Mindcop on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Mindcop is a non-linear „whodunnit“ detective game. It mixes a story driven adventure with real-time puzzle gaming. As the infamous Mindcop, you can dive into the minds of your suspects to uncover their secrets and unravel their lies.
Mindcop is a adventure, detective and hand-drawn game
developed by Andre Gareis
and published by Dear Villagers.
Released on November 14th 2024 is available only on Windows
in 6 languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
It has received 308 reviews of which 294 were positive and 14 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.7 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 6.74€ on Steam with a 55% discount, but you can find it for less on Eneba.
The Steam community has classified Mindcop into these genres:
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7/8/10+
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: GPU with at least 256MB of VRAM
- Storage: 2 GB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Mindcop is a stylish and intellectually demanding narrative adventure that reimagines the murder-mystery genre through time pressure, psychological insight, and player-driven deduction. Developed by Andre Gareis and published by Dear Villagers, the game places the player in the role of a peculiar investigator known as the Mindcop, a figure with the uncanny ability to dive into the subconscious of suspects. From the outset, it establishes a moody, introspective tone that favors interpretation and judgment over hand-holding, making it clear that this is a mystery designed to be actively reasoned through rather than passively consumed. The central premise revolves around a murder that disrupts the uneasy calm of a secluded mountain town, and the investigation is constrained by a strict in-game time limit of five days. Every action—whether questioning a resident, inspecting an environment, or pursuing a lead—consumes time, forcing players to constantly weigh curiosity against urgency. This structure transforms even small decisions into meaningful commitments, creating an atmosphere of pressure that mirrors the reality of an investigation where resources and opportunities are limited. Rather than encouraging exhaustive exploration, the game challenges players to trust their instincts, prioritize information, and accept that not every thread can be followed in a single playthrough. Investigation in Mindcop is deeply choice-driven and nonlinear. Conversations branch in subtle but significant ways, and the order in which you approach suspects or locations can dramatically shape your understanding of events. Clues are rarely explicit; instead, they often come fragmented, ambiguous, or emotionally charged, requiring interpretation rather than simple logic. This design emphasizes the idea that truth is subjective and shaped by perspective, a theme that runs through both the narrative and the mechanics. Accusing the wrong suspect or drawing conclusions too early can lock you out of critical information, reinforcing the game’s insistence that certainty is hard-won and often incomplete. The game’s defining mechanic, mindsurfing, sets it apart from traditional detective adventures. By entering a suspect’s mind, the player engages in a symbolic, puzzle-like sequence that represents mental barriers, hidden thoughts, and emotional resistance. These sections are abstract and surreal, contrasting sharply with the grounded investigation scenes, and serve as both a gameplay challenge and a narrative device. Successfully navigating a mindsurf provides access to cryptic insights rather than direct answers, offering impressions, emotions, and fragments of truth that must be contextualized within the broader case. This approach deepens the psychological dimension of the mystery and reinforces the idea that understanding a person is not the same as proving their guilt. Visually, Mindcop adopts a distinctive 2D art style that blends noir influences with expressive, almost dreamlike elements. Characters are stylized but emotionally readable, and environments convey a sense of quiet unease that suits the story’s introspective tone. The contrast between the grounded town setting and the abstract mental landscapes helps differentiate layers of reality and perception, while the restrained use of voice acting and sound design adds weight to key moments without overwhelming the experience. Music is used sparingly but effectively, underscoring tension during critical decisions and lending a contemplative mood to quieter investigative stretches. While the game’s overall length is relatively compact, its structure strongly encourages replayability. Because time constraints and branching choices prevent players from seeing everything in one run, subsequent playthroughs feel less like repetition and more like alternate interpretations of the same case. Different priorities, suspect interactions, and accusations can lead to new revelations or entirely different conclusions. The lack of manual saving reinforces the sense of commitment, making each playthrough feel like a definitive version of events rather than a trial run. Mindcop ultimately succeeds by trusting the player’s intelligence and embracing uncertainty as a core design principle. It is not a game about finding every answer, but about making sense of limited information and living with the consequences of your conclusions. By blending psychological mechanics, time-driven investigation, and a moody narrative that resists simple explanations, it delivers a mystery that feels personal, tense, and genuinely thought-provoking. For players who enjoy detective stories that challenge perception, reward careful reasoning, and value atmosphere over exposition, Mindcop offers a memorable and intellectually engaging experience. Rating: 9/10
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I liked it but I do agree with the other reviews saying that the time mechanic holds the game back. It feels like there's more to see but I was able to find the killer on my first playthrough and since nothing carries over to the second one I just don't feel like I can be bothered. It's also a bit disappointing that there's so much world-building going on in the game when in the end it seemed like very little of it ended up mattering in terms of identifying the killer (that is to say that most of the details are simply red herrings). I know this review sounds negative but this game is super interesting and there's a lot of attention to detail so I'd still recommend picking it up.
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an amazing little detective adventure game based on deduction. It has good dialogs, a lot of things to put together, mini games and good art/animation (love Linda!). I have no idea how it is this cheap, tbh - it takes about 5 hours, has multiple ways of figuring out different plots with what you can find on your playthrough and is still worth a second one after your done to tie any loose ends together. a fun game that I highly recommend to all adventure/detective games! Hope we get a part 2!
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Mindcop: Cranial Cops & Memory Mysteries -Overview: Mindcop is a non-linear detective game about solving a murder in a tourist attraction. You go about the campgrounds finding evidence, talking with suspicious characters, and gaining access to their minds. After completing a short minigame, you are able to view a truth, a falsehood, and something in between that correlates to the specific character's thoughts and memories. Combine that with a strict time system, and you have a rather interesting take on detective games! -The Good: -The Artstyle: I absolutely love the psuedo-monochrome color palette that is used here, establishing an unnerving, mysterious atmosphere. The sparse use of maroon highlights only serves to enhance the wonderful look of this game. -The Sound Design: The sound in this game is nothing short of phenomenal. I can still hear the crashing of symbols as Linda runs around, and the pen clicks that advance dialogue. The music is wonderful as well, with great low key tracks that accompany your investigation, alongside amazing high energy tracks that play during more action-focused moments. It's gotten to the point I've found myself humming the mindsurfing theme without realizing it! -The Bad: -The Characters: There are 13 different characters you can talk to in this game, and they are all quite realistically written. This sounds like a good thing until you take into account the game's short runtime, and vast amount of characters. While they all felt realistic and grounded, that made it difficult for me to differentiate most of them on my first playthrough. Only a few characters have big distinguishing traits, so for the rest, they all got lumped together in my head. -The Dialogue: While I can appreciate the attempt to create a straight man-funny man dynamic between Mindcop and Linda, a lot of the dialogue really fell flat. Most characters don't have chemistry with each other, and dialogue often feels like an attempt to explain what happened as simply as possible rather than sounding like a realistic conversation. -The Time System: I liked the idea of a time system, but in practice it really hurt my enjoyment. It felt like there was so much to explore and investigate, but the game wouldn't let me. I consistently felt rushed, and with how many time-wasting interactables litter the streets, you're punished for examining your surroundings. I would seek out every line of dialogue in other detective games, but couldn't do so here in fear of losing a precious resource. Even if I thought something could be important, I wouldn't let myself investigate it unless I KNEW it would be worth it. -The... Confused? -The Story: The thing that really frustrated me was the story. I wanted to love it, I really did, but due to the time system, I wasn't allowed to see it all on my first playthrough. This lead to me feeling unsatisfied with the ending, because while I did catch the culprit, it felt less like I had pinpointed the killer, and more like I found the most likely candidate. This changed however with my second playthrough, as I was able to fill in the gaps, figure out what really happened, and finally see the big picture. I ended up really enjoying the story, but I can't ignore my initial frustrations. It really is a 8 hour story packed into a 5 hour game. -Closing Arguments: While it took me a little bit, I do like this game. If I could give new players one piece of advice, you are probably going to fail your first time through; In fact, I think you SHOULD fail on the first playthrough. Afterwards, go through it again with what you've learned, and you'll have a much better experience. This game's story is truly amazing when you play it twice. It allows you to notice all the small details, get to know and appreciate each character, and understand the story the game is ACTUALLY trying to tell you.
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The world of mindcop is dense is rich. Everything is there for a reason , and you can inspect it , although not everything will be helpful.It was fun exploring the town and putting the pieces together. There are a lot of red herrings and " sub stories " you can find if you choose to . What makes all that hard to enjoy is the timed aspect of the game. Time is a resource and you have to use it to do everything ( talking to people , entering buildings , looking at piles of trash) . It felt like the devs put a lot of effort into building this world with so many little details and then added a mechanic to ensure you see as little of it as possible. After completing the game you can revisit any day during the story to see things you may have missed , but the time management aspect still felt poorly implemented. Would recommend to pick it up on sale,
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Frequently Asked Questions
Mindcop is currently priced at 6.74€ on Steam.
Mindcop is currently available at a 55% discount. You can purchase it for 6.74€ on Steam.
Mindcop received 294 positive votes out of a total of 308 achieving a rating of 8.74.
😎
Mindcop was developed by Andre Gareis and published by Dear Villagers.
Mindcop is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Mindcop is not playable on MacOS.
Mindcop is not playable on Linux.
Mindcop is a single-player game.
Mindcop does not currently offer any DLC.
Mindcop does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Mindcop does not support Steam Remote Play.
Mindcop is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Mindcop.
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Last Updates| Steam data | 17 January 2026 11:32 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 28 January 2026 21:31 |
| Steam price | 28 January 2026 20:35 |
| Steam reviews | 28 January 2026 19:47 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Mindcop, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Mindcop
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Mindcop concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Mindcop compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
4
Developer
Andre Gareis
Publisher
Dear Villagers
Release
14 Nov 2024
Platforms
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