Now that GTA VI has been officially delayed for yet another year, eyes are turning to what many hope will be the next best thing. That thing, apparently, being MindsEye, a very GTA-esque game being developed by a studio called “Build A Rocket Boy.” It’s supposedly due out next month on the 11th and some gameplay has just leaked online.

First off, you should be aware that MindsEye is not claiming to be a GTA-style game. Rather, its description on its Steam page calls it a “narrative driven, single-player action-adventure thriller.” GTA has always had strong narratives too, but it’s the open-world mayhem and shenanigans players can pull of in it that has always kept fans coming back for more.

All that said, the gameplay that recently leaked, as reported on by MP1st.com, shows driving gameplay and other elements like a weapon wheel that nonetheless look very much like something straight out of GTA. Such things aren’t that series sole domain, of course, but the combo has been pretty absent from gaming during the past several years, with GTA V really being the only ongoing game that’s provided that kind of combo.

As for my take, I don’t think MindsEye is going to be any sort of replacement for GTA in the open world chaotic gameplay department. It might be capable of providing some of the core gameplay and story elements that GTA fans have been craving, but there’s so far little indication that strong, non-narrative gameplay is there. There certainly seems like there could be potential for it, but with so little actual gameplay revealed and the release date only a month away, it really seems doubtful.

As much as I would like to see a fire lit under Rockstar with how much time they’ve been taking with GTA VI and the ridiculous budget they’ve poured into it, the fact is that there’s likely nothing that’s realistically capable of directly competing for it. Even if MindsEye was everything GTA fans hope it could be, it’s not a threat. GTA will sell insane numbers of copies simply because it’s GTA. All you can really hope for at this point is that more fun alternatives show up to tide fans over during the series’ now decade-long development cycles.

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What do you think of MindsEye? Do you think it’ll at least scratch some of that GTA itch while fans wait out another for GTA VI?

Image from the Steam page