Mind Scanners Is a Repetitive Riff on Papers, Please – Review in 3 Minutes

Mind Scanners Review in 3 Minutes Brave at Night The Outer Zone
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Mind Scanners is a futuristic simulation title developed by The Outer Zone and published by Brave at Night. You play as a citizen of The Structure, a shady government force that quarantines your daughter due to her mental illness. To gain the trust of The Structure, you agree to work as a Mind Scanner, with the sole purpose of diagnosing citizens with potential mental issues and fixing them with an assortment of treatment devices. Ultimately, your decisions impact your patient’s well-being, leaving you with ethical dilemmas.

My biggest gripe with Mind Scanners is how shallow and repetitive everything is. The story feels empty and lacks proper escalation. The gameplay is repetitive and becomes dry since almost every day feels the same. Even with the assortment of colorful characters, I found myself lacking concern or care for most. Since the title essentially makes you the protagonist, I didn’t connect with the idea of losing my daughter to the government. I felt as if I were working a mindless job, and my decisions had no actual consequences.

Although Mind Scanners attempts to carve out its own identity, it feels like an inferior version of Papers, Please.

Mind Scanners is available now on Steam for the price of $16.99.

Watch our full Review in 3 Minutes for Mind Scanners.


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Will Cruz
Meet Will Cruz, the Associate Producer in the AAA space and a regular critic via the 3 Minute Review series. But that's not all -- he also produces closed captions for The Escapist! Will's journey in the video game industry began in 2015, when he produced content for TrueAchievements. While pursuing his bachelor's in Film and Digital Media, he focused on content creation and has since worked with big names such as Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Disney, Netflix, and more. In his free time, Will is known to play Fortnite, read comics, write new songs, and constantly complain about sports and sports entertainment – looking at you, WWE and AEW.