5/5 ★ – Caljb03's review of Before Your Eyes.

Before my PSVR2 was delivered, PlayStation announced some new titles launching a few months after the headset would come out. One of these was Before Your Eyes, a game I had no prior knowledge of but its incredibly unique gameplay mechanics help my interest. I’m glad to have not known what it was, because it ended up being one of my favourite games of all time. Before Your Eyes is a narrative-heavy experience. The general gist of the story is that you’re a newly deceased person having to relive your memories to decide if you’re worthy to enter what is this game's version of heaven. You speak to a wise-cracking wolf character as he helps tell your story. Emotional storytelling is the easiest way to grip me with the narrative of a game. My all-time favourite video game is Spiritfarer, a title which is entirely dependent on the connection you have with its characters. Before Your Eyes managed to excel in this with only a short 90-minute runtime. By cleverly using its incredible gameplay mechanics and effective twists, the game would end up devastating me once the credits rolled. I’ve mentioned its unique gameplay. You don’t use a controller or keyboard with this, you don’t really touch anything to play the game. This is controlled entirely with your eyes. You have to blink to move through your life, each time you blink it’ll send you to a later point in your life. This mechanic works on various levels, but primarily in how it assists the storytelling. The story tells a narrative about the fleeting nature of life, and how we should learn to savour every moment we have. The moments you see are usually happy ones, you’re trying to stay unblinking to see how they unfold, but unfortunately, that’s not how it works. You’ll eventually blink and move right on. The game will even show you moments you feel desperate to escape, your parents fighting for example. You’ll end up trying as hard as you can to blink and move on to something more joyous. Musically I also found this game to be excellent, I’m not a big music nerd so it’s an area I can’t really talk confidently about. But I’ve already added some of the tracks here into my rotation, trying not to cry whenever they come up. Music is used in an incredibly effective way to help amplify the emotion of each scene. Whether it’s a happy and cosy moment or a pure heart-wrenching one. These motifs are used frequently in a way to invoke a reaction out of you. To really dive into why it is exactly I love this game, we’ll have to enter Spoiler territory. If you haven’t played the game please stop reading and play it for yourself. Whether that’s on the PSVR2, PC or even on Mobile. Playing this game unknowing the twists it offered made for an unforgettable experience. So, now going into spoilers, it’s time to discuss Before Your Eyes’ narrative. You follow Ben as he blinks his way through his life. You’ll see key moments such as first loves, school tests, and love for your pets. It’s surprisingly engaging especially with how short of a runtime it has to offer. It does this by having truly relatable and realistic characters. You’re playing from the perspective of this person so you’re seeing all of these interactions from his perspective, they may seem 2 Dimensional but the more you play and the more you grow up you’ll start to realise the truth of their motivations. One of the biggest narrative threads is Ben’s connection to his Mother. His mother (Ellie) was a failed pianist, and once she learns Ben has a talent for the instrument from hearing her play, she wants to fulfil her lifelong dreams through him. It’s selfish and yet understandable, she pushes him towards greatness as she pushes him away. It’s easy to dislike her but in reality, you’re able to see where she’s coming from. Soon Ben falls ill after being unable to live up to Ellie’s expectations, while ill he learns to paint and after countless years of practice he becomes a world-class artist. Finally being the big shot she always wanted. You get to see moments of her pride in you, until eventually, she passes away. Ben grieves but soon continues to paint until his dying day. This is a pretty nice story really, it has you living the dream. Reconnecting with people from your past and getting to live old with success. But that’s not really how the story goes. You’re taken out of this paradise as the ferryman realises you’ve been lying to him. This never happens, it’s all fake. As you work your way through your life again, trying to find where it was that you chose to branch. You soon realise that Ben never recovered from his illness. He’s a child who passed too soon. You then get to relive his final days, as he interacts with these characters in a bedridden position. It’s a haunting final act, one which battles the emotions of childhood trauma, fear and acceptance of the end. You see how badly your mother is able to come to terms with it, choosing to avoid you to pretend you’re okay as your dad comforts you throughout. During this period you start to write, the goal being to write your life story. After various attempts, Ellie finally reads what you’ve written. However unable to come to terms with it she says goodnight to leave you, with your dad once again having to comfort you. These scenes are all amplified by the core gameplay mechanic of blinking to progress. From my experience, most of this act I had tears flowing in my eyes causing me to blink and accidentally pass moments I’d rather live in. It’s incredibly effective in helping solidify the narrative theme of us not having enough time, and that time passing by us too quickly. You have to fight your urges to be able to see moments through to the end, just as Ben would. Eventually, the ferryman leads you to the Gatekeeper who will review your story. You blink and are brought back to your bed, as your mother comes in to read you her new interpretation of your story. And how she views you as a person. This story is the same that the ferryman reads, each time you blink you swap between the boat and your bed. It’s one of the most effective endings I’ve witnessed in a game, completely emotionally devastating me. It’s an incredible conclusion to Ben’s story, as Ellie speaks to him in his final moments. “Why is he smiling?” “He must be somewhere he likes” Before Your Eyes will remain one of my favourite games of all time. One that I continue to think about months after originally finishing it, I would love nothing more to re-experience it again for the first time, I don’t like to write about my favourites, I’ll think that I don’t do the impact they had on me justice. But if I can get even one person to finally play this, it’ll be a success for me.