While there are probably a few too many threads sewn into its
dystopian/utopian cyber-punk tapestry, there is an awful lot to like
about the final result.
Richard Nolan is a journalist in 2048 Berlin, a city which despite
its obvious technological advancements is teetering on the brink.
Outspoken and opinionated professionally, he finds himself on the edge
of a personal precipice; there was an accident he can't really remember,
and his wife and son have disappeared. Finding out what has happened to
them is the catalyst for what follows.
Suffice to say, things aren't as they seem. Reality in particular.
While the plot gets a little overburdened by those threads mentioned
previously, it raises a range of futuristic themes as well as some
distinctly human ones. Transhumanism and fidelity for example. Ethical
considerations come up as well. I thought the fact that it didn't
ultimately hang together coherently was secondary to its telling, and
the way I responded to, or was provoked to think about, the issues it
raised.
Daedalic does like to tell a story, and here the telling is
paramount. There are things to do in the game, but they won't tend to
hold you up for very long. Only a few could be called puzzles, and those
aren't hard. They were enjoyable though, the train and the environmental
manipulation at the end in particular. The (not infrequent) mild
mini-games feel more like giving you something to do, and finding items
or interacting with the environment is telegraphed by the little green
triangle hovering over the objective. You don't choose to use inventory
items, rather having the necessary item will generate the capacity to
use it. True, there are red herrings, and at times you need to have
examined something (in your inventory or elsewhere) in order to trigger
the way forward, but overall the trail of breadcrumbs is there to be
followed.
You may not warm to the polygonal characters, but I thought they
fitted (and reflected) the world rather well. I doubt though that you
won't admire the cinematic look, sound and feel of the whole thing.
The characterisation is excellent. Richard is a flawed creature, and
you may not like him. You may in fact not like many of the characters.
But you may also decide it's the dislikable blemishes that make them
real. All are very well voiced, with the gruffness of Richard probably
being the comparative low.
Throughout the game you get to play characters other than Richard.
There are times when you can switch between them just cos, and others
where you need to switch, and then work together co-operatively to move
forward. It added depth rather than just variety. You also get to do
other stuff, including controlling drones, hacking cameras and driving
trains.
You make some pretty big plot choices at the end. The ones I made
didn't surprise me, but the nature of one of the choices did.
Throughout, it will remind you of a lot of other things, generally in
a good way. There is nothing really new, but I didn't think that was a
negative. Plus there are ducts. What good sci-fi outing doesn't involve
ducts.
State of Mind plays in the third person, the camera over the shoulder
of the character you are playing. You move the character around with the
W A S D keys, steering with the mouse (so A, S and D are in fact
redundant). Point and click to explore the world. It saves
automatically, indicated by a white triangle, and as far as I recall was
always in conjunction with a load screen. These are fairly regular and
short. My playtime clocked in at just on 12 hours, and I enjoyed every
one of them.
I played on:
OS: Windows 10, 64 Bit
Processor: Intel i7-6700 4GHz
