‘Life goes by in a blink of an eye’; a cliché quote that everybody has heard some point in their lives. What if that quote found its way into a video game? Because that is exactly what you will find with Before Your Eyes developed by GoodbyeWorld Games and published by Skybound Games. The game will release on April 8, 2021 on Steam and has a very unique gameplay element to it.
A webcam is needed to play Before Your Eyes as it tracks eye movements and blinking to control the story and to be able to move forward with the narrative. The game has its own calibration system so eye movement can be accurately picked up. This especially works well for glasses wearers. Resetting calibration is easy to do with the press of the space bar any time during gameplay.
Before Your Eyes places the player at the starting point in the characters life, going through their personal story as life passes with a blink of an eye. The moments can jump from a couple of days to a couple of years reflecting on loving moments, meeting new friends, and experiencing emotional and heart wrenching downfalls that life has. Be warned, there were many tears shed in the making of this review.
Throughout your story you meet a cat-like boat captain named, The Ferryman, that paints a vivid picture of the journey towards the afterlife and how important memories can be. The Ferryman quizzes you on your story and explains that there can be more to a memory than first expected, as he then sets you back to the beginning to reveal the important moments that may have been missed, and to unveil the truth of the narrative.
The blinking feature in the game makes you realise how short each memory can be and when you come across a joyous scene it can be very difficult to concentrate on not blinking just to stay in that moment. Throughout the game you will be prompted to uncover features of each scene, interact with key objects and be told when the story will move forward with a blink of an eye.
Before Your Eyes is a fantastic narrative based indie game that uses unique mechanics to tell its story. You will not need to worry about getting dry eyes from trying to stay in the moment as the game features many heartbreaking moments that will cause you to tear up.
This review utilised a key provided by Heaven Media. Before Your Eyes releases on Steam on April 8, 2021.
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Written by: @rogue_sultana
