![]() The story begins after your death, aboard the. So he will force you deeper into the dark recesses of your most repressed memories, ultimately revealing a heartbreaking truth.īy combining its innovative blink interaction mechanic with a charming world and a fully voice-acted story, Before Your Eyes is a deeply emotional and relatable journey-one about the impossible expectations we place on ourselves and the regrets we carry with us.Īn earlier version of the game, titled Close Your, received the Game Developers Choice award at Indiecade and the Student Award at the Independent Game Awards (IGF), before receiving funding through a successful Kickstarter campaign. With this innovative technique, the player will fully immerse themselves in a world of memories. ![]() But soon the Ferryman will suspect you aren't showing him everything he needs to see. You will learn to control the flow of the narrative with your actual eyes–blinking through precious memories of family, first love, and the rise of an artistic career. The game uses your webcam to immerse you in this story in a way you've never experienced before. And so, he sends you back to relive your most important moments. In order to help you pass on, he must first learn the story of your life. The story begins after your death, aboard the ship of a mythical Ferryman tasked with shepherding souls to the afterlife. I was surprised by how attached I became to the cast in such a short time, but the superb performances and well-written dialogue do their job and ingratiated me to the characters.For the full experience with blink interaction, be sure to use a webcam.īefore Your Eyes is a first person narrative adventure which tells the story of a soul’s journey into the afterlife using a new and innovative form of interaction-your real-life blinks. The same goes for Chloe, your mischievous neighbor who comes off as a genuinely endearing kid you can’t help but want to impress and hang out with. Ben’s parents, a caring yet demanding mother and a lovably goofy father, are sweethearts. The writing is earnest and thoughtful, and the story takes some unexpected turns culminating in a bittersweet final message that lands harder than I was prepared for (in a good way).Ī great story needs good characters, and Before Your Eyes has that in spades. Despite its pleasantly whimsical veneer, the narrative’s themes of depression and existentialism hit hard, as does understanding life’s meaning from the perspective of a person who, despite having a great family and born with prodigious gifts, struggles to find personal fulfillment. It uses this unusual way to play to intimately involve you in an emotional journey about. In this way you work through different scenes from your life, looking around with the mouse and choosing interactions by blinking. It detects each time you blink and advances the story. No matter how you play, Before Your Eyes’ story is a heartfelt tale that me close to tears at several points. Before Your Eyes is a narrative game you play with a webcam. These interactions are largely basic but are still delightful. It's also just more fun to "look and blink" instead of pointing and clicking on objects. Even while playing with your eyes, you still use a mouse for other actions like connecting stars in the night sky to write a cosmic message or to keep in rhythm with a piano tempo. Some of my favorite moments involve closing my eyes to better eavesdrop on hushed conversations or so my childhood bestie could leave a heartfelt note embarrassment-free. However, I didn’t mind it for long because I found that doing so lends to the game’s dreamlike quality and the sensation that even cherished memories eventually fade even – when we hope that they won’t. ![]() Yes, I was occasionally disappointed after I blinked involuntarily and advanced the story sooner than I would have liked. Ben’s memories are fleeting, and the mechanic sells that point perfectly. Closing your eyes, then opening them to a brand-new scene creates the awesome sensation that you’re reliving a life through an old-school View-Master toy. Having played Before Your Eyes twice, once using blinks and the other using the mouse, I think the story loses a fair bit of its magic when playing with solely traditional control inputs. On that note, it’s good that there’s an option to play the entire game using traditional mouse clicks, but I think you’d be doing yourself a major disservice in doing so. I also never felt disoriented or uncomfortable playing using eye tracking, but those factors will vary by person. I never had an issue where a blink didn’t register or my camera needed recalibration. I’m impressed by how the game accurately recognizes eye-tracking. By blinking when prompted, you’ll jump days, weeks, and sometimes years forward in Ben’s life.
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