Enter the Mindwave tournament. Dive into your opponent’s mind to play a series of microgames based on their thoughts and memories. See who they are — and be careful to remember who you are.
This is the world of HoloHammer’s Mindwave (Demo available for free on Steam). The in-world game of the same name, played by our 16-year-old protagonist Pandora, has the same mechanics as the real-world Mindwave. Gameplay is also similar to Nintendo’s WarioWare, starring ‘microgames’: short, simple games presented quickly after each other. Tasks include popping bubbles or jumping to avoid obstacles. They are made difficult only through their relative speed or the introduction of ‘Gimmicks’ partway through, which complicate gameplay by flipping the game upside-down or adding pop-up ads to obscure vision.
The central premise of Mindwave is that the microgames are drawn from characters’ minds, which brilliantly integrates gameplay and story. The first opponent Pandora faces is the endlessly-lovable Abbie, whose microgames provide insight into her character. She transforms into cosplay, stares out the window of a train, and runs to hug a friend. These games are snappy and fun, despite their simplicity. They also weave together with previous dialogue to paint an even more compelling picture of Abbie.
On the first floor, Pandora finds her best friend, Smalls, who sneaks into the tournament. He urges her to talk to the varied cast of other contestants. One is Abbie, who stands out in her pajamas, clutching a teddy bear she made. She recently moved away from her best friend and snuck out to enter the tournament. Other characters include the unwelcoming Alex, varsity Mindwave player Roxy, abstract artist Kat and her best friend cosplaying the character “Slate”, a standoffish redhead interested in making movies, and the musician Dom.
Unfortunately, the dialogue system leaves players constantly hungry for more: there simply is not enough time to talk as much as you would like with all of the fascinating characters. The lack of easy options to skip the introduction to re-access dialogue adds frustration — some scenes have a skip feature available on the escape menu, but this isn’t obvious and not all scenes are skippable.
Gameplay and dialogue is engaging, but the presentation of Mindwave is beautiful. Its soundtrack is exceptional, particularly “Although the Sky“, the song playing during Abbie’s mind, granting even more detail into Abbie’s mindset as well as being a genuine bop. While its art style isn’t particularly realistic, it is unique and evocative. Screenshots from outside Abbie’s mind are instantly recognizable and those inside vary in an almost dreamlike way.
The Mindwave Demo is only available on Windows, but with Whisky or Wine, a program that allows Windows games to run on Mac or Linux, you can play it on other platforms.
The Kickstarter’s FAQ gives Mindwave’s projected release as September of 2027.
