MindsEye Tries to Bounce Back With Free Starter Pack as Studio Turmoil Grows

MindsEye, the action-adventure game from Build A Rocket Boy, is getting a second chance to pull in new players; this time with a newly released free starter pack. Dropping quietly on November 28, the move is designed to give players a taste of the “ever-expanding gameplay experience” the studio keeps promising, all while the game’s reputation and internal studio conflicts spiral in public view.

The free pack is now live across Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles. It includes the opening campaign mission and a handful of rotating ARCADIA missions and challenges. The hope: you’ll get hooked on the action, despite the game’s rocky launch and scathing early reviews.

Players will jump into the shoes of Jacob Diaz, an ex-soldier with a neural implant and tangled, fractured memories. The demo starts with a bang, literally, as Diaz is drawn into an explosion that leads straight into a high-speed chase and a pitched firefight across a sprawling city. The included campaign mission is called Robin Hood, promising a densely cinematic taste of MindsEye’s approach to storytelling and chaos.

Alongside the main story mission, Build A Rocket Boy is throwing open the doors to a “variety” of ARCADIA missions. These short-form game modes and challenges rotate in and out, with fresh ones supposedly added on the regular. Here’s what’s currently on offer:

• Garden Party – Drone Race
• Chase The Sun – Drone Race
• Honour Among Thieves Downtown – Goin’ Haywire
• Crosstown Traffic – Checkpoint Race
• Rude Interruption
• Turbulence – Race
• Free Bird – Sky Race
• Winging It – Checkpoint Race
• Craz-Eye Taxi – Checkpoint Race
• Friendly Fire
• Cruise Control – Sky Race
• Fractured Echo – Survival Horde
• Road To Hell – Race

Build A Rocket Boy says these modes are “updated regularly”, aiming to keep things feeling fresh and unpredictable for newcomers wading in through the free pack.

MindsEye’s gameplay is only half the story. The launch was plagued by harsh reviews; one especially damning critique called it “ridiculous, inconsistent and utterly atrocious.” The studio hasn’t exactly taken the backlash quietly.

Leslie Benzies, MindsEye’s lead and founder of Build A Rocket Boy, claimed in an internal meeting last month that “saboteurs” inside the studio helped tank the game’s reception. This bombshell accusation came soon after news of staff layoffs and a wave of online negativity, which Benzies called “uncalled for.” According to him, both “internal and external” forces were out to undermine MindsEye’s launch.

Staff unrest has been public as well. Weeks before Benzies’ comments, a group of developers issued an open letter targeting studio leadership for “longstanding disrespect and mistreatment.” It wasn’t the first time company execs blamed outside forces: co-CEO Mark Gerhard previously jumped into the official MindsEye Discord server to say, “all the people who reacted negatively were financed by someone.” He also claimed there was a “concerted effort” at play, cryptically adding, “It doesn’t take much to guess who.”

Even publisher IO Interactive, initially attached to the project, has since stepped back and officially distanced itself from MindsEye as the situation grew messier. Now, with the free starter pack, Build A Rocket Boy is banking on giving players something substantial to try first-hand, hoping the gameplay will outshine the headlines and win over some of the crowd they’ve lost.