Why MindsEye, a Game from GTA 5 Producer, Was a Total Flop

On June 10, 2025, a game called MindsEye was released. Its development was led by Leslie Benzies, a producer of GTA 5, who left the Rockstar studio in 2016. In this article, we will analyze the main reasons why his new project is considered unsuccessful.

In January 2017, immediately after opening his own studio, Leslie announced the Everywhere project. It was presented as a full-fledged metaverse, where users can communicate, visit each other's worlds and even create their own games. It could have turned out to be a kind of analogue of Roblox. And MindsEye was supposed to be a part of it.

In June 2024, Everywhere underwent a closed beta test. After that, no information about it was received. There were rumors that the project would be closed. In addition, at a certain point, its official website disappeared — the link http://everywhere.game/ now redirects to https://www.mindseye.game/. Perhaps MindsEye is all that remains of the once ambitious platform. And looking at its quality, it becomes clear why Everywhere will most likely never be launched.

The main character Jacob Diaz is a former military man who has a special cyber implant installed in his body. Because of it, the guy began to have problems with his memory. Wanting to figure it all out himself, he gets a job at the very company that made the chip. There he will be given important tasks, and along the way he will be able to learn what secrets are associated with the device on his neck.

In the opinion of the author of these lines, the plot of MindsEye is boring. It is a bit reminiscent of TV series that are filmed for three kopecks, where there are too few interesting events, and most of the time we are shown a leisurely routine. Games with a bet on single-player mode have long been attached to a full-fledged script with developed characters, intrigue and unexpected twists. Bright examples can serve as the fourth and fifth GTA. But even the simple plot of the third part will give MindsEye a head start.

When you get behind the wheel of a sports car and drive along the highway, it seems that the car control here is acceptable. Yes, it is not able to give pleasure, but you can move along the streets without obvious discomfort. True, trips quickly become tiring, especially when there are a lot of them and there is no way to call a taxi, like in the same GTA 5. But these are trifles.

However, the situation changes radically if you have to drive off-road. You will stumble upon small bumps, fly into the air or, on the contrary, brake sharply, as if from a collision with a concrete wall. All realism at this moment disappears and the struggle with ridiculous game conventions begins.

MindsEye also has air transport. But everything is even simpler with it — you just deflect the gamepad stick in the right direction and wait for the air car to fly to the specified point. Controlling combat drones is a bit more interesting due to the battles against enemies using electric shock and the ability to hack enemy drones. Unfortunately, such episodes are rare.

Making interesting shooting mechanics is a real art. It is important that opponents can challenge the player, are well animated and react to hits. In 2006, the first Gears of War was released, which set a new trend — firing using cover. This feature is found in most third-person shooters that have been released in recent years, including Max Payne 3, GTA 5 and even Mass Effect 2.

Something similar is in MindsEye. Only in terms of feel, local battles resemble the first attempts to repeat Gears of War from less talented developers. Outwardly, it may even seem that everything works as it should — the player hides behind concrete barriers, enemies attack and you have to fight back. However, in practice, battles do not generate adrenaline and give pleasure from shooting. You have to routinely do the same thing as in other games, and just wait until the enemies end or you are given a new task.

Of course, no one expected MindsEye to have opponents who would act too smart. However, it seemed that the developers would fulfill the minimum program. And the enemies really behave adequately, although they do not shine with intelligence.

But the allies are surprising. They seem to see the target, but they don't notice the obstacles, so they push straight ahead — through traffic and pedestrians. Even in the early GTA games, the computer dummies understood that they had to go aroundother cars. As a result, they behaved much more realistically than the NPCs from Leslie Benzies' game.

There are many more shortcomings of MindsEye. For example, story missions have strict timer restrictions, which often force missions to be restarted. You can't steal any oncoming car, you can only drive strictly defined cars. The local open world is an empty decoration with nothing to do. The picture looks nice, but it is faceless, because the city of Redrock, which is clearly inspired by Las Vegas, does not have a distinct face like Vice City, Los Santos or Liberty City. And if you're unlucky, you'll also encounter numerous glitches and bugs.

In fact, you may have only one reason to launch MindsEye — to personally see that everything is so bad there. However, we recommend taking their word for it and not spending money. This spring, many first-class games for every taste were released that are worth paying attention to. And each of them turned out to be better than what the Build a Rocket Boy team offers us.

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MindsEye clearly demonstrated that the time of unprincipled GTA clones has long passed. It is not enough for players to simply be able to drive cars and fire guns. Something unusual, bright and memorable is needed. For example, unhackneyed eras, like in the Mafia series. Otherwise, the project will remain in the shadow of Rockstar and will be perceived as a stupid joke.