How MindsEye’s Antagonists Represent the Relationship Between “Big Tech and Government”

The action-adventure game MindsEye takes place in the futuristic desert city of Redrock. On the surface, Redrock may seem like a utopia, with robots performing manual labor, super-advanced cars driving the roads, and technology enhancing every aspect of life. But MindsEye’s Redrock City is also the staging ground for a conflict between two ambitious, scheming individuals with very different plans for the city: tech genius Marco Silva and mayor Shiva Vega.

In a conversation with Game Rant, MindsEye developer Build a Rocket Boy described Silva and Vega as representing “Big Tech and Government” respectively. Although both may seem altruistic on the surface—Silva Industries’ many inventions have improved life in Redrock City, while Vega was elected on the platform of making Redrock “the safest city in the world”—but both desire power and control over the city in their own way. Build A Rocket Boy also stated that the struggle between the two “is poised to impact the future of Redrock and its inhabitants” in a big way.

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Marco Silva: A Tech Genius Who Thinks He Knows Best

Billionaire Marco Silva, portrayed by actor Jake Thomas, is the founder and owner of Silva Corp, a company that manufactures everything from cars and robots to surveillance drones. Silva is described by Build a Rocket Boy as “eccentric” and someone who “wants to change the course of human evolution.”

This “highly intelligent, binary-thinking tech billionaire who thinks he knows what’s best for the world” has come into conflict with Mayor Vega due to his desire to launch rockets out of Redrock and Vega’s own plan to use Silva’s robots for her own ends. MindsEye protagonist Jacob Diaz, portrayed by Alex Hernandez, finds himself unwillingly caught in the middle of this battle for Redrock’s future.

Shiva Vega: A Politician Seeking Profit

Mayor Shiva Vega, portrayed by actor Anjali Bhimani, was elected after promising that she would make Redrock “the safest city in the world.” However, behind that seemingly benevolent goal lies her true ambition: “to gain even greater control of Redrock’s citizens.” Vega desires personal power and sees Silva’s increasing presence in the city as a threat.

Build a Rocket Boy succinctly summarized what makes Shiva Vega tick during our interview:

“Vega is a populist politician with no real unity to her policies other than that they are all somehow designed to profit her personally.”

The Conflict Between Them Is At The Heart Of MindsEye

The conflict between “Big Tech and Government” has been simmering underneath the surface, with Silva and Vega openly disliking one another and taking every opportunity to snipe at the other’s goals. In one trailer, Vega even mockingly calls Silva “Rocket Boy,” perhaps being a sneaky reference to Build a Rocket Boy? Ultimately, their conflict comes to a head when “the personal power struggle for the robots’ back-end systems ratchets up,” bringing Jacob Diaz and his allies into conflict with both the robots themselves and the two individuals who want to control them.

Exactly how MindsEye protagonist Jacob Diaz becomes involved in Silva and Vega’s struggle will not be revealed until the game launches later this month. However, Build a Rocket Boy teases that his involvement in the conflict will lead to epic combat against both human foes and Silva Industries robots with the aid of both his human allies and his trustworthy companion drone.

Redrock City is described as “a living experiment in the existential potential of man and machine.” The question remains: will players, as Jacob Diaz, be able to take this experiment toward the utopia it could be, or will it devolve into nothing more than a source of personal power for either Silva’s money-focused Big Tech or Vega’s power-focused Government?