Shattered Minds

When Powers Becomes a Thing

Imagine if one day suddenly people got superpowers. And it so happens that you’re one of them, but to not expose yourself, you need to keep this a secret (by secret, I mean only telling your only friend, Bill).

With the sudden powers to control/convince people’s minds, you can do anything! Or with the proper training, since you just unlocked this gift, and with great responsibilities comes great weakness.

Story – Content/Gameplay

Shattered Minds is a mix between visual novel and quest gameplay, where you’ll need to complete quests to proceed with the story.

When I first laid my eyes on this game, I judged the book by its cover, but soon after playing it for a while, my whole view changed to a different angle.

The game begins with a strange, unknown lady speaking to the person behind the screen; she informs you that before proceeding with the game, you will need to pick a few names.

You can go with default names or use customizable ones; the characters you’ll need to name are: The main character, your roommate, and your landlord (one word for her, damn).

After selecting the names, our protagonist will display for us his wet dream, which gets interrupted by the alarm clock. But surprise, surprise, to your awakening you bestow the morning view of your roommate’s titties (within her clothes, ofc) as she has to wake you up before sleeping in... ON A MONDAY.

Once you awaken and disgust your roommate with some morning wood, you begin your morning and introduce the player to his daily life. And explaining the concept of his phone (I'll explain it later).

When you arrive at the school and meet your best and only friend, Bill. You proceed to class, encounter some of the characters you’ll meet later, and see some teasing content.

Later, once in the school bathroom (after failing to talk to your crush), the quarterback of the American football team comes in and threatens you to stop trying to talk to her, as he has been warming her up for weeks to eventually ask her out.

And just as he is about to punch our protagonist's face in, he freezes up. It’s after this encounter that you’ll get to know that you have powers just like you’ve been hearing all over the news of people all over the world have uncovered.

And by finding your powers, you also find the mystery lady from the beginning. It is no other than YOURSELF, or a part of you. Someone who is a piece of you and has been in the back of your very mind your entire life. Her name is Ava, and she is your power; she will help you improve your powers and fix your messes. She’s the smarter half of you.

“Why did they only appear now?” You might ask, well, nobody is quite sure. But one thing is for sure: you can’t go around and make people do everything you want just like that. You need training to improve your skill. It’s like you can’t ask out a girl before saying, “Hi, I am.”

With your newly found skills and your newly found brain parasite... I mean consciousness, Ava. You will improve your powers and slowly and steadily take over the city, corrupting more and more people and making things go your way of thinking. And of course, some desirable lust play was involved with the whole mess.

Phone & Time

At the beginning of a new game, you’d be introduced to THE PHONE, where all necessary access beholds.

The following apps are:

Quest Log – Keeps track of each quest for each character.

Inventory – Explains itself, doesn’t it? (My regards to the protagonist for that line.)

Contacts – Keeps good information of most of the characters that you’ll meet. (Later game content will display a second tab on the people that you have subdued into either your girlfriend, servant, or mindless drone.)

Nilery – Fastest online store, providing drone delivery & arrival within one hour after purchase.

Wallpaper – To of course change the background image on your phone.

Achievements – See your goals and maybe try to unlock hidden achievements.

Find Me! - Allows the player to see specifically where everyone is, if available to encounter.

Messenger – Makes people text you and gives you the ability to text people.

Money – Just a view for your bank account, keeping track of your money.

Last but not least:

My Powers – Shows the player the protagonist's power level and the ability to level up minor skill tabs. This app displays after the encounter with Ava.

And

Reports – A tab that shows up after subduing your first victim. Keep track of how much money or exp they earn you.

Time in shattered minds doesn’t count days but keeps track of days and time such as – Mornings, Afternoon, and Evenings – Mon to Sun. And this is connected to the quest app and game's function.

Depending on the time of day, you can do certain side jobs and certain quests, and people will be at certain places at the specific time and specific days.

Which means nothing is day-limited, and you can go on for 40 days, for example, and nothing big would have changed with the quests or story output. (Except for the gym, they cost around 60 – 100 bucks for a 30-day gym card.)

Note: The gym card is useless for now as all content in the gym is unavailable/coming soon.

Money & Side Jobs

Money is a need in this game just as much as it is in the real world. Money can purchase items from Nilery or be used in quests or scenes.

Nilery is also one of the few side jobs you can earn money from; Nilery specifically sells items. Then you can earn a few bucks sorting the books at the school library. And also create some goofy burgers at the coffee shop.

Visual & Audio

Visuals

Like the game, I judged the visuals too early before getting a greater view over the whole thing.

The environment is bright with brightly colored furniture, a bit too bright and could use some more shaders for a more realistic feeling.

Characters and animations look okay, and so far, I've not even once encountered any characters/clothes or anything colliding with each other.

Intimate animations are decent and seem like any other NSFW visual novel intimate animations. By this I mean it still looks good and smooth, but it’s also nothing special or new but more of a normal/casual style from these games.

All in all, the game looks and runs well, along with the amazing story and gameplay giving it all a purpose in a highly understandable and non-confusing way.

Audio

When the audio comes into the pit of the arena, it’s pretty good. I highly enjoy the music even if all are not original; some I've heard before and they give nostalgia.

The music doesn’t play 24/7. It ends after a while or after certain scenes, and it doesn’t get on your bad side even after playing for a few hours.

NSFW audio for intimate scenes sounds okay; they’re not in poor quality as they have been in other games I've reviewed. The original volume is somewhat loud, or at least for me, and sometimes is repeated, but it is still good.

Of course, I cannot forget about one of the coolest things I first noticed about this game. While in the main menu and hovering your pointer over the menu tabs, the sound of shattering glass plays.

Both are very fitting for the game itself and a neat addon for the menu.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Story – 10/10
Visuals
Gameplay & Quests
Day & Time system
Money system & purpose
Skill levels
Understandable explanations & Story (hard to get confused)

Cons

Library Book minigame
Animations
Gym (Unavailable/coming soon content)
Unable to sell bought items (like Hidden Camera or Magazines)
Shading/lights

My final little thoughts

Shattered Minds, only by its current content, is already highly recommendable, and it doesn’t matter what the price may be. This is a game that fits both those lustful-seeking bastards and those who enjoy some gameplay content too in a visual novel mix.

I’m sure a lot more are going to agree with me on its release that this game is enjoyable and has an awesome story, even if it’s not everyone’s preference firsthand.

The brought-up cons are only minor ones and don’t mean that much.

Hoping that this could give some insight for the game before its release and interest new players. And that not too much information was given away, as what is written is purely only a scratch of the surface.

Rating: 9/10

Shattered Minds? < Adventure Minds!