MindSeize (2020)

After a successful kick-starter campaign, Kamina Dimension developed the action-adventure title MindSeize. The game plays like a standard Metroidvania, with upgrades distributed throughout the different environments. Your character, M.C. Fox, is a crippled private investigator. Despite this handicap, he can send his mind into a mech, allowing him to combat opponents. This mech begins with both a melee weapon and a machine gun, and as the game progresses, you unlock new weapons and abilities that increase your capabilities.

"Excercise your mind and reflexes."

Thanks to a variety of weapons and upgrades this game had more legs than I had initially thought, and whilst it's fun to try to unlock everything and upgrade yourself to the nth degree, but with a formulaic approach to this genre it is just a little bit too forgettable as a game to really stand out in such a saturated market.

A pacey, exciting game, MindSeize excels when it pits you one-on-one against one of its varied, aggressive bosses, but there are no elements of this little gem that aren't up to scratch. You're constantly moving forward and getting better at it, and the level design is good stuff. We don't feel like the Metroidvania backtracking really adds much to the experience, but it didn't spoil our fun. What we have here, ultimately, is a fantastic action game that's been forced into the shape of a markedly less brilliant Metroidvania, a format that doesn't play to the game's strengths. So, very good indeed, but could definitely have been a classic with a little more structure.

Villainous robots have made off with your daughter’s mind in MindSeize, a planet-hopping action-platformer in the vein of retro Metroidvania games. Is it a worthy successor to the classics, or does it prioritise style over substance? Let’s review.