Mindwave (video game)
{{Short description|Upcoming video game}}
{{Other uses|Mindwave (disambiguation){{!}}Mindwave}}
{{use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox video game
| image = Mindwave_Cover_Art.png
| caption = Key thumbnail
| alt = The protagonist Pandora—a young woman with thick purple hair, a striped shirt, and a blue overcoat—stands on the right with a shocked facial expression. The game's logo is on the left.
| developer = HoloHammer
| genre = Action
| director = Megalo224
| programmer = {{ubl|Michael "Mook" Herndon|Isabelle "Milkshake" Beardsworth|}}
| composer = Dorkus64
| writer = {{ubl|Starmy|Carlos "Mizu" Galindo}}
| artist = {{ubl|Megalo224|nyrusine|quak|EtudeF0rGh0sts|}}
| modes = Single-player
| designer = Isabelle "Milkshake" Beardsworth
| platforms = Windows
| released =
}}
Mindwave (stylized in all caps as MINDWAVE) is an upcoming action game developed by indie game developer HoloHammer. It is a fast-paced minigame collection inspired by Nintendo's WarioWare series, set in the Mindscape Tower, in which the protagonist Pandora aims to win a contest involving entering other people's minds and playing microgames.
A demo of the game, featuring the game's tutorial and first floor, was released on Steam in January 2025 alongside a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, receiving positive reception following its launch date. A full release is estimated for September 2027.
Gameplay
In Mindwave, the player plays as Pandora, a young girl who enters the Mindscape Tower after winning a Platinum Ticket to enter the titular "cognitive reality" game show alongside numerous other contestants. The game's aim is to continuously win against other contestants, advancing in the tower until reaching the top floor and receiving a cash prize.{{cite web |last1=Gould |first1=Elie |title=Mindwave is the story-driven spiritual successor to WarioWare that is so good I don't care that I keep messing up on the supposedly simple final boss |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mindwave-is-the-story-driven-spiritual-successor-to-warioware-that-is-so-good-i-dont-care-that-i-keep-messing-up-on-the-supposedly-simple-final-boss/ |website=PC Gamer |access-date=9 March 2025 |date=23 January 2025 |archive-date=February 26, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250226225344/https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mindwave-is-the-story-driven-spiritual-successor-to-warioware-that-is-so-good-i-dont-care-that-i-keep-messing-up-on-the-supposedly-simple-final-boss/ |url-status=live }}
The core gameplay of Mindwave is inspired by the WarioWare games;{{cite web |last1=Jenkins |first1=Dwayne |title=I Must Tell Y'all About 'MINDWAVE' — An Insane 'WarioWare'-Inspired Microgame Collection You Can Support! |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/i-must-tell-yall-about-mindwave-an-insane-warioware-inspired-microgame-collection-you-can-support/ |website=Vice |access-date=9 March 2025 |date=17 January 2025 |archive-date=February 10, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250210123025/https://www.vice.com/en/article/i-must-tell-yall-about-mindwave-an-insane-warioware-inspired-microgame-collection-you-can-support/ |url-status=live }} the player plays several short but fast-paced minigames known as "microgames", each with short commands that the player must fulfill. The speed of the microgames gradually increases as the player progresses, with alternate variations of prior microgames being introduced. Since Mindwave is a PC game, all of the microgames use either keyboard, mouse, or arrow key inputs.
Between rounds, the player can talk to other contestants to engage in branching conversations and learn about their backstories.{{cite web |last1=Serin |first1=Kaan |title=This weird WarioWare-like's demo got thousands of positive Steam reviews, and now its Kickstarter's $40,000 goal has been smashed 11 times over |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/games/puzzle/this-weird-warioware-likes-demo-got-thousands-of-positive-steam-reviews-and-now-its-kickstarters-usd40-000-goal-has-been-smashed-11-times-over/ |website=GamesRadar+ |access-date=9 March 2025 |date=23 February 2025 |archive-date=February 26, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250226225344/https://www.gamesradar.com/games/puzzle/this-weird-warioware-likes-demo-got-thousands-of-positive-steam-reviews-and-now-its-kickstarters-usd40-000-goal-has-been-smashed-11-times-over/ |url-status=live }}
Development and release
In January 2025, HoloHammer released a demo of the game, alongside a campaign on Kickstarter to raise funds for the full game, as part of the Steam Next Fest.{{cite web |last1=Welsh |first1=Oli |title=Mindwave builds thrillingly on a Nintendo masterpiece |url=https://www.polygon.com/impressions/531044/mindwave-steam-next-fest-demo |website=Polygon |access-date=9 March 2025 |date=27 February 2025 |archive-date=March 4, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250304125831/https://www.polygon.com/impressions/531044/mindwave-steam-next-fest-demo |url-status=live }} The campaign lasted from January 14 to February 14, 2025, and ultimately raised {{US dollar|443,442|link=yes}}, surpassing its goal of {{US dollar|40,000}}.{{cite web |title=This game has raised over $400,000 on Kickstarter with one premise: to be the new WarioWare |url=https://en.softonic.com/articles/this-game-has-raised-over-400000-on-kickstarter-with-one-premise-to-be-the-new-warioware |website=Softonic |access-date=9 March 2025 |date=24 February 2025}}
With many of the Kickstarter campaign's stretch goals being met, there are plans for multiple additional features including gamepad support, an additional microgame collection accessible after completing the main story, Steam Workshop support, downloadable content, and an online versus mode, the latter of which is to be added post-launch.{{Cite news |last=Gould |first=Elie |date=2025-02-24 |title=After only 31 days, the breakout WarioWare-like game Mindwave has raised over $440,000 thanks to a brilliant demo, which you can still play now |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/after-only-31-days-the-breakout-warioware-like-game-mindwave-has-raised-over-usd440-000-thanks-to-a-brilliant-demo-which-you-can-still-play-now/ |access-date=2025-03-13 |work=PC Gamer |language=en |archive-date=February 24, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250224133603/https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/after-only-31-days-the-breakout-warioware-like-game-mindwave-has-raised-over-usd440-000-thanks-to-a-brilliant-demo-which-you-can-still-play-now/ |url-status=live }}
HoloHammer has estimated that Mindwave may release in September 2027, but added that this is subject to change.
Reception
Mindwave{{'s}} demo has received positive reception from critics and journalists. Nic Reuben, from Rock Paper Shotgun, described the game as "the sort of thing you play for five minutes before realising, not unpleasantly, that you are most definitely inside of it now. It has wrapped you all up, and it's going to be quite difficult to escape."{{cite web |last1=Reuben |first1=Nic |title=Mindwave is a punky, relentless and completely hypnotic Warioware |url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/mindwave-is-a-punky-relentless-and-completely-hypnotic-warioware |website=Rock Paper Shotgun |access-date=9 March 2025 |date=20 January 2025 |archive-date=February 12, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250212221306/https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/mindwave-is-a-punky-relentless-and-completely-hypnotic-warioware |url-status=live }} Dwayne Jenkins, from Vice, compared the game to Psychonauts (2005)—which he described as "weird, creative, and stylistically different from anything I'd ever seen at the time"—stating that Mindwave "made [him] feel today what [he] felt when [he] played Psychonauts all those years ago," realizing that "something had perfectly understood [him] as a human being." Oli Welsh from Polygon wrote, "Mindwave is neither as obsessively minimalist nor as random as WarioWare, but that's OK{{sic}}. HoloHammer is doing something else instead, something pretty exciting; it's taking WarioWare{{'s}} splintered vision of gaming and building it back up into something whole."