2025 Already Has a Biggest Gaming Disaster: Critics Slam It, Players Demand Refunds
MindsEye is officially the worst-reviewed game of 2025 so far, and it’s not even close. According to Metacritic, it ranks just below Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator by a single point. User scores are even worse, with Steam reviews labeled “Mostly Negative” and a painful 2.5 average on Metacritic.
This is not a great start for Build A Rocket Boy, the new studio led by ex-GTA producer Leslie Benzies. Hype was high, but cracks were already showing before launch. Co-CEO Mark Gerhard even accused critics of being bribed by rival studios to “trash” the game. That might explain why no major outlets published reviews before release.
Once the game hit the market, the backlash came fast. Many players took to Steam to complain about performance issues, gameplay problems, and what they saw as a half-baked product. Refunds started rolling out, especially from PlayStation, and some fans are now comparing the launch to Cyberpunk 2077, but without the hope of a fix.
The game’s story and world didn’t do it any favors either.
The studio released a statement after launch, saying: “We are heartbroken that not every player was able to experience the game as we intended. Our priority is optimising performance and stability so that every player, across every device, can enjoy an equally high-quality experience.”
— MindsEye (@MindsEyeGame) June 12, 2025
They added: “We are fully committed to ensuring all our players have a great experience, and we will continue to provide frequent and transparent updates. We will do our best to respond to all your comments and feedback.”
But performance issues are hard to ignore. On PC, even powerful setups are struggling to hit 60 frames per second at 1440p. Dropping down to 1080p doesn’t help much, and DLSS settings cause all sorts of stuttering and lag. For a linear game, it’s shockingly hard to run.
Things don’t get much better on console either. PS5 and Xbox Series S versions drop below 30 FPS during action scenes, with the Series S version described as blurry and choppy. Load times also stretch out for almost a minute, killing the pacing.
Players are reporting tons of bugs too. AI enemies get stuck, driving controls feel clunky, and some transitions cause full crashes. The experience is so bad on PC that some are joking the developers made it unplayable on purpose just to stop piracy.
Steam reviews haven’t held back. One user wrote: “I have to admit that everything other people say about this game is true… the current state of the game is disgusting. Refunds.”
Another added: “This game is awful, unfinished, laggy, pixelated, frustrating… AVOID.”
Even the slightly more forgiving reviews aren’t really defending the game. One said: “Honestly total game time is 10 hours. Complete disappointment with the $59.99 price tag. Maybe $20 or below but not higher than that.”
A few players are still holding out hope that it can be fixed over time, but for now, MindsEye looks like one of 2025’s biggest letdowns and the worst-reviewed game of the year.
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