It’s been quite some time since I’ve given a rating of 10. In fact, I’ve only ever given it out 3 times after multiple dozens of pieces of media in my writing career. It takes a lot to captivate me and maintain my interest from start to finish. Even more so, it takes a LOTto make me cry. Before Your Eyes managed to do both in the span of two quick hours. Something I may have initially written off as a gimmick turned out to be a truly moving experience near perfection.

Before Your Eyes is controlled by blinking. Historically in games, blinking is pretty hit-or-miss. It’s mortifying in SCP: Containment Breach, annoying in Alone in the Dark, and that pretty much covers it from my experience. However, in this title, it’s the entire focus of the narrative progressing. It encapsulates snippets of the story of your life, incorporated as the scene-flip, the use button, and more. I didn’t expect my dinky laptop webcam to be perfect, but I actually didn’t encounter any extraneous blinks or many missed blinks in the entire playthrough.

You’ll soon realize that the game lasts as long as you can keep your eyes open. Conversations won’t wait for you to open your eyes again either; one blink and it’s on to the next scene in an instant. It’s incredible that there isn’t any loading screens involved, even on a hard drive instead of an SSD. Getting used to the mechanic will demand the best of your staring skills if you want to absorb the full story. However, missed dialogue contributes to the idea that life goes by in the blink of an eye.

The tale in Before Your Eyes spares no expense of emotional moments during childhood: the pressure of success, the temptation of young love, the parent’s arguments, it’s all on full display and believable thanks to supreme voice acting. You definitely feeling like a fly on the wall at points. Supplemented by a divine score and mystifying environment design, all of the artistic bases are covered to craft a feast for the eyes as long as you can keep them open.

Without providing spoilers, the twists and turns throughout the story of Before Your Eyes provide several times where I would find it hard NOT to cry. With the game’s breakneck pace comes key moments where things slow to a harrowing crawl to astonish the player, done tastefully and impactfully. Not a single scene threw me off-guard, leaving me fully immersed from start to finish. In fact, I had no urge or desire to take a break like I do with most games I play.

I sincerely recommend everyone give Before Your Eyes a play. Its revolutionary mechanic is utilized perfectly to tell one of the best short stories in a game ever. It’s a Kickstarter success story, a place to feel hope, heartbreak, and harmony. It’s something I will come back to time and time again, thanks to several choices that can be made along the way. I definitely consider it a must-play video game that is a steal at $10. Play Before Your Eyes today!

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Before Your Eyes

$9.99

10

Score

10.0/10

Pros

• Genius Game Mechanic
• Heart-wrenching Story
• Unreal Visuals
• High Replayability

Cons

• Potential Eye Strain
• Requires Webcam