There's a widely reported phenomenon in people who have near-death experiences called "life review", a simultaneous and instantaneous rapid series of visions depicting memories from their past. The layman's term for such an occurrence would be to say that your life flashed before your eyes. And, presumably, if this sensation occurs for each near-death experience, then there's reason to believe that it would occur in actual-death experiences as well. The appropriately named Before Your Eyes, the debut title from indie developer Goodbyeworld Games, tackles this theory head-on. Playing through the eyes of Benny Brynn, you awaken in a purgatory-like space, where you recall the story of your recently ended life. It's certainly an interesting concept on its own, but the real draw of BYE is the way you interact with it; instead of a typical story based game where you click through text, progression is controlled by your eye movements. And this is not just in game, either; the game progresses with your blinks-as in you, the player. Utilizing webcam technology, Before Your Eyes is able to tell a short and often touching story, in an incredibly innovative way.
Of course, with such a unique gameplay progression aspect, that is naturally the area that discussion of the game generally focuses on. Before Your Eyes plays out as a series of memories where your interaction is limited; for the most part, you are watching memories play out chronologically throughout your character's life. And just as with real memories, their relevance is inconsistent; they're just as likely to be character defining moments as they are to be one off, random thoughts. In that way, BYE creates a unique sense of relatable nostalgia; everyone has those memories from childhood that seemingly offer nothing other than the fact that they're remembered. And similarly, the story progresses in a relatable yet bittersweet way. After a certain point in each memory, blinking will progress to the next one, and often, you feel the urge to blink before everything in the memory actually happens. Some cases will have you straining your eyes, trying to force them to stay open, just to see what happens next, just to stay in the moment for a second longer. Especially considering that these are the memories of a recently deceased person, it adds a layer of somberness; just as you (the player) want to see everything that happens in the game, the character is trying to cling to their last memories before they end up passing on.
Here's the thing though; as innovative and immersive as the blinking-as-gameplay concept is, and as well as it works narratively, it's still unfortunately faulty, even with the best webcam. Quite a few times you'll find the game progressing even when you aren't blinking, and the tracking works inconsistently unless you are constantly keeping direct eye contact with your screen. It's understandable that an indie developer utilizing such an idea would not be able to perfect it on its first try, but nevertheless it can unfortunately detract from the experience and cause the player to miss key story points, which in heavily narrative-driven games such as BYE, is quite a large setback. There is an option to disable the blink-based progression, but that removes far too much of the game's personality and uniqueness to really be considered a viable option.
The narrative is quite good, though, and it's worth suffering through the potentially frustrating controls to experience at least once. Before Your Eyes is certainly a game that should be played blind (excuse the pun), and it's pretty easy to breeze through in one or two sittings. It's full of impactful and relatable moments that are bound to trigger thoughts of your own childhood. The twists are a little obvious to see coming, and as a result BYE can sometimes struggle to make the long-lasting impact that it's aiming for, but it provides a unique way to experience the medium of video games throughout its short runtime. Its narrative premise is a bit generic and it seems designed more to overwhelm your emotions rather than create a genuinely compelling story, but its innovative approach towards gameplay and evoking nostalgic feelings do enough to make it a good and meaningful experience.
Of course, with such a unique gameplay progression aspect, that is naturally the area that discussion of the game generally focuses on. Before Your Eyes plays out as a series of memories where your interaction is limited; for the most part, you are watching memories play out chronologically throughout your character's life. And just as with real memories, their relevance is inconsistent; they're just as likely to be character defining moments as they are to be one off, random thoughts. In that way, BYE creates a unique sense of relatable nostalgia; everyone has those memories from childhood that seemingly offer nothing other than the fact that they're remembered. And similarly, the story progresses in a relatable yet bittersweet way. After a certain point in each memory, blinking will progress to the next one, and often, you feel the urge to blink before everything in the memory actually happens. Some cases will have you straining your eyes, trying to force them to stay open, just to see what happens next, just to stay in the moment for a second longer. Especially considering that these are the memories of a recently deceased person, it adds a layer of somberness; just as you (the player) want to see everything that happens in the game, the character is trying to cling to their last memories before they end up passing on.
Here's the thing though; as innovative and immersive as the blinking-as-gameplay concept is, and as well as it works narratively, it's still unfortunately faulty, even with the best webcam. Quite a few times you'll find the game progressing even when you aren't blinking, and the tracking works inconsistently unless you are constantly keeping direct eye contact with your screen. It's understandable that an indie developer utilizing such an idea would not be able to perfect it on its first try, but nevertheless it can unfortunately detract from the experience and cause the player to miss key story points, which in heavily narrative-driven games such as BYE, is quite a large setback. There is an option to disable the blink-based progression, but that removes far too much of the game's personality and uniqueness to really be considered a viable option.
The narrative is quite good, though, and it's worth suffering through the potentially frustrating controls to experience at least once. Before Your Eyes is certainly a game that should be played blind (excuse the pun), and it's pretty easy to breeze through in one or two sittings. It's full of impactful and relatable moments that are bound to trigger thoughts of your own childhood. The twists are a little obvious to see coming, and as a result BYE can sometimes struggle to make the long-lasting impact that it's aiming for, but it provides a unique way to experience the medium of video games throughout its short runtime. Its narrative premise is a bit generic and it seems designed more to overwhelm your emotions rather than create a genuinely compelling story, but its innovative approach towards gameplay and evoking nostalgic feelings do enough to make it a good and meaningful experience.