Before Your Eyes (2021)

This game is so short, so nice, and so sad. I played this game with the expectations I'd complete it before I prepared for school one day. Cheap game, less than 10 dollars, short. I went to school thinking about this game nonstop, it was breaktaking how one simple mechanic told me so much.

How much of my life goes by in a blink. How much overthinking amounts to nothing. How much lying to myself won't mean anything if I don't confront it. No amount of delusion fixes what's in my face now and what I'll face on my deathbed. And this game is beautiful for that. Play this game, it's shorts, it's nice, and so sad.

Roll Credits?: Yes!

Surprised/Let Down/As Expected: Surprised

Favorite Mechanic or Narrative Moment: The story was more gripping than expected (actual tears were shed at the ending). This game is a wonderful showcase of how to use this medium to immerse the player in a story in a way that others can't do. By being told from the child's voiceless perspective, it almost becomes more about the story of the parents than it does you, and it really brings home just how dire their situation is in this while kind of letting you off the hook of having to feel empathetic for the child's situation since you are taking up that role.

Least Favorite Thing: Unexpectedly, the blinking mechanic is a little wonky. I would still say the novelty of it is worth the pains given the short runtime though. The feeling of having to not blink to view some things, while quite effective at portraying the ephemerality of life, is still a little annoying.

This game delivers one of the most unique story telling I have ever seen in my life. Blinking is just a normal action that every living person does. But in this game it's make me feel like I'm being attached to the game, to the main character that can only see the world through his eyes. I can't just blink like a maniac while I'm playing this game because I'm afraid that the game will just skip right ahead and some beautiful memories of the main character will be missed. This is a good way to make people become more familiar with the main character a.k.a Benny.

The story is one of a kind story that you can only experience once in your life. Now, I am not saying that Before your eyes has the best sad story out there because there are already plenty of games that have the same concept like That Dragon, Cancer or RDR2. But BFYE did a great job at telling it by only letting players to look around using their eyes to interact with everything. The limitation allows players to become more focus about conversation between people and therefore they can still understand everything BFYE is telling without moving at all.

The graphics is not too spectacular especially at the time where AAA games graphics are just way too realistic and that created a demand among gamers that a game should have stunning graphics and visual. But sometimes imperfections create perfection. And BFYE is a great example for that.

The last thing I would like to say about the game is soundtracks. From the moment I started game until I burst into tears when I finished the game, the soundtracks just fit too well they make me feel like I'm actually in the game reliving these beautiful memories of a sick child who dreamed to be something greater than himself his whole life. It's just feel magical.

Anyways, I am just an ordinary gamer so you might agree or disagree with my opinion about BFYE. Thanks!

I was a bit thrown at first. The "narrator" of the game not being a human really threw me for a loop.

Once I got past that, the plot of the game was solid. The mechanic of using the blinking of an eye to control movement and selection was awesome. There's some awkwardness at first when you have to "click" on things by forcing a blink, but that rapidly fades away.

I'm going to spoiler tag a bit here because I'm sensitive to that myself, but the shift in the mechanics to having to stare at things....or to keep your eyes shut to experience the story was great.

There are parts where you really REALLY don't want to blink, but you have to. A great mechanic. you'll be back there later, but you don't know that up front.

~David.

Very rarely with games nowadays are we forced to ask ourselves tough questions. Many games that do get us to question the world we live in, and what it means to be human only pose that question for a short time, or degrades the message in some way.

With Before Your Eyes, I felt all of the emotions I think are possible to feel while playing a game. Joy, Wonder, Sadness, Anger, Satisfaction. So many moments in this game could be considered memorable even though the game is only 90 minutes long. The idea to use blinking as a mechanic is ingenious to the story the game wants to tell. Life is so incredibly short so enjoy it while it lasts.

This is a game I will never stop recommending to people as it moved me in ways I didn't think gaming was capable of, and changed how I view life itself. The game gets extremely depressing at times but these sad moments aren't unwelcome as sadness is just another part of life.

Before Your Eyes is a must-play game, especially if you love narrative-driven indie experiences. And sometimes don't forget it's okay not to rush through life, and to enjoy the moments we are given.

95/100

Eye detection is not something I've seen as a gameplay mechanic before so upon seeing the trailer for Before Your Eyes, I was immediately intrigued. This does mean you need a webcam if you want to play through the game with eye detection enabled, but this is an optional method. Keyboard and mouse without a webcam is an option as well.

If you decide to use a webcam for eye detection, certain segments of the game will have you direct your mouse to an icon and upon blinking, more of your surroundings is unveiled. The rest of the time you're trying desperately to not blink, otherwise you'll progress through a cutscene without fully viewing it. This sounds stressful and frustrating, which it is slightly, but more akin to a memory slipping away that you're desperately trying to hold on to.

This is very much a story-driven game with few choices to be made. There is some replayability if you want to try and view more from the cutscenes which you accidentally blinked through. The is an autobiography of the main character, watching as he grows from a baby onward. There is a balance of hope, love, and despair throughout the story, but I personally didn't find it as emotional as other players have.

I definitely recommend just for the unique gameplay experience. It's rather short so if you buy it on Steam, beat it, and dislike it, chances are you can still get your refund.