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

"Before Your Eyes" is a testament to the incredible power of video games as a storytelling medium. My friend in class described the game to me and it's unique concept of blinking to progress and it instantly piqued my interest. I ended up playing through it twice. During my first playthough, I was so engrossed in the gameplay mechanics that I didn't fully absorb the emotional weight of the story. When I later saw reviews of people say they'd cried at the ending, I thought I was completely psychopathic or something lol because I didn't? XD. I played through it again, the second time focusing solely on the narrative. While I still didn't shed a tear, I definitely understood why it resonated so deeply with people. That ending was chilling. The game's message is very powerful yet simple: cherish your life, even in moments of failure, because your existence leaves an impact on others, whether you realize it or not. It's a moving reminder of how interconnected our lives truly are and that they go by in a "Blink of an Eye" (get it? :P). Blinking is the main mechanic of the game. In order to progress you must blink, and sometimes you might miss something because you blink too soon. Which certainly happened to me in my first playthrough way too many times, but I guess that's kind of the point? I like that even though you might skip through a cutscene accidently from blinking, it's not the end of the world, the story still gets its point across. Visually, the game is stunning. The art style is minimalist but still striking with its use of color, and dreamlike vignettes which I was a big fan of. The voice acting was excellent, even though the mom's voice occasionally annoyed me (though I think that was just because of her personality lol). The level design also subtly reminded me of "What Remains of Edith Finch", which is another game that excelled in narrative-driven design and is also one of my favorite games. The ending was bittersweet, and while the experience was brief (around 90 minutes for one playthough), it left a huge impact on me. "Before Your Eyes" is a fantastic example of what games can achieve as a medium--and criminally underreated at that! I highly reccommend anyone play through this game if they want their perspective on life changed. 9.7/10