Speaking on the FRVR podcast, Hernandez said being featured so prominently on MindsEye’s box art as player character Jacob Diaz was ultimately “the flip side of the blessing that it is” to be a video game’s cover star. Indeed, Hernandez has experience of this before, having previously portrayed Lincoln Clay, the main character of Mafia 3 — another game which arrived to mixed reviews.
“I’m not a superstitious man, but I can’t help but have some kind of Spidey Sense, like, ‘Is it just me?'” Hernandez said. “Do I have like the opposite of the golden touch, like the s***-brown touch, everything I touch turns to poop?”
MindsEye launched in June to negative reviews from critics and gamers alike — though mostly for reasons separate to Hernandez’s involvement. Instead, MindsEye was criticised for featuring gameplay that felt broken and unfinished, numerous technical issues, a lifeless open world and an anti-climactic story. (IGN’s MindsEye review returned a 4/10, and bemoaned the game’s “serious lack of substance and major performance problems.”)
Developer Build a Rocket Boy has since apologised for the state of the game and begun to address some of these issues with post-launch patches, at the same time as it has begun telling staff they are at risk of being made redundant.
“Just the response,” Hernandez continued, “I was like, ‘I might never work in a game again’ Because one of the caveats of being the face on the box is that people, rightly or wrongly, will associate all of their opinions and, more importantly their emotions, about this game with my face. After about two days of allowing myself to wallow, and my wife being very supportive… you move on. Because for me to sit in that wallowing, it doesn’t allow me to learn.”
As for the level of ridicule directed at the game shortly after launch, Hernandez suggested the response was typical of video game fans who feel a strong attachment to something they’re playing, and who feel free to say whatever they like online.
“Gamers are a unique species, and I am one of them, where the attachment to the experience and the product is so strong, the feelings are so strong, and the internet is an anonymous place where people will share things they would never share to your face, ever, even if they actually hated it,” Hernandez concluded.
“They just wouldn’t look you in the face and say, ‘everyone who worked on this game deserved to die, this is f***ing awful, these guys are idiots.’ No one would ever say that to your face. And, I think, at the same time, you’re entitled to that.”
Speaking to IGN last month, boss of MindsEye publisher IO Interactive Hakan Abrak described the launch of MindsEye as “definitely tough,” though suggested the game could still “succeed” in future. “It was a tough reception. It wasn’t what they hoped for, and also what we didn’t hope for at IOI Partners,” Abrak said. “They’re working hard on turning that around to regain the trust of the gamers out there, and they have tons of potential and content they’re working on. So hopefully they’ll succeed with that in the future.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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