It’s just your state of mind.

Daedalic Entertainment is a developer/publisher that I’ve kept on my radar ever since I reviewed Memoria back in 2013. As someone who actively hunts out great stories in gaming, I’ve found that the adventure genre is littered with them, and Memoria was one of the best in the genre in that regard.

However, as the years past, I’ve found myself trying out less and less adventure games, not due to some conscious decision to avoid the genre, but more so to circumstances, as that’s just how the review schedule panned out. Luckily, with a brief moment of time on my hands, I was given the offer to check out Daedalic’s latest release and thought it the perfect time to reintroduce myself to the genre.

The striking art direction works well to sell the world and its characters.

MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: PS4, X1, Switch, PC
Length: 11~ hours

Outside of the strong pedigree of the developer, the one aspect State of Mind really sold me on were its visuals. Using character models that look like they’re straight out of the Sega Saturn era in conjunction with modern lighting effects and detailed backgrounds made for an odd but pleasant aesthetic that fits the futuristic theme quite well. Whether it’s gorgeous hand drawn sprite work or this seemingly mish-mash of visual styles, the folks at Daedalic seem to have a knack for finding the right art style to fit each one of their titles, and it’s no different here. The other thing they seem to excel at is crafting the life blood of every good adventure game, its story.

Waking up in the hospital after an accident, Richard finds himself at a loss as to what exactly happened to him, having lost the memories of the accident itself. As a journalist with a passion for the truth, he strikes out to uncover the mysteries surrounding his lost memories as well as the greater conspiracy plaguing the world, which threatens to change humanity’s way of life as they know it.

While the setup presented in State of Mind isn’t anything new, it managed to keep me interested as even though I was able to guess some story elements in the grand scheme of things, I was still left guessing from a moment to moment basis. The characterization of the main protagonist was portrayed well, as he came across as a deeply flawed and complex individual, who starts off as an unlikeable jerk and grows over the course of the story. It also helped that he was voiced by none other than Doug Cockle, the man behind the iconic Geralt of Rivia from the Witcher, whose strong performance went a long way in selling Richard’s emotional depth.

Popular sci-fi themes like information control, the essence of being a human and more were all explored during the 11~ hour campaign, and while it was an intriguing adventure on the whole, there were some serious pacing issues during certain story segments that could have been tightened up to make for a more enjoyable experience.

Spooky robots incoming.

Outside of the slow pacing, my biggest complaint about State of Mind would be in its severe lack of gameplay. While I had full control of the character in an environment, there weren’t too many objects of note to interact with, and even less puzzle elements to break up the flow of the game. It’s an odd thing to say after remembering in my review of Memoria, I criticized the puzzles saying that they were too obtuse and difficult, but now it feels as though they’ve taken a 180 degree turn where there are hardly any “puzzles” and the vast majority of them that exist are so laughably easy that it feels insulting to call them puzzles in the first place.

It’s not to say that every adventure game needs puzzles, but what is necessary for every game is a way to throw a wrench in the formula so it doesn’t feel like I’m essentially doing the same thing for the whole game. If there were a constant flow of meaningful story related choices to mull over things might have been different, but real choices that change the story in notable ways are few and far between.

Luckily, the narrative does switch between the perspective of multiple characters during the course of the game to mix things up, but they often felt more like small detours, lasting only a short while to showcase some moments in a different time and place.

While there are some choices in the game that will change the outcome of certain events, the game is out to tell a specific story.

With its odd and yet striking visual style, State of Mind presents an intriguing world, in the precipice of a revolution. Following the exploits of a deeply flawed and complex character, the journey through the streets of Berlin is a fruitful one that I’m sure to remember. However, a myriad of pacing issues as well as a lack of interesting gameplay elements makes it very unlikely that I’ll be visiting the year of 2048 anytime soon. Perhaps we’ll see in thirty years.

Fun Tidbit – I was going to make a “Richard of Rivia” joke but I couldn’t fit it in organically, so HERE IT IS.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.