State of Mind

State of Mind is extremely cinematic, from its sweeping cutscenes, to how the story’s drama unfolds.

While State of Mind does follow pretty directly in the footsteps of prior cyberpunk stories and themes… it’s not always what is being told but how it’s being told that makes the difference… and State of Mind can draw you in and make you want to know what’s going on. If in doubt, wait for it to be on special… but if you want a less hectic gaming experience with a cinematic feel… State of Mind could be just what you are after.

A ten hour journey to our near future, featuring an aesthetically pleasing art style and a very human drama that successfully lands the philosophical questions of being and wonders about the limits of what is human and what existence is. Not a traditional adventure but a well-directed cyberpunk experience.

Although the gameplay does not have much to offer, it is practically impossible not to love this dynamic adventure of Daedalic Entertainmen: thanks to its own style, State of Mind is able to tell a story that is worth living.

A well-executed overall concept á la Black Mirror and Altered Carbon.

It’s a solid material for a movie. That form might actually be more suitable, because it would eliminate State of Mind’s biggest issues: awful controls and the fact that there are few interactions and decisions to make. However I recommend it to every cyberpunk fan, because even the writers of Deus Ex games could learn a thing or two from State of Mind. [11/2018, p.61]

If State of Mind is slow, it’s only because it takes the proper amount of time to unfold its world and story. Gameplay may be a bit limited but there are so many good ideas about the concepts it evokes that you can’t help but love it.

State of Mind is a thriller with an interesting story taking place in an atmospheric world that digs deep into ethical questions about what it is to be human and artificial intelligence.

A worthwhile, if unspectacular, cyberpunk thriller. [Issue#204, p.81]

State of Mind is a good narrative game that brings you in a very well created futuristic world. A Sci-fi thriller that doesn't need a challenging gameplay to be appreciated and keeps you in suspense until the final credits.

While the dystopic futuristic art design of Berlin is engaging and the deep and well written story of State of Mind has a lot of things to say to the player, in the end what we get is a “walking simulator” that takes us by the hand, leaving us with little to nothing to actually do.

There’s a lot of personality in the aesthetics of Daedalic’s new adventure. State of Mind offers a gameplay not challenging but with an intriguing Sci Fi plot.

State of Mind's aspiration of telling a recognisably human story set in a believable near future full of society-altering technology is so close to being great, but limited animation, outdated gameplay and occasionally stilted voice acting hold it back.

State of Mind asks important questions and offers a mostly well-written story, but lacks the gameplay mechanics and the engaging puzzles to be a truly great game.

From the slow pace and the bland choices of game design, State of Mind is certainly not one of the best sci-fi productions of recent years, but could intrigue the most avid fans for its essential style and extremely contrasting environments.

The entertaining story with its interesting themes is held back by bland minigames and clunky controls.

State of Mind pursues a thematically exciting idea, but fails due to trivial gameplay and weak staging.

With its story, State of Mind has become an interesting adventure game. However, poor gameplay animations of the game sort of kills the excitement of the story.

State of Mind has nothing special to offer for Sci-Fi fans and even arcade gamers, and besides that, the gameplay is slow and the potentially solid story isn't developed well enough. But it still is a step forward for Daedalic Entertainment who did a great job in designing a futuristc Berlin 30 years from now.

It’s a huge problem when the narrative of a narrative adventure fails to come together in a satisfying way, yet I struggle to write State of Mind off completely when its style is so striking, its world so rich, its ideas so fascinating. The game reportedly had a long development cycle, so it’s possible that Ganteföhr simply ran out of the time or resources necessary to properly finish telling this story, but even if the questions here are infinitely more interesting than the answers, I’m glad that someone is asking them.

State of mind is a science fiction adventure based upon the idea of transhumanism that forces us to reflect on it, also due to its narrative-oriented content. With this game Daedalic aimed for first contact with a new gameplay but without casting away the thing that they love the most, which is telling stories.

A long cyberpunk adventure that manages to be both unique and unoriginal, intriguing and terribly dull.

State of Mind is a dystopian rehash of digital dysfunctionality that’s neither new nor complex enough to distinguish itself from the horde. It redeems itself with character writing that feels barbarically realistic, thoughtful world-design, and the occasional stunning vista. State of Mind works hard to provide a serious discourse on the impacts of technological revolution — the only problem is, we’ve already heard most of it before.

State of Mind stands as the most ambitious brainchild of award-winning German game writer/designer Martin Ganteföhr and it executes its purpose as a satisfactory narrative-driven experience despite it uninspired setting and disappointing main character.

One thing that I do appreciate is that they recognized and use the vehicle of gaming as a workable, productive, and even ideal arena to introduce and engage in conversations of relative pertinence to our lives, what our lives may become, and how we approach considerations of options.

Story is pretty much all that State of Mind going for, but slow pacing and monotonous gameplay of the first half, as well as weak environmental storytelling, lack of decent puzzles and nonlinearity suck out fun.

Daedalic Entertainment’s State of Mind wants players to explore the idea of what is it that makes us us, but never provides the player any real opportunity to do so. You simply follow the path and mark off another check mark. In the end all you’re really doing is little more than counting electric sheep.

Many of State of Mind’s ideas sound great on paper, but as an interactive thriller it fails to establish proper stakes, with virtually no challenge, a world with few likeable characters, and a story sparse on purposeful events.