At the heart of "Mindlock – The Apartment" is a story designed to captivate and surprise the player repeatedly. Other games, like "Return of the Obra Dinn", focus their storytelling on gameplay mechanics. In contrast, "Mindlock" prioritizes a compellingly narrated story to bring out the profound and humorous aspects of the game world, with unexpected twists and multifaceted characters in the best possible way.
Throughout the development process, which you can follow in more detail on Instagram, it was important to me to provide players with a maximum variety despite a minimalist adventure control scheme, which mainly consists of walking, examining, and interacting. Players explore not only the present but also Colin's world of thoughts and the memories he gradually rediscovers. These narrative variations differ both in graphic style and gameplay.
Especially with the thought processes, it was possible to consistently make Colin's perspective understandable and to make the planning of strategies an experiential aspect. They offer exciting, engaging mini-games that enrich the gameplay. For example, crossing a river requires Colin to meticulously plan each step and choose the best route across the stones to safely reach the other side, or transforming a piece of soap into another object.
Stylistically, the different narrative levels also vary: The present is dark and detailed, as described last month, while memories are sketched and presented in a bright, cloudy tone, fading over time. Colin's thought processes, on the other hand, are graphically abstract and simple, consisting of lines and stick figures.
As a solo developer, it was also attractive for time reasons to intentionally design some scenes simply to tell a comprehensive story and offer extensive gameplay. By the way, you can already add the game to your Steam Wishlist!
