Former Rockstar North Technical Director Praises MindsEye, Despite Player Criticism

Game developer Obbe Vermeij, who previously served as technical director at Rockstar North, has unexpectedly spoken out in favor of MindsEye—a game that has been heavily criticized by players and currently holds a 37% rating on Steam.

MindsEye was developed by Build a Rocket Boy, a studio led by Leslie Benzies, who also worked at Rockstar North and produced GTA 5. Expectations for MindsEye were high, but upon its release in June, the game was met with a wave of criticism for technical issues, bugs, and poorly executed missions.

Despite the backlash, Obbe Vermeij said on X that he played through the entire game and actually enjoyed it, regardless of the negative reviews. He praised the story, characters, acting, cutscenes, and overall atmosphere, though he admitted the missions themselves were so-so and that the code was glitchy at times. He also believes that the game suffered from an inflated price tag ($60 instead of $40) and unrealistic expectations that it would be a “GTA killer.”

As a reminder, in July we reported that Leslie Benzies intends to “relaunch” MindsEye. He also blamed the game’s failure on saboteurs within the team.