Submission declined on 26 October 2024 by Zxcvbnm (talk).
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Comment: The game is unquestionably notable, but I think it uses some unreliable sources and not enough WP:RS. See WP:VG/S and use more reliable sources listed on there. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 18:03, 26 October 2024 (UTC)
| Minds Beneath Us | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | BearBone Studio |
| Publisher(s) | BearBone Studio |
| Producer(s) | Ted Chang |
| Designer(s) |
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| Programmer(s) |
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| Artist(s) |
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| Writer(s) | Ted Chang |
| Composer(s) | Kevin "Kounine" Colombin |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Minds Beneath Us is a 2024 adventure video game developed and published by BearBone Studio and released on Steam for Microsoft Windows on 31 July 2024.
Minds Beneath Us takes place in a cyberpunk fictional city set loosely in East Asia. The player assumes the role of an unidentified artificial intelligence that is able to take control of human individuals. For most of the game, the AI controls the recently hired Jason Dai as he navigates his new job at a "flop farm". During his initial training, he witnesses the dystopian effects of AI on the unemployed as well as the lack of care given to them, all while uncovering a potential conspiracy involving his workplace.
Gameplay
editMinds Beneath Us is a adventure game presented as a side-scroller with a stylized fusion of 2D and 3D art-styles. For most of the game, the player takes control of ex-military civilian Jason Dai as he navigates his new job to better support his significant other, Frances Cheng.[1] The player controls Dai by having him move left and right to interact with the world and any non-playable characters, dialogue choices presented will have an effect on how the characters act and react to the player character. Combat in the game is simple, consisting of quick-time events involving two buttons.[1]
Plot
editMinds Beneath Us takes place in the fictional city of Wanpei where the rise of advanced AI technology and sea level has resulted in rampant unemployment and the mass displacement of people. To address the high unemployment and to take advantage of the economy now relying heavily on AI, "flop farming" was introduced, a technology that uses human brains as hardware to contribute to AI processing. Flop farming usually involves the poor and destitute as well as undocumented illegal immigrants as only they are desperate enough to be hooked to machinery for extended periods of time, a process that is invasive and potentially leads to detrimental side effects. Everything in society runs on AI from home temperature regulation to district-wide transit management, and as such, society has come to rely on flop farming and the lower class who suffer from said technology.
The player takes control of a smuggler by the name of Ivan Zhang who appears to be in a locked hospital room alongside one of his associates. The player is tasked with finding a way out of the hospital, which is locked with a military grade lock. It is then revealed that the player does not assume Zhang but rather, an artificial consciousness called an M.B.U that is able to control certain individuals and is tasked with obtaining information from Zhang and his associate. It is also revealed that the player is not in a hospital room, but rather a simulated room supervised by the M.B.U's supervisor. An anomalous entity then emerged and killed the M.B.U's supervisors before setting it free and sending it away.
The player then takes control of Jason Dai, an ex-military civilian and recent new hire at one of Vision Corps' flop farms. Jason has taken this job to better support his overworked activist girlfriend Frances Cheng who is notably a supervisor at the very same flop farm Jason is applying for. Vision Corp is one of the leading corporations with a major foothold on the nation, being the one most involved in AI technology and software. Within the flop farm, Jason learns the process on how individuals are screened, sent through consultation, and finally racked up onto machinery for extended periods of times as flop contributors, flop being the unit of measurement for computational power for AIs. Jason also familiarizes with his coworkers who can come from opposing factions regarding the ethics of flop farms. The Screening division, consisting of workers responsible for screening, consultation, and contracting, believe that flop farms are an important life line for the impoverished unemployed who have no other way to gain money, and as such wish to ensure the continuance of the flop farm. Meanwhile, the Operations division, consisting of workers responsible of racking contributors to machinery and maintaining them, believe flop farming to be unethical as they reduce the identity of a person to mere numbers and often lead to serious injury or death due to faulty and slowly degrading hardware, and as such wish to discontinue the flop farm. As Jason, the player can choose which stance to support or attempt to bridge both opposing factions into an agreement.
Jason then discovers that his manager has stolen classified Vision documents and, in a scramble to avoid apprehension, has sent the documents as a hard drive to Frances. This results in Frances being aware of potentially inhuman practices being done by Vision on flop contributors. Feeling upset, Frances stormed into Vision CEO Shane Yan's office to demand immediate remedy only to be assaulted and hospitalized by mercenaries hired by Vision. Jason then rushes to the hospital where he encounters gang members sent by Vision to kill him and his girlfriend and soon they both get rescued by agents from OWL, a semi-governmental entity that acts in the interest of all corporations equally to maintain a neutral position.
The agents consist of communications officer 23, civilian operative Lawrence Chang, and the leader Nin Situ who has superhuman strength and reflexes due to being a genetically engineered human, all of them are investigating Vision for potential human rights violations from flop farming. Jason learns from Situ that he is also a genetically engineered human, explaining his unknown strength and propensity to being controlled by M.B.Us. Both Jason and Frances agree to assist the agents in their investigation.
While working with the agents, Jason and Frances both realize the contrasting viewpoints of the agents with 23 being a deontologist, Lawrence believing in vigilantism, and Situ being a consequentialist. This is made more complex with 23 being in love with Situ while Lawrence idolizes Situ. Regardless, all parties are able to perform espionage and uncover multiple documents regarding secrets Vision keeps from the public. This includes Vision producing more flops than what it is able too, suggesting unknown flop farms being operated outside of the public eye, and purchases that prove Vision has been involved in child trafficking. Aggravated by this, Jason and the agents infiltrate an abandoned construction site to rescue the children but were ambushed by mercenaries in the process. The leader of which, a war criminal named Chameleon, forces Situ into a one sided battle that she manages to overcome albeit with injuries.
Jason, Frances and the agents regrouped back at the safehouse where they plan a final mission to know why Vision needed children and to end any unethical human experimentation, this involves them breaking into a heavily secure Vision secret laboratory where the unknown flops are coming from. Inside the lab, it is revealed that Vision needed biological samples from the children to produce untarnished human clones for flop contribution. They posit that the clones can replace impoverished citizens in flop contribution and that the clones are defined as biological hardware without any rights or identification, and as such, the practice is entirely ethical. It is also revealed that in order to maximize profit, the clones have their limbs cut off, their brains enlarged, and have memories of real individuals implanted within them, thus making them self-aware, this horrifies Jason, Situ and Lawrence enough to have them plan on blowing up the entire facility.
After placing down enough explosives, Jason and Lawrence rush to arrest CEO Shane Yan but they were intervened by other agents of OWL who reveal than a new law was passed by the legislature earlier than morning that now legalizes the practice of cloning humans for flop contribution. As such, the unsanctioned infiltration carried out by Situ, Jason and Lawrence must cease as it now falls under terrorism. Situ agrees to pull back, however, Jason and Lawrence are given the choice to back down and join OWL, or to suffer imprisonment or execution. Depending on the player's dialogue choices and interactions with the characters, multiple endings can be reached for Jason, Lawrence, and other related characters Jason has interacted with in the story.
Development
editMinds Beneath Us was developed by Taiwanese indie game studio BearBone Studios, it is notably their first game published. BearBone Studios started out as a group of university students with the shared dream of forming a game studio, the idea came about while working on a graduation project.[2] The group formed BearBone Studios right after graduation after getting the confidence from experienced game developers, and receiving many opportunities and support from Taiwan's game development market.[2] The studio's core group members consist of seven individuals, each taking a specific role in game development but with an emphasis on visual presentation as five of the members take on art related roles.[2]
The inspiration for Minds Beneath Us comes from lead writer Ted Chang's personal dissatisfaction with societal issues and the desire to share thoughts and ideas on the matter, finding games to be the perfect medium for sharing them.[2] In particular, the Chang expressed disappointment with society's insistence on seeking simple evils to fight rather than thinking of the nuanced issues associated.[2] This is better exemplified by Nin Situ, one of the characters within the game, who has a constantly changing stance on matters but still struggles to uphold justice despite her ever changing values.[2]
As of now, the developers are working on porting Minds Beneath Us to other consoles with a Nintendo Switch port confirmed.[2]
Reception
edit| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 86/100[3] |
| OpenCritic | 88% recommend[4] |
Minds Beneath Us received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.
References
edit- ^ a b Sledge, Ben (31 July 2024). "Minds Beneath Us Is The Best Dystopian Sci-Fi Game You'll Play This Year". TheGamer.
- ^ a b c d e f g Yamit, Neil (22 September 2024). "'Minds Beneath Us', An interview with Bear Bone Studio". whatoplay.
- ^ "Minds Beneath Us for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
- ^ "Minds Beneath Us Reviews". OpenCritic. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
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