MindsEye has abject technical performance – even after its latest patch

The poor technical state of MindsEye – the debut game from developer Build a Rocket Boy – is well established by this point. The bottom line is that as a £55 or $60 purchase, there is only morbid curiosity in checking it out at present with glaring bugs, low frame-rates and crashes blighting the experience on console. In fact, having tested all PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series machines on its latest update 1.07 (or 1.04.4 on Xbox) – as released on June 18th – it appears little has improved post-launch. For all its potential as a futuristic, open world action-shooter, there’s no question that MindsEye remains in an undercooked state. An apology has already been issued by the developer, while the problems run deep enough in its launch week that Sony is allowing refunds via the PlayStation Store – a rare manoeuvre for Sony that calls to mind Cyberpunk’s troubled launch back in 2020.

Still, as an Unreal Engine 5 title, the game’s focus on Lumen and Nanite – plus vehicle simulation and physics – has echoes of the Matrix Awakens demo released back in 2021. MindsEye’s feature-set is uncannily similar: Nanite, Lumen, open world – and sadly this also extends to the state of its performance on consoles. All machines appear heavily CPU bound in a similar manner with traffic build-ups and destruction causing sizeable sub-30fps drops. Even in the best case, all consoles – including PS5 Pro – also run with an unevenly frame-paced 30fps cap meaning judder is a problem. Meanwhile, there’s visible screen tearing at the top of the display, which is exacerbated by drops into the 20-30fps range.

The basics first: there are no graphics modes to consider in MindsEye and every console runs with a 30fps target. In terms of native resolution, there is dynamic scaling in play, with PS5 and Series X typically running between 972p and 1008p. In terms of the PS5 Pro enhancements meanwhile, Pro boosts its resolution to a higher 1296p average value in most areas. This jump in image clarity is really the full extent of the PS5 Pro upgrades though, as most other settings – shadows, textures and world draw – appear similar to base PS5. Sony’s PSSR upscaler is not in sight either, with PS5 Pro using the same upscaling solution as other consoles. Finally, we have Series S, which typically runs at 720p, with spikes to 756p.

Xbox Series S is an outlier given its 4TF power profile, and it resorts to the greatest setting cutbacks as a result. It’s the one most deserving of a comparison and next to Series X, texture quality is dropped and shadows default to a lower preset with obvious dithering on edges. Transparency effects also run at a much lower setting with visible pixellation on fire effects while reflections take a hit in coverage across the metal sheen of interior walls. In matching cutscenes between Series S and X, there’s a higher frequency of pop-in for texture assets and shadows maps too. Finally, image quality is also remarkably blurry on all consoles – even on PS5 Pro – but Series S takes it to a further extreme owing to its native 720p count. The upscale often struggles to resolve the game’s distant detail, with chase missions set to long highways, or drone missions across the sky suffering the most for it.