Coming from the Daedalic (Deponia) studio, State of Mind lends as much point & click as the work of Philip K. Dick, the standard stallion in science fiction.
The shadows of Blade Runner, Total Recall or even Minority Report hover over State of Mind, an interactive story that draws inspiration from the works of the master of science fiction: Philip K. Dick. Transhumanism and the family are the two breasts of this title that take place in 2048. We are in Berlin and we follow the setbacks of Richard Nolan, a journalist who is openly opposed to interconnectivity affecting the freedom of a large part of the population. The dystopian universe in which it evolves swarms with all kinds of robots and AI & # 39; s and the human, it often escapes into virtual paradises.
The adventure begins when Nolan, amnesia, wakes up in the hospital after a car accident. His son and his wife have since disappeared mysteriously and he will try to find them by unraveling the truth of the false. The player takes control of Nolan and, soon, Adam Newman, his alter ego evolves into a virtual universe. Unless it is the other way around. But little more will be revealed about the ins and outs of this paranoid SF thriller against a background of global conspiracy.
Navigate and support
Daedalic is known as the developer of The Chronicles of Sadwick, Deponia or more recently The Pillars of the Earth, and has been working in point & click for more than ten years. State of Mind is no exception, even if developers have added an action dimension. With & # 39; Action & # 39; we mean that we move his avatar in a 3D environment, that we interact with the objects that surround us (a second button also allows us to get a description, but this is often without interest), that we participate in one of the minigames (especially drones, in particular), that we sort documents and that we can switch with his alter ego. The gameplay is limited to these aspects and usually we move by pressing the action button to communicate and move the plot forward. Not very exciting.
There is also a semblance of inventory including objects (there are few to harvest) and telephone contacts that automatically activate the script or that we display in bold when we can call them. State of Mind is indeed ultra-conductor and leaves you very little freedom, and it is certainly not the few enclosed environments that are bordered by invisible walls, nor the many traveling homework that will change the deal.
Polygons from the past
The title is not very interesting, especially during the first minutes, especially because it has an artistic direction while polygons share it. In environments it gives a certain cachet, but on the faces it is difficult to get excited. Impossible to feel the slightest empathy for non-impressive characters for the possible suffering besides a pop beside the plate. Technically speaking, rubbing, with painfully rigid animations and floating maneuverability. It almost looks back in the 90s, the title reminds us very briefly The Nomad Soul, the variety of gameplay less.
State of Mind looks at each other and listens to each other (voices of dubbing – only in English and German – are quite successful) more than it is played. Somewhere between the point & click and the storytelling game at the Telltale Games, it contains countless gossip about multiple choices, but has no real influence on the events that follow. As amorphous as the NPCs that he will cross during the "adventure", the player will regain vitality when he can switch between the two main characters to collect and decipher fragments of data, so that the events of the past can are remembered to decode the present. The parallels that are thus made between a dark real world and a luminous virtual universe become interesting and cling to the story, which rises subtly crescendo. The last part then becomes more hectic, but it is already too late, ten small hours have passed, in which we are especially bored. Damage, too bad.
The +:
- The futuristic paranoid universe at K. Dick
- The alternation of viewpoints, thanks to the alter ego
- An art direction that divides (the sets)
The -:
- An art direction that divides (the faces)
- Technically behind
- Uninteresting game fun
- Ultra talkative
- Lack of rhythm
- Very dirigiste
conclusion
State of Mind composes an absolutely honorable SF thriller in the background. On the form, however, it is a different pair of sleeve with an artistic direction that will split and a very bad gameplay. Just to view (provided that someone keeps to the aesthetics), it is a pretty painful pad or keyboard in hand. Between the point and the click and the story play the adventure is watched and listened to more than it is really played, but to really appreciate it, you have to be patient. Beware of falling asleep!
11/20
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