It is rare to come across VR games that heavily prioritize a narrative experience, but Before Your Eyes is exactly the game that attempts to fill this void. It offers a story-focused narrative experience that uses a unique gimmick as a gameplay mechanic, and it works well.
Before Your Eyes is one of the launch games for the PSVR 2, and although it has a budget price, compared to the content offered, it’s a good deal. The game has a philosophical tone as players navigate through the entire life of Benjamin Brynn, from birth to death. They experience all the important moments of Benny’s life that he has stored in his memories until his death. The selling point of the game is its immersion and the clever use of eye-tracking offered by the PSVR 2. This makes it feel like the game was made for a VR device like the PSVR 2.
So what is the gimmick here? Before Your Eyes uses the eye-tracking offered by the PSVR 2 to implement its gameplay mechanics. Players can navigate around the environment with the movement of their heads and select points of interest with a blink of their eyes. Blinking leads to a step forward in time, and each time players blink, the game skips to the next major event in Benny’s life. This means the game urges players to take a moment to immerse themselves in every scene without blinking even once.
Although it is a narrative experience, there is not much interactivity here. As explained before, players can use the blink at certain points of interest to interact with specific objects, encouraging them to look around instead of just watching a movie play out in front of them. One of the aspects of the game that might be a little disappointing is its graphics. They are rather simple, and the art style is not that great either. However, the game offers a lot of emotional drama and a compelling story in its short playtime.
Even though Before Your Eyes is not a perfectly written game and can feel rushed at times, the gameplay mechanic, along with the experience it offers on the PSVR 2, is easy to recommend. It might not blow our minds with immersion, but it does provide a nice stop-gap in between some of the visual feasts offered by the PSVR 2. It would have been more pleasing if the game provided better character development and explored some of its underlying themes more, but sadly, that’s not the case.
In the end, Before Your Eyes is still a pretty fun game, especially if you are new to VR. The narrative might not be solid, and the game doesn’t offer much interactivity or replay value, but the eye-tracking coupled with the themes explored in the story make it a decent experience overall.
Before Your Eyes Game Information
- Price: $14.99
- Publisher: Skybound Games
- Developer: GoodByeWorld Games
- Platform: PSVR 2 (Reviewed)
- Disclaimer: A review code was given by the publisher
