Online game launches are sometimes pretty rote endeavors. Shops publish evaluations when an embargo lifts, normally shortly earlier than a recreation launches, and the general public will use these evaluations to tell its buying choices. Often, you’ll have a controversial launch, like how CD Projekt Purple misplaced all its goodwill with the bug-filled mess of a launch that was Cyberpunk 2077 again in 2020.
The launch of Mindseyenevertheless, isn’t controversial, and even extremely anticipated. However it’s straight up bizarre.
Let’s begin with the fundamentals: Mindseye is a third-person action-adventure recreation with a mixture of capturing and driving as the muse for its gameplay. In accordance with the official Steam description, “You’ll play as Jacob as he fights to uncover his reality in a world the place AI, hi-tech experimentation and unchecked army energy shapes each encounter. What begins as a private quest shortly turns into a mission that’s essential to all of humanity’s survival as sentient robots rise, propelled by human greed.” It’s described as a narrative-driven recreation, although that narrative sounds pretty generic and it lacks a singular hook (this ain’t no story about preventing a deity-like being who turns individuals to flower petals every year).
Regardless of that, many retailers and potential gamers have stored an eye (heh) on Mindseye due to who’s creating it. Mindseye is the debut recreation from Construct a Rocket Boy, the studio fashioned by ex-Rockstar North chief Leslie Benzies. He was a producer on lots of your favourite Grand Theft Auto titles, together with 2013’s Grand Theft Auto 5. Judging by the gameplay trailers, you possibly can simply see the GTA affect on Mindseye.
Mindseye began as a recreation inside Construct a Rocket Boy’s In all places — consider it as a cross between an MMO and a Roblox-like platform — however grew to be a standalone launch. Buzz steadily constructed because it was first teased in 2022, however issues acquired bizarre in Might 2025 as Mindseye neared launch.
Detrimental pre-release reception shared on X, together with one fan calling Mindseye “a damaged mess, full of bugs,” prompted Construct a Rocket Boy co-CEO Mark Gerhard to say anybody who was sharing detrimental suggestions about Mindseye was “one hundred pc” being funded by an ubiquitous somebody. On the sport’s Discord, he mentioned it’s “not wild when it’s true…..” and that it “doesn’t take a lot to guess who” can be behind a detrimental publicity campaigned focused towards Mindseye and Construct a Rocket Boy. Benzies was embroiled in a authorized battle with Rockstar after he and the corporate parted methods, so one can guess Gerhard was seemingly referring to the GTA writer.
If accusing somebody of financing a smear marketing campaign towards your recreation weeks earlier than its launch wasn’t bizarre sufficient, Construct a Rocket Boy additionally misplaced executives one week earlier than launch. Each chief authorized officer Riley Graebner and CFO Paul Bland left the corporate earlier than Mindseye made it to retailer cabinets. As one member of the Mindseye Discord succinctly put it, “Individuals don’t bail proper earlier than they assume they’re releasing a success normally” (through Eurogamer).
Regardless of the head-scratching press main as much as Mindseyea few of us right here at Polygon nonetheless wished to play it and discover out for ourselves if it actually deserves all this digital ink. Nonetheless, in an indication one thing’s amiss, it doesn’t seem to be any video games media outletPolygon included, obtained a overview code for Mindseye. Very like press not receiving Nintendo Swap 2 for overviewthis implies you’ll be going into Mindseye blind if you happen to determine to chunk the bullet and choose it up day one.
And Xbox gamers almost ought to have prevented Mindseye totally on launch day. After saying its 16 GB day one patch with “gameplay enhancements, visible polish, stability fixes, and efficiency tuning” wouldn’t be prepared for Xbox Sequence X on launch day, Construct A Rocket Boy confirmed to IGN the patch is now on its approach for launch.
After a Summer time Recreation Fest look final week, Mindseye releases into the wild June 10 for Home windows PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5. Whether or not it’s value taking part in remains to be a thriller, however for the curious who need to save themselves a clear $60, you possibly can already watch the complete marketing campaign on YouTube. As a result of for Mindseyewhen it rains it pours, and it’s been pouring lots.
