"Curiosity killed the uncool cat, ya dig?" - Chad Ghostal
Stop me if you've heard this one before: a first-person horror game where your character wakes up in an abandoned building and has to solve paint-by-numbers puzzles while armed with a flashlight that has limited battery power.
In Sound Mind makes a poor first impression, its opening oddly lifeless for a game touting the collaboration of The Living Tombstone and presenting itself with psychedelic cover art. However, as I got my bearings in its first hour, hunting down a cassette tape that would whisk me away to its first proper level, I remained hopeful that the game would make good on its promise. I pet my cat before I left and got a trophy, "GOTY 10/10." Bad sign.
Protagonist Desmond Wales is as poor a therapist as he is a pet owner, inviting poisonous plants into his home and staring out the window while his patients doom spiral. Now you have to repair their broken psyches and give them closure while unraveling a conspiracy involving the highly psychoactive drug Agent Rainbow, which led to their deaths. What this means from a gameplay perspective is that each level centers around a specific patient in a location pertinent to them, such as... an abandoned grocery store. An abandoned lighthouse. An abandoned factory. An abandoned military base. This may all be the doing of Agent Rainbow, but each of these locations are drab, downright colorless both in aesthetic and flavor, occupied only by cookie-cutter enemies (of which there are three variants through the whole game) and uninspired puzzles.
Desmond's patients also haunt their respective levels, having mutated after succumbing to their inner-demons. You can't just shoot them like your typical fodder-type enemies and will need to employ more inventive methods to counteract them, with most of these encounters doubling as a means to solve environmental puzzles, like luring Max Nygaard - now a disembodied mechanical bull head - into breakable walls.
The problem is that much like all the other puzzles you run into, once the solution has been presented to you, you're expected to repeat it ad infinitum. Shining a light to scare away Allen Shore (nice Alan Wake reference) loses all its tension when you find yourself doing it a dozen different times, never once iterating on the mechanic after its introduction. The third level has you ferrying three CPUs between power panels to unlock doors, and by that point I became conditioned enough to know that would be my main method of progression through the next two hours of game. Everything you're tasked with feels like it was written out for you on a torn piece of notebook paper and stuck to the fridge, just a list of chores no more engaging than taking out the trash.
Speaking of trash: this game's performance. Something about open environments is incredibly disagreeable with the framerate, and unfortunately most of In Sound Mind takes place outdoors, so the game is constantly choking to death. It also has a tendency to checkpoint you in the middle of hazards, nearly locking me in a death loop once as I was stuck respawning on top of a toxic puddle while getting hit by an enemy with 30% of my HP remaining. I managed to wriggle my way out of that after multiple attempts, despawn the mob, and then ate a candy bar which made Desmond go "Nom~" in a cutesy voice. Almost shut the game off there.
And I wish I had, because In Sound Mind's technical problems ultimately resulted in the game becoming unbeatable. During the last leg of the final boss, all objects became non-interactive, something that permeated through several earlier saves and which could not be resolved by restarting the app or the console. Just locking me minutes from rolling credits, something it could've had the decency to do hours earlier. I don't normally rate games I abandon, but considering the conditions under which I did and how close I was at the end, I'm comfortable giving this a 1/5. Would've clocked it at a 2/5 before that.
We Create Stuff is an aptly named studio, because "stuff" is such a vague, "whatever" term for an end product that there's no promise of it being worthwhile. In Sound Mind is just that, a cobbled together collection of rote design elements scraped off the bottom of the first-person horror barrel, served up with no imagination, neither invested in saying anything or being fun, it's just stuff. Great job, guys.
Stop me if you've heard this one before: a first-person horror game where your character wakes up in an abandoned building and has to solve paint-by-numbers puzzles while armed with a flashlight that has limited battery power.
In Sound Mind makes a poor first impression, its opening oddly lifeless for a game touting the collaboration of The Living Tombstone and presenting itself with psychedelic cover art. However, as I got my bearings in its first hour, hunting down a cassette tape that would whisk me away to its first proper level, I remained hopeful that the game would make good on its promise. I pet my cat before I left and got a trophy, "GOTY 10/10." Bad sign.
Protagonist Desmond Wales is as poor a therapist as he is a pet owner, inviting poisonous plants into his home and staring out the window while his patients doom spiral. Now you have to repair their broken psyches and give them closure while unraveling a conspiracy involving the highly psychoactive drug Agent Rainbow, which led to their deaths. What this means from a gameplay perspective is that each level centers around a specific patient in a location pertinent to them, such as... an abandoned grocery store. An abandoned lighthouse. An abandoned factory. An abandoned military base. This may all be the doing of Agent Rainbow, but each of these locations are drab, downright colorless both in aesthetic and flavor, occupied only by cookie-cutter enemies (of which there are three variants through the whole game) and uninspired puzzles.
Desmond's patients also haunt their respective levels, having mutated after succumbing to their inner-demons. You can't just shoot them like your typical fodder-type enemies and will need to employ more inventive methods to counteract them, with most of these encounters doubling as a means to solve environmental puzzles, like luring Max Nygaard - now a disembodied mechanical bull head - into breakable walls.
The problem is that much like all the other puzzles you run into, once the solution has been presented to you, you're expected to repeat it ad infinitum. Shining a light to scare away Allen Shore (nice Alan Wake reference) loses all its tension when you find yourself doing it a dozen different times, never once iterating on the mechanic after its introduction. The third level has you ferrying three CPUs between power panels to unlock doors, and by that point I became conditioned enough to know that would be my main method of progression through the next two hours of game. Everything you're tasked with feels like it was written out for you on a torn piece of notebook paper and stuck to the fridge, just a list of chores no more engaging than taking out the trash.
Speaking of trash: this game's performance. Something about open environments is incredibly disagreeable with the framerate, and unfortunately most of In Sound Mind takes place outdoors, so the game is constantly choking to death. It also has a tendency to checkpoint you in the middle of hazards, nearly locking me in a death loop once as I was stuck respawning on top of a toxic puddle while getting hit by an enemy with 30% of my HP remaining. I managed to wriggle my way out of that after multiple attempts, despawn the mob, and then ate a candy bar which made Desmond go "Nom~" in a cutesy voice. Almost shut the game off there.
And I wish I had, because In Sound Mind's technical problems ultimately resulted in the game becoming unbeatable. During the last leg of the final boss, all objects became non-interactive, something that permeated through several earlier saves and which could not be resolved by restarting the app or the console. Just locking me minutes from rolling credits, something it could've had the decency to do hours earlier. I don't normally rate games I abandon, but considering the conditions under which I did and how close I was at the end, I'm comfortable giving this a 1/5. Would've clocked it at a 2/5 before that.
We Create Stuff is an aptly named studio, because "stuff" is such a vague, "whatever" term for an end product that there's no promise of it being worthwhile. In Sound Mind is just that, a cobbled together collection of rote design elements scraped off the bottom of the first-person horror barrel, served up with no imagination, neither invested in saying anything or being fun, it's just stuff. Great job, guys.
In Sound Mind is an extremely creative game that my brother and I stumbled across this Halloween. I wouldn't class it as a horror game, instead I'd say it has some horror elements. There are definitely moments that will make you jump as the game likes to mess with you. Just don't go into it expecting a pure horror experience as you might be disappointed.
The majority of the game focuses on puzzles and does a pretty good job with them for the most part. I didn't find any of them too hard but at the same time they weren't too hand holdy either. I thought the lengh was just right. New tools are introduced throughout the game which help keep the gameplay fresh so I never found myself getting bored. In Sound Mind also has a unique spin when it comes to it's bosses. Instead of just fighting a boss at the end of an area, they stalk you at times during the level, keeping you on edge the whole time.
Expected very little going into this but it has ended up being one of the top games I've played this year. Definitely give it a go.
The majority of the game focuses on puzzles and does a pretty good job with them for the most part. I didn't find any of them too hard but at the same time they weren't too hand holdy either. I thought the lengh was just right. New tools are introduced throughout the game which help keep the gameplay fresh so I never found myself getting bored. In Sound Mind also has a unique spin when it comes to it's bosses. Instead of just fighting a boss at the end of an area, they stalk you at times during the level, keeping you on edge the whole time.
Expected very little going into this but it has ended up being one of the top games I've played this year. Definitely give it a go.
This starts as a horror game and ends something closer to original Half-life. The combat might not be close to same quality as Half-life but this does not hamper the experience because there are some truly creepy and creative set pieces here with story that keeps you captivated through it.
Performance is sadly little all over the place with frame drops here and there without any real reason.
Performance is sadly little all over the place with frame drops here and there without any real reason.
This review contains spoilers
Spoilers only discussed at the very bottom
One of the toughest things critics run into is the concept of reviewing a game for what it is versus what it should have been. We all think we’re capable of telling someone else’s story better than they are, but the reality is that’s not what we’re supposed to do: our jobs are to review things as they were released to us, not drum-up fanfiction we believe would’ve made for a better end product. No outsider knows how a game’s dev cycle went, and for titles I diminished in the past for not doing things my way, I apologize for such pretentiousness.
Still, there’s a reason I began on this tangent, and it has to do with In Sound Mind’s plot. The premise is you’re a depressed therapist named Desmond chock-full of regret: his last four patients recently offed themselves and he’s now awoken in an urban limbo inhabited by their ghosts. It’s a fascinating concept, one that lends itself well to the psychological genre, yet what you’ll quickly realize is the developers weren’t content with just exploring it- see, Desmond soon learns of a conspiracy tying all of these deaths together, and when you find out what exactly it entails, it can’t help but come across as silly and outdated (+), and while the revelation does do a great job explaining, well, everything (++), I feel most gamers would’ve been fine accepting plot conveniences in favor of Desmond’s more-personal tale.
Alas, In Sound Mind tries to have its cake and eat it too. Because the numerous micro plots required less effort from a writing standpoint, they end up getting significantly diminished, their contents relegated to optional stationery made even more unimportant by the lack of responses from Desmond. Seriously, if there’s one issue that consistently plagues In Sound Mind, it’s the limited amount of dialogue you hear from our leading man (a particularly-perplexing decision given his occupation as a, you know, therapist). The most you get are audio tapes strewn between stages detailing parts of a session Desmond had with each client, but in terms of the levels themselves, don’t expect to hear more than 10 lines of narratorial dialogue. Heck, don’t expect to hear much in-general courtesy of Desmond being another victim of Kagome Syndrome, or that lazy phenomenon wherein a normal person has no reaction whatsoever to being transported into a radically-different dimension. Whether it’s facing off against demons, dodging hazards, or uncovering some radical truth, Desmond remains eerily quiet for the lion’s share of it.
But look, I don’t want to fall prey to those reviewer pitfalls I outlined in the introduction. Yes, the dilemmas are underdeveloped; however, it’s clear the writers were more interested in a show-don’t-tell approach via the environmental storytelling, and on that front there’s definitely greater success. Every area centers on a theme inspired by the circumstances of its respective persona’s life, and though the scapes aren’t as unique as say Psychonauts (more on that later), the monstrified renditions of the clients are excellent and speak well to their personality quirks. Virginia’s fear of being gazed at, for example, has turned her into a screaming banshee, while Max’s anger problems have rendered him a roaring steampunk bull. Combined with their small bits of verbiage thrown out during encounters and it’s evident We Create Stuff was banking on this being sufficient, and though it didn’t work for me (particularly as relates to the ending++), I can see others getting caught up in the memoirs of the past, a large part of that having to do with the visual presentation as this is a very good-looking game. So good, in fact, that I can’t believe it’s not butter was made in Unity.
See, In Sound Mind walks this fine line between verism and hypnogenic stagecraft -- most of the textures and annex are based in reality, yet concurrently coated with an inherent mysticism; things seem tangible, but could easily shift at a moment’s notice. In a way, it’s more reminiscent of a dreamscape than your usual sleep-based games, abandoning phantasmic imagery in favor of volatile physicality: gasiform clouds twirl near the ground, oceans cascade with rainbow oil puddles, particulates splatter amidst extensive kinetic force. I was especially impressed by the game’s depiction of light diffusion, being one of the few titles to accurately portray both the relativistic doppler effect and intermixture of color luminescence (i.e., flashing my yellow torch into a red lamp produced an orange glow).
There are some harsh blemishes, the worst being the implementation of haze effects. Whether it was to support the aforestated mysticism or hide some ugly geometry I cannot say, but every level has some variant of it, and each one gave me a massive headache to the point where I had to take a break after 1-1.5 hours of playtime.
Additionally, In Sound Mind’s interiors ail from a noticeable lack of furnishing when compared to similar games. You’ll be in familiar environments like construction yards, bedrooms, markets, and of course your classic steeples, yet nothing was done to distinguish them from the many variants you’ve no doubt seen elsewhere: wall paintings are smeary and bland, specific brand names nonexistent, and even Desmond’s office remains indifferent from a stereotypical counselor room (minus the random record player). The exteriors technically hail better, but as I noted earlier, there was something intrinsically analogous about them between levels; the terrain and walls may appear dissimilar, but they’re functionally the same thing. With the exception of the water (which does have a story reason for its similitude), I won’t say anything is reskinned; however, for all but the last level, don’t expect radical departures from scape-to-scape.
I also experienced a couple of bugs, the first a game breaker wherein a gate would not open, the second Desmond’s hand constantly shaking during phone conversations. Neither were significant, but bear notation nonetheless.
Next-up is the sound, which ironically falls along similar tracks to the characters in that narratorial-related facets were prioritized over everything else. The mutants you stumble across, for instance, are magnificent in aural depth, their screams masterfully blended with the dins you’d expect from such a composite figure: catching Virginia’s singing transition from mesmeric beauty to cacophonous screeching or hearing Allen’s gurgled pleas as his throat suffocates with tar made for some of the tensest moments in the journey.
Unfortunately, that same effort wasn’t extended to the rest of the game, resulting in continuous mediocrity: weapons have a singular peal regardless of who/what you strike, explosions lack any kind of power or vibration, and stepping on glass triggers the same pre-rendered clink amongst others. It’s far from distracting, but nowhere near the kind of immersiveness necessitated by a horror entry.
The music was composed by The Living Tombstone, a group I’d label underrated were it not for the fact that their YouTube channel (at the time of this review) boasts over 7 million subscribers. Here, they’ve done a solid job providing dark elevator music for Desmond’s journey, and I don’t mean that as a backhanded compliment: save certain tracks like “Quit Running” and a couple heavy metal-adorned ones for Max’s bovinious shenanigans, it’s very much a backgroundy OST ripe with the kind of preludes you’d hear in a Hans Zimmer arrangement prior to the concourse of the epic melody…only without the melody. Interestingly, The Living Tombstone also conceived six vocalized songs you can unlock through finding hidden vinyls scattered everywhere (why they’d try and restrict the amount of people who’d theoretically listen to them after spending so much time producing them is beyond me).
Voice acting sadly abets this trend with a set of actors who, while not bad, get brought down by either shoddy ADR direction, miscast roles, or a lack of material to work with. For examples of all three: Mick Lauer does an excellent job as Desmond, yet in giving life to the antagonist, sounds like a bad impression of Leonard Nimoy’s Galvatron; Tiana Camacho has a sarcastically sultry lilt that simply does not fit the sapient overseer nature of Desmond’s cat Tonia; and Joshua Tomar can’t do anything but yell in spite of Max technically having a full slate of depth. Of the cast, I’d say Hayley Nelson (Virginia) and Helen Laser (Rosemary) turn out the best, but it’s a low bar in the grand scheme of things.
Finally, we come to the gameplay, which is admittedly hard to describe. See, much like the Between the Lions show from back-in-the-day, In Sound Mind is a jack-of-all-trades that makes it hard to place in one category. Sure, it’s been marketed as survival horror, but it’s only got a few moments of fright and any “survivalness” is rendered obsolete on the normal difficulty. You’ll experience gunslinging, stealthing, platforming, and loads of puzzles that largely come down to finding an elaborate method of opening a door.
At its core, In Sound Mind involves you entering a zone to alleviate its dreamer of their emotional turmoil; each patient bearing their own obstacles, stimuli, and finally resolutions. Not once did I ever feel like I was just going through the motions or experiencing deja vu, and We Create Stuff definitely deserves props for ensuring that level of diversity between areas. Whenever you finish a space and return back to Desmond’s building, there’s an almost Metroidvania-type overlay wherein any tools/weapons you obtained from before are utilized to unlock new subhubs, and I really appreciated the developers not forgetting about prior items in designing the later stages.
As far as whether it’s fun, though, your mileage will definitely vary- “boss fights” are average, the main villain frustrating (he constantly waivers between trying to kill & save Desmond), combat so-so, and the atmospheres inconsistent. I can’t say I ever found myself especially euphoric during a playthrough, though there certainly were a few thrilling ordeals tossed about (the supermarket, in particular, being awesome).
And that’s ultimately what it all comes down to. If anything that was said above sounds good to you guys, definitely consider checking out In Sound Mind -- it has an interesting premise with a lot of love poured into it, and though I had my issues, I think We Create Stuff is on track to, well, create some quality stuff.
NOTES
-In Sound Mind features one of the most wholesome uses of mannequins I have ever witnessed in an entertainment medium.
-Lots of elongated hallways: expect to pointlessly meander for an extended period.
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SPOILERS
+Basically it turns out Virginia, Allen, Max, and Lucas were all unwittingly experimented on by the game’s version of the CIA using a drug called Rainbow that increases your connection to some netherrealm at the cost of making you more prone to obedience. I say outdated, not because CIA experimentation is nonexistent (MKUltra was a thing after all), but more-so because of Cold War-tropes. Yes, In Sound Mind is technically a period piece, but I personally didn’t think it was necessary to create a convoluted connection between radically-different individuals, when their association with Desmond was sufficient.
++Desmond’s psyche is presumably in that metaphysical realm as a result of getting drugged, thus illustrating how he manifested in this random complex with connections to the other subconsciouses.
+++The whole confrontation with Rainbow latches its “stirringness” on Desmond recognizing the good of his past patients, how they overcame their demons, and how he’s going to do the same, and it’s a case of a good concept utterly falling apart due to the meager build-up of the preceding components. If the writers wanted this to be the crux of the climax (especially with Rainbow representing Desmond’s own inner strife) they should’ve placed all the focus on the episodic tales, not thrown-in this sci-fi conspiracy wrench that was seemingly only concocted to set-up a sequel (Lucas rescues Desmond from his coma in the mid-credits).
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One of the toughest things critics run into is the concept of reviewing a game for what it is versus what it should have been. We all think we’re capable of telling someone else’s story better than they are, but the reality is that’s not what we’re supposed to do: our jobs are to review things as they were released to us, not drum-up fanfiction we believe would’ve made for a better end product. No outsider knows how a game’s dev cycle went, and for titles I diminished in the past for not doing things my way, I apologize for such pretentiousness.
Still, there’s a reason I began on this tangent, and it has to do with In Sound Mind’s plot. The premise is you’re a depressed therapist named Desmond chock-full of regret: his last four patients recently offed themselves and he’s now awoken in an urban limbo inhabited by their ghosts. It’s a fascinating concept, one that lends itself well to the psychological genre, yet what you’ll quickly realize is the developers weren’t content with just exploring it- see, Desmond soon learns of a conspiracy tying all of these deaths together, and when you find out what exactly it entails, it can’t help but come across as silly and outdated (+), and while the revelation does do a great job explaining, well, everything (++), I feel most gamers would’ve been fine accepting plot conveniences in favor of Desmond’s more-personal tale.
Alas, In Sound Mind tries to have its cake and eat it too. Because the numerous micro plots required less effort from a writing standpoint, they end up getting significantly diminished, their contents relegated to optional stationery made even more unimportant by the lack of responses from Desmond. Seriously, if there’s one issue that consistently plagues In Sound Mind, it’s the limited amount of dialogue you hear from our leading man (a particularly-perplexing decision given his occupation as a, you know, therapist). The most you get are audio tapes strewn between stages detailing parts of a session Desmond had with each client, but in terms of the levels themselves, don’t expect to hear more than 10 lines of narratorial dialogue. Heck, don’t expect to hear much in-general courtesy of Desmond being another victim of Kagome Syndrome, or that lazy phenomenon wherein a normal person has no reaction whatsoever to being transported into a radically-different dimension. Whether it’s facing off against demons, dodging hazards, or uncovering some radical truth, Desmond remains eerily quiet for the lion’s share of it.
But look, I don’t want to fall prey to those reviewer pitfalls I outlined in the introduction. Yes, the dilemmas are underdeveloped; however, it’s clear the writers were more interested in a show-don’t-tell approach via the environmental storytelling, and on that front there’s definitely greater success. Every area centers on a theme inspired by the circumstances of its respective persona’s life, and though the scapes aren’t as unique as say Psychonauts (more on that later), the monstrified renditions of the clients are excellent and speak well to their personality quirks. Virginia’s fear of being gazed at, for example, has turned her into a screaming banshee, while Max’s anger problems have rendered him a roaring steampunk bull. Combined with their small bits of verbiage thrown out during encounters and it’s evident We Create Stuff was banking on this being sufficient, and though it didn’t work for me (particularly as relates to the ending++), I can see others getting caught up in the memoirs of the past, a large part of that having to do with the visual presentation as this is a very good-looking game. So good, in fact, that I can’t believe it
See, In Sound Mind walks this fine line between verism and hypnogenic stagecraft -- most of the textures and annex are based in reality, yet concurrently coated with an inherent mysticism; things seem tangible, but could easily shift at a moment’s notice. In a way, it’s more reminiscent of a dreamscape than your usual sleep-based games, abandoning phantasmic imagery in favor of volatile physicality: gasiform clouds twirl near the ground, oceans cascade with rainbow oil puddles, particulates splatter amidst extensive kinetic force. I was especially impressed by the game’s depiction of light diffusion, being one of the few titles to accurately portray both the relativistic doppler effect and intermixture of color luminescence (i.e., flashing my yellow torch into a red lamp produced an orange glow).
There are some harsh blemishes, the worst being the implementation of haze effects. Whether it was to support the aforestated mysticism or hide some ugly geometry I cannot say, but every level has some variant of it, and each one gave me a massive headache to the point where I had to take a break after 1-1.5 hours of playtime.
Additionally, In Sound Mind’s interiors ail from a noticeable lack of furnishing when compared to similar games. You’ll be in familiar environments like construction yards, bedrooms, markets, and of course your classic steeples, yet nothing was done to distinguish them from the many variants you’ve no doubt seen elsewhere: wall paintings are smeary and bland, specific brand names nonexistent, and even Desmond’s office remains indifferent from a stereotypical counselor room (minus the random record player). The exteriors technically hail better, but as I noted earlier, there was something intrinsically analogous about them between levels; the terrain and walls may appear dissimilar, but they’re functionally the same thing. With the exception of the water (which does have a story reason for its similitude), I won’t say anything is reskinned; however, for all but the last level, don’t expect radical departures from scape-to-scape.
I also experienced a couple of bugs, the first a game breaker wherein a gate would not open, the second Desmond’s hand constantly shaking during phone conversations. Neither were significant, but bear notation nonetheless.
Next-up is the sound, which ironically falls along similar tracks to the characters in that narratorial-related facets were prioritized over everything else. The mutants you stumble across, for instance, are magnificent in aural depth, their screams masterfully blended with the dins you’d expect from such a composite figure: catching Virginia’s singing transition from mesmeric beauty to cacophonous screeching or hearing Allen’s gurgled pleas as his throat suffocates with tar made for some of the tensest moments in the journey.
Unfortunately, that same effort wasn’t extended to the rest of the game, resulting in continuous mediocrity: weapons have a singular peal regardless of who/what you strike, explosions lack any kind of power or vibration, and stepping on glass triggers the same pre-rendered clink amongst others. It’s far from distracting, but nowhere near the kind of immersiveness necessitated by a horror entry.
The music was composed by The Living Tombstone, a group I’d label underrated were it not for the fact that their YouTube channel (at the time of this review) boasts over 7 million subscribers. Here, they’ve done a solid job providing dark elevator music for Desmond’s journey, and I don’t mean that as a backhanded compliment: save certain tracks like “Quit Running” and a couple heavy metal-adorned ones for Max’s bovinious shenanigans, it’s very much a backgroundy OST ripe with the kind of preludes you’d hear in a Hans Zimmer arrangement prior to the concourse of the epic melody…only without the melody. Interestingly, The Living Tombstone also conceived six vocalized songs you can unlock through finding hidden vinyls scattered everywhere (why they’d try and restrict the amount of people who’d theoretically listen to them after spending so much time producing them is beyond me).
Voice acting sadly abets this trend with a set of actors who, while not bad, get brought down by either shoddy ADR direction, miscast roles, or a lack of material to work with. For examples of all three: Mick Lauer does an excellent job as Desmond, yet in giving life to the antagonist, sounds like a bad impression of Leonard Nimoy’s Galvatron; Tiana Camacho has a sarcastically sultry lilt that simply does not fit the sapient overseer nature of Desmond’s cat Tonia; and Joshua Tomar can’t do anything but yell in spite of Max technically having a full slate of depth. Of the cast, I’d say Hayley Nelson (Virginia) and Helen Laser (Rosemary) turn out the best, but it’s a low bar in the grand scheme of things.
Finally, we come to the gameplay, which is admittedly hard to describe. See, much like the Between the Lions show from back-in-the-day, In Sound Mind is a jack-of-all-trades that makes it hard to place in one category. Sure, it’s been marketed as survival horror, but it’s only got a few moments of fright and any “survivalness” is rendered obsolete on the normal difficulty. You’ll experience gunslinging, stealthing, platforming, and loads of puzzles that largely come down to finding an elaborate method of opening a door.
At its core, In Sound Mind involves you entering a zone to alleviate its dreamer of their emotional turmoil; each patient bearing their own obstacles, stimuli, and finally resolutions. Not once did I ever feel like I was just going through the motions or experiencing deja vu, and We Create Stuff definitely deserves props for ensuring that level of diversity between areas. Whenever you finish a space and return back to Desmond’s building, there’s an almost Metroidvania-type overlay wherein any tools/weapons you obtained from before are utilized to unlock new subhubs, and I really appreciated the developers not forgetting about prior items in designing the later stages.
As far as whether it’s fun, though, your mileage will definitely vary- “boss fights” are average, the main villain frustrating (he constantly waivers between trying to kill & save Desmond), combat so-so, and the atmospheres inconsistent. I can’t say I ever found myself especially euphoric during a playthrough, though there certainly were a few thrilling ordeals tossed about (the supermarket, in particular, being awesome).
And that’s ultimately what it all comes down to. If anything that was said above sounds good to you guys, definitely consider checking out In Sound Mind -- it has an interesting premise with a lot of love poured into it, and though I had my issues, I think We Create Stuff is on track to, well, create some quality stuff.
NOTES
-In Sound Mind features one of the most wholesome uses of mannequins I have ever witnessed in an entertainment medium.
-Lots of elongated hallways: expect to pointlessly meander for an extended period.
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SPOILERS
+Basically it turns out Virginia, Allen, Max, and Lucas were all unwittingly experimented on by the game’s version of the CIA using a drug called Rainbow that increases your connection to some netherrealm at the cost of making you more prone to obedience. I say outdated, not because CIA experimentation is nonexistent (MKUltra was a thing after all), but more-so because of Cold War-tropes. Yes, In Sound Mind is technically a period piece, but I personally didn’t think it was necessary to create a convoluted connection between radically-different individuals, when their association with Desmond was sufficient.
++Desmond’s psyche is presumably in that metaphysical realm as a result of getting drugged, thus illustrating how he manifested in this random complex with connections to the other subconsciouses.
+++The whole confrontation with Rainbow latches its “stirringness” on Desmond recognizing the good of his past patients, how they overcame their demons, and how he’s going to do the same, and it’s a case of a good concept utterly falling apart due to the meager build-up of the preceding components. If the writers wanted this to be the crux of the climax (especially with Rainbow representing Desmond’s own inner strife) they should’ve placed all the focus on the episodic tales, not thrown-in this sci-fi conspiracy wrench that was seemingly only concocted to set-up a sequel (Lucas rescues Desmond from his coma in the mid-credits).
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think my patience has just run out for this one. really didn't like the implications the story was making, though the bosses on paper were quite unique but fall short within the areas they roam. the progression devices of each level/tape grow tired in minutes and i simply can't bring myself to play past the third, as its architecture is similar to the previous and merely set at a different time of day. following a convoluted aimless item hunt i picked up a note in the next room and was given hints to another convoluted aimless item hunt.
i liked the cat. it's a shame the mirror shard's effectiveness falls off so quickly. are you meant to take the guy in the hat seriously? i'll watch a youtube video probably.
i liked the cat. it's a shame the mirror shard's effectiveness falls off so quickly. are you meant to take the guy in the hat seriously? i'll watch a youtube video probably.
It has nice puzzles, it doesn't have a lot of foolish jumpscares and, fortunately, it has a captivating storyline.
In a nutshell: it's a nice horror game. (something pretty hard to find)
Bons puzzles, não tem um monte de sustos ridículos e, felizmente, tem uma história cativante.
Em suma: é um bom jogo de terror. (algo difícil de se encontrar)
In a nutshell: it's a nice horror game. (something pretty hard to find)
Bons puzzles, não tem um monte de sustos ridículos e, felizmente, tem uma história cativante.
Em suma: é um bom jogo de terror. (algo difícil de se encontrar)
A very low budget horror game that still is able to represent some great puzzles and story moments. Puzzels are definitely not too hard or obtuse. Not very scary though.
Seems like a pretty solid (though not particularly scary) horror game, but levels are quite long and there are some very questionably spaced checkpoints, something for which I don't have a very high tolerance, especially in a game with no manual save feature. Maybe I'll come back to it at some point, I dunno.
Playtime: 18 Hours
Score: 7/10
In Sound Mind is a pretty decent AA survival horror game, with a really cool story and themes. The game has you play as Desmond, a therapist who wakes up in his apartment building with weird things happening around him and he needs to find out what is going on. Throughout the game he is stalked by a character named Agent Rainbow who is constantly phoning you to taunt you and give some exposition. He serves as the games main villain and while he's sometimes annoying, he is a good antagonist overall I feel.
The apartment building acts as your main hub area as you investigate into four of Desmond's patients by finding these sessions tapes which act as your gateway into levels where you have to go into that patients mind and help them move on from whatever their issues are. The levels are pretty well designed and the patients all act as bosses for the different levels. What's cool though as instead of you just having a boss fight with them at the end, they will stalk you all throughout the level kind of like the Xenomorph in Alien Isolation, and you have to run, hide or try to repel them temporally. At the end of these levels you will get an item that will allow you to access previously locked off areas back in the apartment building to find secrets which is cool. One of the levels is a straight up homage to Alan Wake with you even getting a flare gun which I thought was awesome!
I liked the variety in some of the items like the glass shard, that not only can be used to break open boarded up areas, you can also look into the reflection to reveals secrets around you. The collectables are also cool as you find pills that upgrade your stats or vinyl's of songs from the band, The Living Tombstone, that provide the soundtrack for the game. The nice part is you can only get them after you complete a patients tape, and it often relates back to the patient and the struggles they went through. They definitely treated the different mental illnesses well and some of the patients have some really sad stories, with the first one making me shed some man tears. The story definitely has some good emotional beats to it as you unravel the mystery.
Gameplay is pretty fun as you get a shotgun and pistol. The shooting is okay but nothing too amazing. Graphics are serviceable but overall pretty decent for a AA game. Some of things I didn't like (and this is subjective) is the game was just never really scary for me. The first patients level you do had some good horror to it, and even in the boss you fight, but after that it almost never tries to really scare you or at least create a foreboding atmosphere. After recently finishing games like Lost in Vivo and Amnesia The Dark Descent, I really enjoyed those games atmospheres and this one never really reached that. There is tension in the bosses stalking you, but after a while it just becomes annoying as I just wanted to explore and find some of the games collectables, but instead I am constantly being attacked by an annoying boss that I couldn't defeat until the end of the level. That plays into the games stamina bar for when you sprint which becomes another hinderance. You can upgrade it through the pills, but it seems to max out at a certain point, and even then it still runs out way too quickly. This became annoying when trying to run away from the bosses or other enemies, which most times your forced into combat which I didn't like. It especially became annoying during the final boss level.
The story overall was pretty well told, and I enjoyed it overall. They do weirdly sequel bait at the end which really felt out of place as the story doesn't feel like it needs a sequel, so I don't know if they will end up making one. Overall, if you like story driven games and survival horror, you might enjoy this one as its a solid game out of a AA studio. I recommend it.
Score: 7/10
In Sound Mind is a pretty decent AA survival horror game, with a really cool story and themes. The game has you play as Desmond, a therapist who wakes up in his apartment building with weird things happening around him and he needs to find out what is going on. Throughout the game he is stalked by a character named Agent Rainbow who is constantly phoning you to taunt you and give some exposition. He serves as the games main villain and while he's sometimes annoying, he is a good antagonist overall I feel.
The apartment building acts as your main hub area as you investigate into four of Desmond's patients by finding these sessions tapes which act as your gateway into levels where you have to go into that patients mind and help them move on from whatever their issues are. The levels are pretty well designed and the patients all act as bosses for the different levels. What's cool though as instead of you just having a boss fight with them at the end, they will stalk you all throughout the level kind of like the Xenomorph in Alien Isolation, and you have to run, hide or try to repel them temporally. At the end of these levels you will get an item that will allow you to access previously locked off areas back in the apartment building to find secrets which is cool. One of the levels is a straight up homage to Alan Wake with you even getting a flare gun which I thought was awesome!
I liked the variety in some of the items like the glass shard, that not only can be used to break open boarded up areas, you can also look into the reflection to reveals secrets around you. The collectables are also cool as you find pills that upgrade your stats or vinyl's of songs from the band, The Living Tombstone, that provide the soundtrack for the game. The nice part is you can only get them after you complete a patients tape, and it often relates back to the patient and the struggles they went through. They definitely treated the different mental illnesses well and some of the patients have some really sad stories, with the first one making me shed some man tears. The story definitely has some good emotional beats to it as you unravel the mystery.
Gameplay is pretty fun as you get a shotgun and pistol. The shooting is okay but nothing too amazing. Graphics are serviceable but overall pretty decent for a AA game. Some of things I didn't like (and this is subjective) is the game was just never really scary for me. The first patients level you do had some good horror to it, and even in the boss you fight, but after that it almost never tries to really scare you or at least create a foreboding atmosphere. After recently finishing games like Lost in Vivo and Amnesia The Dark Descent, I really enjoyed those games atmospheres and this one never really reached that. There is tension in the bosses stalking you, but after a while it just becomes annoying as I just wanted to explore and find some of the games collectables, but instead I am constantly being attacked by an annoying boss that I couldn't defeat until the end of the level. That plays into the games stamina bar for when you sprint which becomes another hinderance. You can upgrade it through the pills, but it seems to max out at a certain point, and even then it still runs out way too quickly. This became annoying when trying to run away from the bosses or other enemies, which most times your forced into combat which I didn't like. It especially became annoying during the final boss level.
The story overall was pretty well told, and I enjoyed it overall. They do weirdly sequel bait at the end which really felt out of place as the story doesn't feel like it needs a sequel, so I don't know if they will end up making one. Overall, if you like story driven games and survival horror, you might enjoy this one as its a solid game out of a AA studio. I recommend it.
Começando pela gameplay que é bem boa fluida e divertida, trilha sonora vai muito muito duro, o voice acting muito bom tambem, enredo deixa um pouco a desejar porem tem seus pontos fortes, no fim um jogo de terror que não chega a dar muito medo mas tem uns momentos de gloria com level design muito bem pensado
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Me quede con ganas de que fuera un pocó más de terror y que diera más miedo, el juego es un 5%terror y lo restante es accion, exploracion y resolver puzzles que son muy sencillos.
Como tal me gustaron las historias que se contaron durante las 4 campañas por los casets que tocan varios temas mentales que estan muy bien narrados y si dan esa sencion de escuchar a alguien real.
Pero el final me parecío meh y hasta cierto punto predecible con quien era Mr.Rainbow xd.
A mi parecer es un juego mediano que tiene unas pocas cosas buenas, varias malas y muchas Meh a mi gusto como su combate que está muy simple con falta de enemigos interesates :/
Me quede con ganas de que fuera un pocó más de terror y que diera más miedo, el juego es un 5%terror y lo restante es accion, exploracion y resolver puzzles que son muy sencillos.
Como tal me gustaron las historias que se contaron durante las 4 campañas por los casets que tocan varios temas mentales que estan muy bien narrados y si dan esa sencion de escuchar a alguien real.
Pero el final me parecío meh y hasta cierto punto predecible con quien era Mr.Rainbow xd.
A mi parecer es un juego mediano que tiene unas pocas cosas buenas, varias malas y muchas Meh a mi gusto como su combate que está muy simple con falta de enemigos interesates :/
The scariest part of this game was the ugly cat who talks to you all the time. I liked the shopping level, and the subversion with the mannequins was really good. But the bootleg Alan Wake stuff killed any momentum I had for the gameplay and the level dragged on for far too long.
The idea of playing through another tedious and directionless level is enough for me to never pick this up again.
The idea of playing through another tedious and directionless level is enough for me to never pick this up again.
This game is currently in the Humble Choice for August 2022, this is part of my coverage of the bundle. If you are interested in the game and it's before September 6nd, 2022, consider picking up the game as part of the current monthly bundle.
A great example of psychological horror, I think.
The first forty minutes of In Sound Mind had me going. Players begin by exploring a strange basement, and then a building with a lot of odd events happening. There are quite a few moments that had me questioning my sanity, or if I remembered things correctly, and that’s where Psychological Horror is the strongest. There are a few moments that were so well designed that I was amazed.
And then the horror kicked in. Those first forty minutes made me think I could handle In Sound Mind, and then the first scare rattled me so hard, that I questioned if standing still in a location would count as “playing” the game for purposes of the review. I kept trying to continue to play, but In Sound Mind had my number.
I am a scaredy cat, and I don’t like horror at all, so being able to play the first section is nice, but this game feels extremely terrifying though it has a compelling story, so fans of psychological horror or just normal horror, will have something exciting to experience here.
Pick this up if you want to be scared, this game didn’t just get me, it demolished me, and it was done in a skillful way that made me appreciate its craft. The atmosphere and experience here are well designed, as are some of the more unsettling moments.
If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/86XgeDUfRGA
A great example of psychological horror, I think.
The first forty minutes of In Sound Mind had me going. Players begin by exploring a strange basement, and then a building with a lot of odd events happening. There are quite a few moments that had me questioning my sanity, or if I remembered things correctly, and that’s where Psychological Horror is the strongest. There are a few moments that were so well designed that I was amazed.
And then the horror kicked in. Those first forty minutes made me think I could handle In Sound Mind, and then the first scare rattled me so hard, that I questioned if standing still in a location would count as “playing” the game for purposes of the review. I kept trying to continue to play, but In Sound Mind had my number.
I am a scaredy cat, and I don’t like horror at all, so being able to play the first section is nice, but this game feels extremely terrifying though it has a compelling story, so fans of psychological horror or just normal horror, will have something exciting to experience here.
Pick this up if you want to be scared, this game didn’t just get me, it demolished me, and it was done in a skillful way that made me appreciate its craft. The atmosphere and experience here are well designed, as are some of the more unsettling moments.
If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/86XgeDUfRGA
Extremely underrated indie horror game. Play it if you haven’t
It's a decent "horror" game with a lot of charm and creativity. It starts well, but for me it kind of lost steam after the first two chapters. Each of the chapters (or tapes as they are called in the game) has a very similar structure, which made the game feel a bit repetitive.
Still, it was an enjoyable experience and a really good debut title. I'm glad to see modders making their own standalone games, and I'm curious to see what these developers make in the future.
Still, it was an enjoyable experience and a really good debut title. I'm glad to see modders making their own standalone games, and I'm curious to see what these developers make in the future.
"They say curiosity killed the cat. I killed the cat, curiosity just brought her to me"
In Sound Mind is described above as "an imaginative first-person psychological horror with frenetic puzzles, unique boss fights, and original music." I would say this is a pretty accurate representation of what this game is. Maybe horror lite though, it's more thematic with a few jump scares then a truly pure horror game. If you go in expecting that then it will disappoint though it still made me nervous on quite a few occasions but then I'm easily scared in video games. What In Sound Mind is though is extremely imaginative. It has a crazy and vivid world as therapist Desmond Wales explores the minds of his former patients trying to find out what really happened to them in an almost acid trip like state at times.
Each patient has their own trauma come to life in a fairly surreal way Desmond has to try and discover and break. The game plays in first person with some basic combat of shooting inkblot creations come to life while solving simple but surprisingly good puzzles for the most part. The atmosphere is excellent despite the limited enemies and feels constantly creepy. The boss encounters are great though, or more the way they appear and stalk you at times through their levels. These scenes can be either extremely unsettling or adrenaline pumping and some of the mechanics used around them keep things fresh.
It does have a slightly retro feel to the gameplay interestingly. I've seen other reviews refer to it like Half Life and while that's a little disingenuous I can't say I disagree in the way it handles. You explore and pick up small items and it does have that same kind of feel, like an older PC game though I don't see this as a negative. It actually made it feel a little refreshing in some ways. My only actual criticism, if you can call it that, is it feels a little long in the tooth at times. There is a decent amount of game here for your money and a few times the levels do drag in places. The story and characters keep it together though and the writing is fairly good at keeping you invested by being both enigmatic and obvious at the same time yet it works.
The visuals are solid, they won't blow you away but I think for a title of this budget range it does look nice overall. The real stand out though is the music. At certain points if you can find them you can get vinyl records sung by each of the patients in different styles about their circumstances and they are really good. Even when beating it I unlocked an animated music video which felt very 90's. Guess it matches that Half Life feel perfectly in that era after all?
In Sound Mind is described above as "an imaginative first-person psychological horror with frenetic puzzles, unique boss fights, and original music." I would say this is a pretty accurate representation of what this game is. Maybe horror lite though, it's more thematic with a few jump scares then a truly pure horror game. If you go in expecting that then it will disappoint though it still made me nervous on quite a few occasions but then I'm easily scared in video games. What In Sound Mind is though is extremely imaginative. It has a crazy and vivid world as therapist Desmond Wales explores the minds of his former patients trying to find out what really happened to them in an almost acid trip like state at times.
Each patient has their own trauma come to life in a fairly surreal way Desmond has to try and discover and break. The game plays in first person with some basic combat of shooting inkblot creations come to life while solving simple but surprisingly good puzzles for the most part. The atmosphere is excellent despite the limited enemies and feels constantly creepy. The boss encounters are great though, or more the way they appear and stalk you at times through their levels. These scenes can be either extremely unsettling or adrenaline pumping and some of the mechanics used around them keep things fresh.
It does have a slightly retro feel to the gameplay interestingly. I've seen other reviews refer to it like Half Life and while that's a little disingenuous I can't say I disagree in the way it handles. You explore and pick up small items and it does have that same kind of feel, like an older PC game though I don't see this as a negative. It actually made it feel a little refreshing in some ways. My only actual criticism, if you can call it that, is it feels a little long in the tooth at times. There is a decent amount of game here for your money and a few times the levels do drag in places. The story and characters keep it together though and the writing is fairly good at keeping you invested by being both enigmatic and obvious at the same time yet it works.
The visuals are solid, they won't blow you away but I think for a title of this budget range it does look nice overall. The real stand out though is the music. At certain points if you can find them you can get vinyl records sung by each of the patients in different styles about their circumstances and they are really good. Even when beating it I unlocked an animated music video which felt very 90's. Guess it matches that Half Life feel perfectly in that era after all?
In sound mind is like if you made Psychonauts into a survival horror kind of. I don't really think that it fits survival horror in my mind exactly, but probably is. I think the gameplay/flow is fun and engaging. The story is engaging enough but it doesn;t light my fire; its alright. The combat is kind of annoying I think; I resorted to just running up point blank and getting headshots that way, more satisfying and effective. The antagonist is a fun asshole who will constantly call you and insult you in almost childish ways; you can also return this energy by just hanging up on him. He will also just appear randomly in game subtly as like a jumpscare mechanic, even if it doesn't scare me, I think the way he is implemented is actually really good. (An example is you will hear footsteps behind you, turn around. He will be there, but instead of disappearing instantly, he will just say "get a move on"). That, and some other stuff (mannequins, wearing the hat) show the dev's are playful in a really fun way.
A very charming, if janky, bite-sized indie game that I believe works better as a puzzle game rather than a horror game; the reason being that the later levels focus more on open areas that require you to use all the mechanics learned up until that point to progress (including the monster of the level) which severely detracts from the general atmosphere and makes it feel like an escape room with strange rules and a sense of humor.
I also believe the story takes a significant nose-dive about halfway through the game, given the theme being a more extreme personification of the mental troubles of this therapist's patients to a government conspiracy and focusing on the therapist himself, despite the lack of characterization for him to make the final parts of the game as climactic as it wants you to believe.
I also believe the story takes a significant nose-dive about halfway through the game, given the theme being a more extreme personification of the mental troubles of this therapist's patients to a government conspiracy and focusing on the therapist himself, despite the lack of characterization for him to make the final parts of the game as climactic as it wants you to believe.
It might not be the scariest game, but I'd still call this a great horror game. Enemy variety is pretty weak and any apartment combat scenarios can be avoided by just going through a door and returning, but I won't lie that (at least on Hard) several fights left me missing a bunch of shots and failing to hit non-armored spots, leaving me properly scared of death and ending up in an encounter. The enemy difficulty decreases as you go along though, with the final zone straight up gives you an infinite ammo 1-3HKO weapon.
The real highlight in this game for me were the stalker scenarios in each of the four zones. The first chapter left me terrified to move for half of it, crawling and spending 90% of my time checking to see where the stalker was. The second chapter's stalker led to some tense moments, having to constantly run back and forth between the safe zones and the rest of it - although honestly it didn't seem to do that much damage so maybe I was being overly safe. The third chapter's stalker is probably the weakest, being the most predictable and easy to avoid along with no real scary moments involving it outside of the introduction and a segment near the end of the level. The fourth chapter was another highlight, leaving me constantly tense going through the open areas wondering if he was gonna pop up and if I was gonna have to sprint for my life.
The game's story was overall pretty solid - I enjoyed the stories of each of the patients, and I think the game did a good job at making you feel bad for what happened to each of them. The finale was nice narratively, although I'd be lying if I didn't say that the final boss fight was kinda disappointing.
TheLivingTombstone did a great job on the soundtrack, and I kinda hope he works on more games after this one. The vocal songs are all standouts, with my favorites being A Doll's House, Bottom of the Pit, Whatever It Takes, and Here Comes A Savior.
I hope there's a follow-up that concludes this story, but honestly I'm worried on how they could possibly do that. At least from how the game ends, any potential sequel sounds like it would have a different tone and most likely have a super high emphasis on gunplay and combat, which would make for a disappointing follow-up depending on how it's done.
also you can pet the cat and that alone is enough to make this game amazing
The real highlight in this game for me were the stalker scenarios in each of the four zones. The first chapter left me terrified to move for half of it, crawling and spending 90% of my time checking to see where the stalker was. The second chapter's stalker led to some tense moments, having to constantly run back and forth between the safe zones and the rest of it - although honestly it didn't seem to do that much damage so maybe I was being overly safe. The third chapter's stalker is probably the weakest, being the most predictable and easy to avoid along with no real scary moments involving it outside of the introduction and a segment near the end of the level. The fourth chapter was another highlight, leaving me constantly tense going through the open areas wondering if he was gonna pop up and if I was gonna have to sprint for my life.
The game's story was overall pretty solid - I enjoyed the stories of each of the patients, and I think the game did a good job at making you feel bad for what happened to each of them. The finale was nice narratively, although I'd be lying if I didn't say that the final boss fight was kinda disappointing.
TheLivingTombstone did a great job on the soundtrack, and I kinda hope he works on more games after this one. The vocal songs are all standouts, with my favorites being A Doll's House, Bottom of the Pit, Whatever It Takes, and Here Comes A Savior.
I hope there's a follow-up that concludes this story, but honestly I'm worried on how they could possibly do that. At least from how the game ends, any potential sequel sounds like it would have a different tone and most likely have a super high emphasis on gunplay and combat, which would make for a disappointing follow-up depending on how it's done.
also you can pet the cat and that alone is enough to make this game amazing
I went in with no expectations and was surprised by how much I liked In Sound Mind. With indie horror you never know what you’re going to get—an asset flip with nothing but loud noises or something with actual substance? This fell into the latter, impressively so, with a decent story involving mental illness, plus combat and puzzles, as well as a number of chapters with different environments and bosses associated with them. There was even a pesky antagonist that stalked the player throughout the entire game; I noticed him peeking around corners, or watching from a bit away. It was extremely effective.
And sometimes it’s the little details that really stand out. Each chapter had a song attached to it, and I love when music is implemented in such a way (Alan Wake 2 comes to mind).
And sometimes it’s the little details that really stand out. Each chapter had a song attached to it, and I love when music is implemented in such a way (Alan Wake 2 comes to mind).
One of the best horror games I've played in recent years.
Being in the AA space it won't have the production values of something like RE Village but the puzzles and exploration are just as good, if not better, and there's a surprisingly emotional story with an amazing soundtrack to boot.
Combat isn't great but isn't the main focus nor is it actually bad.
It's a shame it's been overlooked likely due to all the first person horror wank on the market but this game is unmissable for horror fans.
Being in the AA space it won't have the production values of something like RE Village but the puzzles and exploration are just as good, if not better, and there's a surprisingly emotional story with an amazing soundtrack to boot.
Combat isn't great but isn't the main focus nor is it actually bad.
It's a shame it's been overlooked likely due to all the first person horror wank on the market but this game is unmissable for horror fans.
The brightest flames burn twice as fast. In Sound Mind starts so very strong but loses it's direction and begins to drag on by the turning point of the story.
An introspective horror game well worth a try. Prepare for a mostly generic gameplay experience, where most enjoyment comes from the story and some memorable scenes/moments.
An introspective horror game well worth a try. Prepare for a mostly generic gameplay experience, where most enjoyment comes from the story and some memorable scenes/moments.
Game isnt horror, there is only 1-2 jumpscares and that's it, combat is somewhat ok though what makes this game special is its unique narrative, puzzles,relatable characters with their problematic background and beautiful soundtracks. Recommend if youre into games about psychologic trauma games like SOMA.
I loved the hell out of this game. Story was incredible, the gameplay felt original and interesting, and it was pretty fun to 100% as well! Also thanks to The Living Tombstone for making an INCREDIBLE soundtrack.
unsound mid
This was a pretty fun horror game! It didn't scare me that much truth be told, but I like the mental health angle it approached, and appreciated how it made it out to be not a problem or issue but something to overcome and better yourself as. If I had any complaint it would be that some of the levels can be a little long and exhausting by the end, but besides that I greatly enjoyed my playthrough!
It's not really a horror game and it has some problems with tone, going from weirdly humorous to creepy in a jiffy, but the antagonist's phone calls are really, really leeching the creep out of the atmosphere, adding some levity.
The game itself is an interesting mix of first person exploring, puzzling, shooting and jumping, though the levels are a bit long and inconsistent in my opinion.
Setting and story held my interest right up until the end, propping up the rather average gameplay loop to make it a decent overall experience.
The game itself is an interesting mix of first person exploring, puzzling, shooting and jumping, though the levels are a bit long and inconsistent in my opinion.
Setting and story held my interest right up until the end, propping up the rather average gameplay loop to make it a decent overall experience.
The ost is perfect, I love the living tombstone. The gameplay is great, keeping you engaged the whole time. Graphically its not the best but I can do without that. The concept of going into tapes to help people through their struggles makes this unique as hell, my favorite being Virginia's tape (the first one). The concept of being a therapist and having to help your patients who were considered a "lost cause" by many is just awesome dude. And it has an ending you wont soon forget.
HIGHLY recommended.
HIGHLY recommended.
Leshoid Gives It A: Very cool!
Beaten on the: 17/04/24
Beaten on the: 17/04/24
- Interesting game with the setting and premise, kinda falls flat on what it is trying to do but is enjoyable enough to play it once.
- Sadly, even with that the game is not very memorable.
- Sadly, even with that the game is not very memorable.