The Mind’s Eclipse Review

Finally, I stand before you with an intriguing and oddly satisfying title. I was lucky enough to put my hands and eyes on The Mind’s Eclipse and if my luck does not run out during this review, I will try to put the game to its rightful place in your heads and hearts.

The Mind’s Eclipse is a science-fiction visual novel featuring hand-drawn scenes in black and white with emotional narrative-driven gameplay. The game is set in 2352 and is an utopic title, since we already lost hope about a brilliant future. Just kidding, or am I? Anyways, here comes a quick question. What is the fastest and most organic way to make us grow on the protagonist without getting to know him and makes us delve deep into the story of the game without spending hours? Yes, the protagonist must have amnesia, so we will start the game on an equal level. As he/she learns, we learn. This may look cheap to some, but it always works.

Explore a fallen utopia.

Just like I’ve mentioned before, we awake to this utopic world as the celebrity scientist Jonathan Campbell with no memory of being there and of course, why. Right after we wake up, a mysterious companion, L, greets us and introduces us to this fallen world. From another point of view, L shows us how to play the game and helps us through the first levels by teaching us how to interact with the world of the game.

The Mind’s Eclipse draw my attention with its name, first. After that, of course, hand-drawn scenes was the second reason I wanted to play it so badly, but we will get to that later. The Mind’s Eclipse is a total mystery and what you must do is to uncover the mysterious event of the Eclipse. Since our protagonist lost his memory and his only companion is L which is an unstable AI, we begin to unravel the story of the game together.

Jonathan must find his family and loved ones, yet only things you can find are logs and journals around the map. Thanks to the BOSy Implant you have, you can get access to other’s and terminal’s logs you find around the map. Like the developers warn us, The Mind’s Eclipse requires a lot of reading in order to solve the mystery that surrounds the story. Anything I will tell you about the story of the game will be a spoiler and I don’t want you to hate me, yet. I can say that, by using the technology of the time, you will interact with the logs and diaries of other people in order to find out who you are, where your family is and what happened to the world. From time to time, some flashbacks will hit you hard and give you hints about who you really are and what is your part in all of this.

Find your loved ones.

The world of The Mind’s Eclipse is dark and destroyed by some force we do not know. Without spending much time, you will realize that the world of the game still under the influence of this force named COSy. Who is COSy and what is the motive after all this are the questions you must answer during your gameplay.

I can easily say that Mind’s Eclipse Interactive created a marvelous world and story which connects sci-fi and mysterious dark story telling together. The story of the game always keeps your curiosity at high with a feeling that there is something wrong and dark behind all of this.

When it comes to hand-drawn scenes of The Mind’s Eclipse, I think it is the most fitting. Since the game is set in an utopic future which features sci-fi elements with a dark story, you expect the visuals to be depressing and sometimes, horrifying. The Mind’s Eclipse gives us just what we imagined.

The map and the world of the game is limited, yet there are buildings you can enter and items you can interact with. Right after you take your first steps away from the CORE Regional Hospital, you will find yourself in a world of hand-drawn sci-fi world. Even though it is limited; the drawings will help you create an understanding about what kind of life was going on on CORE. It is dark and disturbed with an uneasy feeling surrounds you. We could not expect less from a visual novel and believe me, The Mind’s Eclipse is a reckless wallpaper material if you are into taking screenshots.

Beware COSy.

Environmental sounds and soundtracks are the last components of this successful title. Even if it is limited with a tiny amount of time, voice acting is another aspect of The Mind’s Eclipse which I admire. It is disturbing, even creepy like it should be.

Even though it is short, The Mind’s Eclipse offers a unique and enjoyable gameplay with beautiful hand-drawn art and a mysterious story. Do not be fooled by the description of ‘visual novel’ since The Mind’s Eclipse is not something which you can enjoy without any effort. The Mind’s Eclipse is an interactive visual novel which means you actually need to play it. A tiny sacrifice which can be given for such a enjoyable experience.

During my gameplay, I’ve encountered with no bugs, glitches or crashes. It took me three hours to finish The Mind’s Eclipse and I am sure that I did not skip reading any log or diary. In the end, it made me realize that we need more of this, especially if you enjoy reading. Being a part of something you can read is a totally different experience and think of the joy when it is victoriously fictionalized.

If you like what you read, The Mind’s Eclipse is now available on Steam. What’s not to delve into the mysterious and dark word of The Mind’s Eclipse?

The Mind’s Eclipse was reviewed using the Steam key provided by the publisher.