What the Hell is Fractured Mind?

There’s no shortage of indie horror games coming out, but some titles stand out more than others. Fractured Mind is one such title that caught our attention thanks to its realistic bodycam perspective and PT inspiration. Despite looking shockingly realistic, Fractured Mind is made by a single developer called ACid. This is as indie as it gets considering Fractured Mind appears to be ACid’s first public video game. Unlike a lot of hyperrealistic games that get a trailer without any demo or release, Fractured Mind is currently running a free early access demo on Steam until its projected release this September. Join us as we explore just what the hell Fractured Mind is and if it’s shaping up to be as promising as it looks.

The initial thing that struck me about Fractured Mind was its realistic bodycam graphics. Fractured Mind’s bodycam perspective is likely inspired by Unrecord, another yet-to-be-released first-person bodycam game made in Unreal Engine 5. Unrecord‘s March 2023 trailer led the UE5 community to make tutorials outlining how to recreate Unrecord’s realistic bodycam perspective using Unreal Engine 5. It’s not too surprising to see games like Fractured Mind take advantage of this bodycam trend. Like Unrecord, Fractured Mind utilizes a fisheye lens distortion effect with a wobbly camera simulating realistic body movement, though I must admit that playing it in a more or less finished state like the Fractured Mind demo is more impressive than any mere trailer. But enough about Fractured Mind’s inspiration, what does it actually consist of?

Those familiar with Hideo Kojima’s PT will get the gist of Fractured Mind’s premise and gameplay. Like PT, you walk through a continually looping environment that changes oh so slightly every couple of loops, giving you new story hints and stuff to figure out along the way. Instead of a mansion hallway, Fractured Mind takes place inside train compartments. The demo has you walking from one train compartment to the next, essentially looping every time you open the door to the next compartment. The demo only comprises a single chapter of the game, so there are likely other locales aside from just the looping train within Fractured Mind‘s full release. We’ve already seen other environments within the demo itself, such as the rainy outdoor train entrance located somewhere in a Romanian suburb. It’ll be interesting to see other locations around Romania as the player follows the distressed protagonist, Michael, along his psychological journey. Speaking of distressed protagonists, as with PT, Fractured Mind goes all in on its psychological horror elements.

The 30-minute demo provided plenty of moments that made me question what I saw in front of me. The slow progression through the looping train is nicely paced, with very slight changes in each loop giving you little hints as to what is going on in the story and characters. Fractured Mind has a similar slow burn that PT does, with some truly insane stuff occurring just before the end of the demo. This slow drip-feed of info quickly accelerates as soon as you notice something particularly … off. The moment you see that one bizarre element is the point at which the game enters into a surrealist nightmare. Some of the oddities I saw consisted of train chairs stacked on top of passengers, radio broadcasts yelling at me, and the occasional weird demon creature scurrying off the corner of the screen, just to name a few.

If this 30-minute demo is anything to go by, the full game will provide a constant stream of surprises and ‘glitches’, as it were, in the protagonist’s perception. The protagonist already has a pretty in-depth backstory, hinting that we’ll get a character arc or a more complete characterization with the full release. For example, check out the Steam description for this game; it lists the protagonist’s full mental health assessment. There’s a granular level of detail here, complete with believable information such as DSM-5 descriptions of his PTSD diagnosis. This character backstory is shown inside the game as well, through fourth-wall-breaking posters within the train and radio broadcasts fluctuating between local events and voices inside Michael’s head.

Speaking of radio broadcasts, the radio voices are the only element of the game that uses AI tools. It’s too bad real actors couldn’t have been employed for this game, as it could further enhance its worldbuilding and tone, but at least the developer is being transparent about AI usage. The sound in general is appropriately atmospheric with a low-fi train ambiance accompanying the journey. The times when it’s completely silent don’t work as well since all the sound is cut out, though it’s difficult to tell if that kind of thing is intentional or not considering the game’s penchant for messing with your mind. Regardless, it’s a very atmospherically immersive game with the bells and whistles of Unreal Engine 5 to make everything pop.

Oh yeah, there’s gunplay in Fractured Minds too; it’s not merely a walking simulator after all. Of course, the game doesn’t focus heavily on shooting mechanics, as the numerous train posters remind us. The demo doesn’t require you to shoot your gun at all, as far as I know. But if the demon alien thing I saw scurrying away was anything to go by, I assume you’ll be shooting some weird stuff at some point in the full game. Then again, I’ve only seen one of two possible endings in the demo, so maybe there is shooting involved. Regardless, shooting works how you’d expect for a first-person shooter.

You have a pistol with limited ammo and can aim down the sights for added accuracy. There’s no HUD except for crosshairs when viewing an interactable element of the environment. Aiming down the sights while turning your character has some weight and momentum to it that I appreciate, but there’s no run button to speak of and no mobility other than a small jump. Another gameplay element Fractured Mind consists of is puzzles. I didn’t encounter any puzzles during the demo, but there are documents that you can pick up which contain clues and numbers. Even the posters on the windows say to pay attention to numbers so you can get through the ‘lock’, whatever that is. So, expect some hidden object puzzles with the full release of the game.

Fractured Mind currently has a release date of September 2024 on Steam, though I wouldn’t be too surprised if it got delayed considering it’s a one-person team. We don’t know what price the full game will get or how long it’ll be. If the demo is anything to go by, Fractured Mind will provide a deep psychological horror story with constantly evolving revelations concerning the main protagonist. The gameplay has room to flesh out the shooting mechanics and puzzles, providing something a little more involved than PT and traditional walking sim games. There’s even potential for multiple forking routes similar to Stanely Parable, though this might require some kind of dialogue choice feedback, which hasn’t been present in the game yet. If you’re a fan of psychological horror games, walking sims, or PT-style experiences, Fractured Mind is a game worth keeping an eye on.

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