You can read people’s minds at any point in Quantum Conscience, and what you learn will determine your character’s actions.

Quick​ ​Summary

In this visual novel you’re on a mission to reform your home planet, but things aren’t going well – your plan is thwarted, so you take a detour to hide from pursuers and stay with someone you know… but something happened during your attempted infiltration, and you find yourself able to read people’s thoughts. Do you relish in knowing your friends’ secrets, or are you haunted by the limits of your newfound abilities? And what is this pesky shadow doing in your mind?

What’s Interesting About Quantum Conscience?

I like games that play with different kinds of input. In this case, rather than choosing actions from a list, you have a button that lets you read people’s minds anytime. What you know determines how the story goes. Do you risk checking someone’s personal thoughts, even if you might let them slip later and destroy your friendship? What if knowing would have helped you save someone else’s life? Having one choice, one which isn’t inherently ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and that’s present at every point in the game, makes for a story whose development is interesting to watch.  

Just pop over into someone’s mind and see how they’re feeling! Notice the frowny face.

My Play

It took me a bit of time to figure out what to do in Quantum Conscience. I loved mind reading in the Golden Sun series, I did it at every opportunity, but here it’s clearly more than additional information. Is it worth the risk to check now? What about now? “Whatever, just replay the game”, you say, and yes, you can (and I did). But in making you choose to jump into people’s minds, to press that button yourself, you’re complicit. At times, people give you plenty of indication what they’re thinking about, and if you’re such a voyeur that you have to dive deeper into their thoughts at such compromising times… well, on your own head be it.

If you’re up for some mind-reading, you can find Quantum Conscience on Steam!