Before Your Eyes

Before Your Eyes turns a simple idea into the whole game: it watches for real eye blinks, and that choice gives every scene a nervous, fragile feel. By our assessment, that is its strongest point, because the mechanic is not a gimmick pasted on top of a story; it shapes the way the story is told and felt. The downside is also bound to that same design, since the game can be tiring if the eye-tracking setup is awkward or if the player wants to linger on details instead of being pushed forward. In practice it is a narrative game that keeps cutting away when you blink, so the rhythm feels personal and slightly cruel in the right way. Compared with ordinary choice-driven adventures, it is much more dependent on body and timing than on menu decisions. It is best for people who want an intimate story experiment and do not mind a controller-style of attention; players looking for mechanical freedom or replayable systems will find very little of that here.