Review | Mindcop - Five Days, One Killer, And A Whole Lot Of Overthinking
Picture this: a sleepy little town with a murder problem, a detective with a penchant for psychic surfing, and five days to catch the killer. That’s Mindcop for you. Developed by Andre Gareis and published by Dear Villagers, this noir-inspired adventure is part detective game, part existential crisis.
The Vibes Are Immaculate
Mindcop is an aesthetic wonder. The art style is digitally hand-drawn perfection, balancing a muted grey palette with dramatic flashes of red lights that scream, “Something shady is happening here.” It’s like wandering through an art exhibit, but with more murder. The tutorial even has wonderful hand-drawn sketches.
The opening guitar strums give off Narcos vibes, instantly setting the mood for your morally ambiguous detective work. Add in stellar voice acting in the cutscenes (though the in-game dialogue doesn’t quite hit the same highs), and you’ve got a game that feels as polished as it looks.
The writing also uses a serif font, which is a nice detail/accessibility addition that should make it easier for most people to read.
Detective Work, But Make It Stressful
Mindcop is a point-and-click detective game, which sounds straightforward until you realise there’s a time mechanic breathing down your neck. Want to inspect that suspicious briefcase? That’ll cost you. Question a suspect? Better hope you’ve budgeted enough minutes for their rambling answers. Mindcop is all about time management, which is great if you thrive under pressure, but maddening if you’re the type who likes to poke every pixel before committing to a decision.
The investigation unfolds in stages: inspect a scene, question suspects, and then decide whether to mindsurf or make an arrest. Arresting someone ends your day, so you’d better be sure they’re guilty—or, at the very least, expendable. You only get one arrest per day, so choose wisely.
There’s a clever twist with search warrants, too. Use one, and the person on the receiving end might clam up faster than you can say “obstruction of justice.” It’s a juggling act that will see you trying to balance your actions with interpreting clues, all while desperately hoping you haven’t missed the one thing that’ll crack open the case.
You’re not alone in this chaos. Your partner, Linda, is a tall, enigmatic woman who claims to see the emotional “colours” of people’s voices. It’s a quirky gimmick that doesn’t add much to the investigation, but her banter with Mindcop is charming enough to overlook that. You also have Marry to help analyse anything back at the lab.
Surf’s Up in the Sea of Thoughts
Ah, the mindsurf mini-game. This is where Mindcop veers into the delightfully weird. Picture a match-three puzzle where you guide “mind bullets” into lines to extend your timer and navigate stress-inducing obstacles called “stressors.” Succeed, and you’ll end up in the “Sea of Thoughts,” facing three metaphorical doors: truth, uncertainty, and lies.
The truth door is self-explanatory. The uncertainty door? A bit tricky, but manageable. The lie door, though, needs to be clarified. Is it an outright fabrication? A warped half-truth? A surrealist nightmare conjured by the suspect’s subconscious? Who knows. It’s all part of the fun/frustration.
Replayability That’ll Make You Question Everything
One of Mindcop’s greatest strengths is its replayability. Even if you nail the case on your first run, you’ll want to dive back in to explore different paths, talk to suspects you ignored, and make questionable decisions just to see what happens. And if you’re short on patience, the game lets you skip straight to specific days once you’ve completed a playthrough so that you can purposefully accuse an innocent bystander or nail the suspect on your second go around.
Final Thoughts
Mindcop is a moody, mind-bending detective game that thrives on ambiguity. It’s gorgeous, inventive, and occasionally infuriating, but in the best way. Yes, the time limitations can be stressful, and the lie door might make you question your grasp on reality, but that’s part of the charm.
If you’re after a game that makes you think, laugh, and maybe yell at your screen, this one’s for you. Just remember: you’ve got five days to crack the case. No pressure.
Rating: 4/5
Stylish, cerebral, and just a bit bonkers—Mindcop is a detective game that sticks with you. Even if you don’t end up taking actual notes.
