Mind games

A puzzle-adventure of brain-bending beauty

The artistic approach behind the haunting Mind: Path To Thalamus

The subdued, eerie visuals of firstperson PC puzzler Mind: Path To Thalamus were inspired by a confluence of art, movie and game influences, according to creator

Carlos Coronado. “The film Mr Nobody is a great reference for me,” he tells us, “while Dear Esther, Journey and games like that are also artistic influences, as well as, basically, the whole Romanticist movement in art.”

But it was Robert Smithson’s land artwork Spiral Jetty that inspired the game’s mechanics and windswept environments. In Mind, you play a comatose father searching for some way back to reality. While in this unconscious state, you’re able to manipulate the world around you by changing the time of day and weather conditions, and even move back and forth through the seasons. “The idea is that the environment is beautiful, but also full of sorrow and a certain uneasiness – something captivating,” Coronado says. “There are certain zones that respond to interaction, causing specific effects such as fog, rain, or changing day to night. Perhaps some elements necessary to solve a puzzle only appear at night, for example.”

These conditions are a reflection of the protagonist’s emotional state. “Gameplay and environment are always more important, so the story came out of what those aspects needed,” says Coronado. “We needed a context that enhanced the gameplay possibilities.”