In Sound Mind

Really great game let down by modern game design tropes. You know the memes where a video game character won't shut up, telling you exactly what to do immediately and without prompting? That's who you play as. You click on a screw and your character says something like "I could unscrew this". Every time. However, it's a wonderfully told story. Even if the subject is one I've heard before, it's told in a unique way. The gameplay is interesting and I enjoyed looking for collectibles. The soundtrack is really cool. There's some spookiness to enjoy though I feel like it gets less spooky as you progress the levels. If the protagonist spoke less and didn't treat the player like an idiot it would be a near perfect game.

[Potential spoilers] [i]In Sound Mind[/i] is, and I am very dramatically simplifying this, about a therapist trying to overcome his patients’ deaths and his own grief. This game means so much to me from every aspect of my life, because I know what it means to grieve, to feel loss, to have no one believe in you, to reach the edge of the very line that puts you out of commission for all eternity, to say goodbye and never look back. I was not going into it expecting a therapist storyline about pain and inner turmoil. After all, the game did not feel completely like a horror game. Yes, we have the classic elements of jump scares and eerie music, but it felt playful in some aspects, like a quasi-comedic horror with a serious undertone for us to delve into a chaotic mess of mystery and thriller. When the main character defended his patients, I realized that helping someone and believing in them are so important. We often find ourselves telling others, as friends, family, or even as strangers or peers, that this person is a lost cause, that they will never change, that they will never get better, that he or she will always be like this for all eternity. But that is not how life works. Nothing is forever. Nobody is forever. Even objects as dense as supermassive black holes will eventually evaporate and die, and us humans? We are only here for an extremely short time in comparison. So what gives us the right to dictate someone’s life, someone’s change? Having been told, “that you'll never change,” by an ex-friend of mine really broke me. Did I change? Every year I grew up with a different version of me, some bad, some good, some excellent, some horrible. I reinvented myself every time I found pain, guilt, shame, heartbreak, anger, joy, happiness, anticipation, ecstasy. You need one person to believe in you, just one. When you lose your way, you just need one: a good friend, a good parent, a good mentor, or a good therapist. And this is what this game taught me. When the patients had lost their way, when the turmoil of each of them weighed them down so heavily, the therapist never gave up on them. No, he fought through them, and he fought for himself too. A therapist is in a constant battle between their patients and themselves. Because what happens to a therapist who is dealing with their own doubts, disobedience drenched in capricious nature, perhaps their own mental health issues? They fight, they go through therapy, get on medication, and do their best to make sure no one else faces it alone. It is not science. It is a journey. It is love, and most importantly, it is connection. A therapist, a good one, will always believe in you, will make sure they open their heart to you so you feel it is a safe place to stay, that the cruelty of the world would pale in comparison to the sanctuary in their world, in their home, in their voice that holds no shame. That is what Desmond taught me. That is what this game teaches. Despite its minor flaws, such as not being able to replay a particular chapter or easily backtrack for collectibles, this game was excellent. Great animation at the end, fantastic soundtracks, an amazing storyline, and overall solid gameplay mechanics and aesthetics. A solid 9/10 on my part. Love this game!

打折顺手买的游戏没想到超出意料的很好玩，不算很恐怖，微恐吧，但氛围营造得很好，解谜难度适中，刚好是需要稍微动一下脑的程度，但也不会太卡关，顺着把地图摸一遍一路玩下去还是挺顺畅的。战斗难度偏低，资源充裕。缺点就是有些地方引导比较弱，还有就是最终的boss战折磨人，还很无聊，不过不是很长，也就还能接受吧。 一共四个单元章和一个较短的主线章，游玩体验来说我最喜欢第二章和第四章，[spoiler] 第二章有漆黑的海岸、猩红的灯塔和如影随形的阴影，第四章则是浓雾掩盖的森林和徘徊逡巡的以探照灯为眼的机械怪物， [/spoiler]氛围一绝，boss也很酷，尤其第二章通关后再听唱片感觉特别爽（） 剧情也很不错，人物塑造得都很好，boss战结束的对白都直击心灵。暗线看得一知半解，之后应该会二周目认真再过一遍。 全收集挺简单的，需要注意的是第二章码头处有两个箱子堵门的位置，那里的药一定要趁着阴影还在的时候拿了，箱子只能靠boss融化，boss没了就进不去了，或者就是像我一样只融了一个箱子卡在门里进得去出不来，最后只能通关后再打一次第二章补药。其他药都可以boss战后拿着镜子慢慢找，还是比较好找的。

Should be GOTY (even in 2026).

This game messes with you so much and not a single time was it ever annoying, more than worth the price tag.

I do NOT recommend this game, I am just putting yes so you will see that this game was created in Israel. On top of simply not wanting your money to go to a genocidal apartheid regime that routinely murders innocent arabs and other peoples worldwide, the game is simply bad. Isntreal runs the best bot networks of all time. Guaranteed more than half these positive reviews are fakes, which explains how a game this bad could be rated 96% positive. Seriously from the very first line of spoken text I was like ...this is cornball writing. And it never improved from there. "You're being chased by shadow spirits, trust me you're gonna want a gun"... smh

Эта игра стала для меня неожиданным открытием. Проходится на одном дыхании. Атмосферные и разнообразные локации, музыка и сюжет, который полностью раскрывается к четвёртой кассете. Гладить котика здесь отдельный элемент геймплея и очень важная часть погружения, в конце сами поймёте почему. Настоящее чудо, а не игра, сделана с душой. Но тег "хоррор" может ввести в заблуждение: игра не страшная, здесь нет скримеров и пугающих моментов, хотя и локации гнетущие. [spoiler]Хотя, смотря с какой стороны посмотреть. На деле это одна из самых страшных игр, ведь она очень жизненная, ведь настоящий антагонист здесь ВЫ и ваши психологические загоны, что куда страшнее рандомно орущего скримера, вылетающего из-за угла.[/spoiler]

[h1][b]The game has a talking cat [/b][/h1] [h3][b]What I liked about the game[/b][/h3] [list] [*] Fantastic soundtrack. The soundtrack blends in well with the game’s theme. [*] I like the idea behind the game/story. I like the idea that you can use cassette tapes to enter the world of Desmond’s (protagonist) patients to discover what happened to them. I like the role that Mayer Pharmaceutical (one of the game’s main antagonists) played and how it was linked to the patients. I like that you have a hub area to explore and come back to. The game can make you feel emotional sometimes. [*] Likable characters like Tonia, Desmond and the best character in all gaming history Dave. I liked that Tonia is a cat. I thought the bosses throughout the game were amazing. [*] I thought the puzzles throughout the game were fun and not overly challenging. They’re not the type of puzzles that make you look up a guide or make you put foot through the monitor. [*] The game has its scary moments. The supermarket level was probably the best. [*] Plenty of hidden items throughout the game. As you play through the game you will come across items which will unlock new areas, like a glass shard or flare gun. [*] The game play was solid. [*] The game was just the right length. [h3][b]What I disliked or was disappointed with[/b][/h3] [*] Enemies (excluding bosses) were a bit boring. The game’s common enemies reminded me of them boring tar-like enemies from Resident Evil 7. [*] Would have liked the game to have been scarier. The first cassette was fantastic, but unfortunately, in terms of scariness, the rest of the tapes went a bit downhill in that regard. The level locations were perfect and the horror atmosphere is good, but the horror could have been better. [*] Too family friendly, needed more blood and gore. [*] Would have been cool if the player could use melee weapons. [*] Stamina is a bit pathetic, even when upgraded. It made the last tape and the final boss a pain in the ass to complete. [*] Agent Rainbow (main antagonist) was a bit over the top. [/list] [h3][b]Conclusion[/b][/h3] It’s amazing how We Create Stuff have gone from creating mods to making their first full game. The game reminded me a lot of Alan Wake, with it taking place in a small town. The game tells a very interesting story. The game also has an amazing soundtrack and enjoyable puzzles. If you like story driven games, then I highly recommend you give this game a go. [h1][b]8/10[/b][/h1]

You can tell a lot of love went into this game. It's not perfect by any means, but it has tons of good ideas which made it well worth playing through. I took my time playing the game, explore, do side objectives, pet the cat, read stuff, and it took me 15h to complete.