Mind Over Magnet is a puzzle game that revolves around magnetism. You play as Uni, a unicycle robot who must escape a dangerous factory using the power of magnetism to solve more than 50 single-screen puzzles. Throughout your journey, you will meet three magnet friends who will help you using their unique abilities.
It was made by Mark Brown of Game Maker's Toolkit, who documented its creation and the challenges he faced along the way. See also his subsequent release Word Play (2025).
This game provides examples of:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The first level of the game is one, and Uni has to make his way out from their alone until they meet Magnus.
- Alphabetical Theme Naming: Every magnet character has a name beginning with the letter M.
- Antepiece: Many of the puzzle challenges start with one of these. A new technique is almost always introduced with an almost failsafe room, before the following rooms actually challenge you to employ the technique you just learned.
- Arbitrary Mission Restriction: You cannot throw Magnus under any circumstances, even after you've learnt how to throw Min/Max. Magnus is bigger than the latter, but Uni can throw them quite far and you can't throw Magnus even a single bit.
- Cruelty Is the Only Option: There is one level that requires you to have Max be hit by a laser, so that she is destroyed and respawns at a higher position. She complains about it loudly.
- Hollywood Magnetism: The game takes some liberties with the science of magnetism to create better puzzles.
- All the in-game magnets only have one pole, while real magnets always have a north pole and a south pole.
- Getting a magnet into a magnetic field immediately makes it lose all other momentum it may have had, such as a horizontal movement after being thrown.
- Min and Magnus don't attract each other, despite being magnets of opposite polarity. They can be next to one another without anything happening.
- A Lizard Named "Liz":
- The first magnet you meet is named Magnus. Min and Max continue the Alphabetical Theme Naming.
- Invoked by Magnus. The Player Character starts off nameless, so Magnus decides to name him "Uni" because he's a unicycle robot. It doubles as a stealth reference to Unity, the game's engine.
- Eternal Engine: The whole game takes place in one, and nobody really seems to know what its product actually is.
- Meaningful Name: Min and Max are part of a Sibling Yin-Yang. Their names reflect their level of cheerfulness.
- Mercy Mode: If you get stuck at a puzzle for six minutes, you get the option to skip it.
- Minimalist Cast: Uni, Magnus, Min, und Max are the only characters in the game. There aren't any enemies or antagonists, except maybe the name- and faceless terminal voice.
- Out of Job, Into the Plot: Magnus tries to login into a computer terminal and learns that he has been made redundant. We later learn that this was the case for Uni as well, which is why they were dumped into the sewers.
- Palette Swap: You can change the color of the magnets at any time in the pause menu.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Magnus, who by default is a red magnet (you can change the colors in the settings), and also Max (who is also red by default) are cheerful and easy going, and they're not distrustful towards Uni. The blue Min on the other hand is way more observant, gloomy, and distrusts Uni for taking her job.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Min is moody, while her sister Max is cheerful.
- Silent Protagonist: The Player Character Uni only communicates via facial expressions.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The female magnets, Min and Max, wear bows. In contrast, Magnus has no accessories.
- What the Hell, Player?: Min will complain if you get her destroyed. (Thankfully, she can respawn.)
