nor the questions require much effort and reveal little about the game's potential outcome.

The intrigue really kicks in when Nolan returns home to discover a strange droid, his wife and child gone missing. The game then takes us to Adam, who seems like Richard's light in a darkened world. This mostly point-and-click adventure reveals how Richard and his family are involved in the dark side of the robotics industry. It's a classic pairing of misunderstood robotics and moody men.

State of Mind's beautiful artwork is the first thing you should mention. The game's characters look like shards made of glass. They are all low-poly angles and have a cartoonish body. Although the background is reminiscent of Blade Runner, the game has a dystopian aesthetic all its own. There are flying cars that can be seen between buildings, and they also have a dingy, dystopian beauty. This beauty comes with a price.

It can be difficult to move around the world with the camera always behind your shoulder. Even Richard's tiny apartment is difficult to navigate. The camera angle slows down the uptake, making it hard to be precise. Although interactions with objects often lead to cutscenes, the experience of meandering motion is never improved upon.

This is not the only thing that initially feels strained. Our protagonist's interactions are flat with other characters from the very first encounter with the doctor. The speech style between newscasters, doctors, and friends is often very similar. This means that there is little to distinguish one character from another except their respective voice actors.

Richard is a critic of modern life, but he is often nothing more that a git. Adam, in complete opposition to Richard's views, is almost too oblivious to the world around him. It's hard to sympathize with the main characters, especially when the stakes rise later in the game. Richard's miss calls to his mistress are more prominent than his missing family. Adam's lack of concern for his son's problems is making it difficult to see the point.

Richard's movement between The Voice's office, his home, and the dingy nightclubs increases the pace at which The Voice's themes of technological advancement and transhumanism gain momentum. State of Mind is far more confident in describing these issues and painting a world that is on the brink of civil war. These dystopian themes are kept afloat by State of Mind's ability to seamlessly switch between scenes, settings, and the protagonist.

These themes are not able to convey much emotion without having fully fleshed out characters. The game introduces us to thought leaders who want humanity to transcend the physical world and those who seek to stop advancements that might threaten the definition of a human being. The characters we are most familiar with, Tracy, Richard’s wife and Lydia his mistress remain only partially formed.

Even worse, frequent sound problems in my playthrough completely destroyed any sense of tension and even wiped out one character's voice. The main club scene was ruined by the music of the club. NPCs were left dancing excitedly to the drones overhead.

These are just a few of the many problems that plague the game. The game's later sections have additional mechanics and puzzles that add to the suspense. These game-like elements have significantly slowed down the action, which is not a change to the original point-and-click format that worked perfectly.

State of Mind is a decent attempt at a dystopian thriller, but it's let down by the experience of actually having to play it. The game's take on transhumanism is interesting, but the ending leaves you cold. The stakes are too low and the characters are too hollow. It's also a little too cliché.

State of Mind could have been a great game if it had been slimmed down and improved sound and movement. We now have the rare case of a game not living up to its promise, which is a shame.