Mindwave

Mindwave is a bizarre collection of rapid-fire challenges you must pass to reach the top of a skyscraper. You have just a few seconds to interpret and complete each challenge, which could be anything from reproducing a string of distorted characters to winning a pistol duel. It stands out not only for the frenetic pace and psychedelic visuals, but also for the Squid Game-style story in a dystopian future.

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You play Pandora, a teenage girl who enters a competition in hopes of winning a grand prize. To succeed, you must beat all the other competitors in Mindwave, which transforms each player's thoughts and feelings into small "Microgames" for their opponent. As you play, you talk to the other competitors and get to know them and the world you inhabit, both through what they say and what they think.

Play involves talking to characters and then competing against them in a series of microgames. Each game lasts mere seconds, in which time you must interpret what you need to do, then complete the task using your keyboard, mouse, or both. As you progress, the time you have to complete the games decreases, and the bright and distorted pixellated visuals become more abstract and strange. If you make a mistake or run out of time, you lose a life; lose four lives and you need to challenge that opponent all over again.

The result is a bizarre combination of WarioWare-style games held together by a dystopian narrative you can piece together from the microgame representations of your opponents' thoughts.

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Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Mindwave 5 days ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 3 days ago.