Computer Minds Beneath Us Review

As an M.B.U, you're destined to be a mind without a body, hijacking someone else's mind and taking control over their body. When you end up in the mind of one Jason Dai, you find yourself embroiled in covert missions targeting Vision, one of the country's major corporations. What will you uncover and how will you react? The choice is yours; if you can bear the consequences, that is.


Minds Beneath Us leans heavily on the cyberpunk genre. Densely populated, neon-filled cityscapes with extensive automation fuel its universe visually while the narrative focuses on profit-hungry mega corporations that exacerbate social inequalities.

Developer BearBone Studio illustrates this dystopian, sci-fi universe well in a stylish art style and atmospheric soundtrack. The conversing NPCs and background animations further breathe some life into this universe.


While some aspects of the premise might sound generic, Minds Beneath Us stands out with its slice-of-life aspect. This is a strong component of the gameplay as you control Jason through his day-to-day tasks as a fresh Vision employee and it is well executed.

Initially, I found the lack of facial expressions, or any facial features for that matter, on the characters glaring as I thought they wouldn't help me relate to the character's emotions. But over the course of the game, I was able to overlook this art style as the characters' feelings and emotions are well translated through the conversations. However, this approach can make some characters less memorable; and it could have been addressed with some voice acting, if the budget allowed for it.



Minds Beneath Us is a noticeably text-heavy game. I often found myself reading through extensive conversations for several minutes without actual gameplay. As a fan of narrative driven games, I wasn't bothered much. This approach does help with fleshing out character traits as well as the plot. As some conversations contain important information and hints, I was glad to find that the game includes a log of past conversations.

While not all plot beats land graciously, the effort is commendable. Nevertheless, the execution could have been improved with more spaced out text and gameplay segments. BearBone Studio did attempt to diversify the gameplay with some QTE-based combat and platforming sessions but these are spread quite far apart.


When not engaged in lengthy talks, you'll control Jason in a side scrolling manner. You will also be able to interact with some environmental elements in a point-and-click fashion. Some elements just serve to flesh out some aspects of the universe, while others are actionable. There is an investigative aspect to Minds Beneath Us, so exploring your surroundings is encouraged and rewarded.

For example, whether to take on side quests is left up to you. But if you do follow them up, such as helping colleagues, they can open up other avenues and conversation prompts later. This is a well executed aspect of the branching narrative mechanic which rewards the inquisitive player.


By talking to NPCs and poking around the environment, you get to learn more about the company you work for and the people you work with. This helps in making decisions which can diverge the narrative. Even if most choices don't have consequences, they can be morally ambiguous. Other conversation choices are also timed, so you might not learn about a particular issue if you don't follow the lead quickly enough. This makes for a more engaging experience and kept me on edge, forcing me to carefully pick my responses.

However, Minds Beneath Us isn't too unforgiving with the choices you make. Even if your dialogue choices can create different paths, with NPCs responding in different ways, the majority don't have irreversible consequences. That said, the game does throw some consequential choices at you. In Chapter 3, you get to choose your work path between two options which leads to significantly different playthroughs midway through the game. The final chapter also has a major choice that determines the ending you receive.



One of the most divisive aspects of Minds Beneath Us will be its slow-burn nature. Taking control of Jason as he learns the ropes of his new job at Vision and not facing any action for hours can feel mundane. But I found this slice-of-life aspect quite original and engrossing.

However, my major complaint has to do with the mashup of ideas in the narrative. There's the M.B.U. that attempts to bring a dual protagonist plot; there's the fact that you work for a corporation with questionable ethical standards; participating in undercover operations; some Matrix-inspired elements; and some convoluted character backstories - including Jason's - that are in spoiler territory.


I often forgot that I was playing as an M.B.U. (an acronym that's never explained) and it turns out it didn't matter much. Weaving the M.B.U.'s story with Jason Dai's own is not necessarily for the best, even if it delivers an intriguing premise. Jason and the M.B.U.'s stories could have been made separate and it would have worked out as well; and could even have left room for a sequel. Another approach could have been to focus more on the M.B.U by "hopping" across several minds and exploring several short stories but in this game, it's more about "Jason" while the M.B.U. segment of the plot isn't fleshed out in a satisfactory way.


Furthermore, there is quite a noticeable amount of backtracking across Minds Beneath Us' 5 chapters. While this does make sense storywise, the reused environments become visually glaring over the course of the game's 12h of play time. Sights do change during the last chapter but by then this feels too late. This could have been addressed with a smaller scope, less lengthy conversations and a more streamlined story with clearly defined protagonists.

Overall, Minds Beneath Us provides an interesting premise with impactful in-game decisions. Fans of narrative driven games will find something to like about it, although it's not as polished as its counterparts. Nevertheless, it's a more than decent outing for developer BearBone Studio.

Minds Beneath Us Release Date Trailer