The rug is pulled from beneath your feet. It’s not something you can see coming and by the time you do, it’s too late. There’s a darkness there though, left partially seen or unsaid, that the ferryman teases out leading to some heart-breaking revelations. There’s trials and tribulations for sure, but Ben’s achievements are numerous and should impress the tower guardian to the afterlife. Each blink takes the player through his life with a focus on the relationship with his parents. From his first memories, spent on a beach with his mother, through his school life, passing notes to his friend in class, and beyond, Ben’s life seems like an accomplished one. The lost soul belongs to a person called Benjamin. You’re showing a highlight reel of a life to this ferryman. This enigmatic, logophilic sailor is willing to argue your case in order to help you pass on to the afterlife, but he wants you to show him the importance of your life first. As a lost soul floating down the river, the ferryman fishes you out and brings you aboard his boat. A synopsis shouldn’t spoil anything however The game begins after the lead character has died. I don’t want to spoil the story here because – as I mentioned in the outset – its emotionally charged and I don’t want to undermine its impact. These mechanics are integral to the narrative of Before Your Eyes. Once that image appears, the next blink will trigger a jump to the next scene. An image of a metronome appears once you can move onto the next section of the story. Each scene of the game also has a limited run time. Aim the centre screen reticule at these points of interest and blink and by the time you open your eyes again, the world will have changed. Using the mouse to look around the snapshots in time, certain objects show a blinking eye symbol. Instead, it links to a number of icons that are displayed on the screen. You don’t need to hold your eyes open for the entirety of the game in fear of missing something. The blinking mechanic isn’t constantly active however. Close your eyes and the game’s story moves on. It’s simple to set up and works incredibly well, even with my crappy low-quality webcam. Using a webcam to track your eye movements, the game registers when you blink and uses them to progress the story, advance time and interact with the world. The pace of the game and the decisions you get to make can be controlled with the blinking of the players’ eyes. The last few scenes of Before Your Eyes chalked that total up to 4.īefore Your Eyes is a first-person narrative adventure with a unique twist. When I was 11 years old during ‘that part’ of Final Fantasy VII, at the end of Telltale’s The Walking Dead and during the bathtub scene in What Remains of Edith Finch. Before playing Before Your Eyes, I had cried 3 times total while playing video games.

Video games very rarely show ordinary people doing ordinary things, and they’re generally terrible at portraying love and romance, but while Before Your Eye’s script can be a little clunky and obvious at times its heart is in the right place and so will yours be when the big revelations start to happen.A unique control method combines with an emotionally powerful tale in Before Your Eyes from GoodbyeWorld Games. He’s very easy to empathise with, which is of course the whole point of the first person view, and when those plot twists do come it can be genuinely heart-wrenching.

But Benny isn’t a superhero or chosen one, he’s just a normal guy who’s lived a life that, while uneventful from an action video game perspective, is filled with love, loss, and all the concerns of a normal person’s life. Which is… an unusual concept for a video game.īefore Your Eyes is not even two hours long, so it’s very difficult to discuss its story without risking spoilers, especially as there’s more than one shock revelation that forces you to reassess everything you’ve seen up until that point. There are no puzzles as such, but an onscreen metronome allows you to forward time by blinking, while more than once you’re challenged to stare at the webcam for as long as possible without blinking. This involves relieving the most important moments of protagonist Benny’s life, from a child to the moment of his death, and allowing both the ferryman and you, the player, the chance to see what kind of person he was.Īs you watch the game’s story unfold the webcam in turn watches you, and while you can move your head around using the mouse you can only select things by blinking. The premise behind Before Your Eyes is that the main character has recently died and needs to justify himself to a ferryman style spirit in order to secure a comfortable afterlife.

Ferryman before your eyes