Before Your Eyes

Before Your Eyes is a narrative game about an 11-year-old boy revisiting his life before "crossing over" to the other side. You play by exploring scenes that represent snapshots of his life. Unusually, you make choices and interact with the game by blinking your eyes (seen by your webcam or smartphone camera) rather than pressing a button. It uses this disarming interaction to intimately involve you in an emotional journey about the impossible expectations we place on ourselves and the regrets we carry with us.

CONTENT RATING

Moderate Violence

PLATFORMS

PC

Android

iOS

POSITIVE GAMEPLAY

Calming

Communication

Comprehension

Empathy

Interpretation

Non-Violent

Problem Solving

Simple Fun

PLAY STYLE

Player vs Game World

Before Your Eyes begins on a desolate sea with a fox-like captain taking you to be judged. You're then instructed to remember your life before you reach this place. When remembering, you blink to progress a memory by interacting with the objects you see, but soon a Metronome appears and your next blink will end the scene.

As you progress this use of blinking becomes second nature. The game leans into this and uses it in ever more intimate ways. If you blink by accident when the Metronome has appeared dialogue is cut short and there's no way back. It creates a tangible tension of your inability to control time. Then there are moments where blinking chooses how the story is told (although it's not branching). Or there are moments when you must keep your eyes open or close them to progress.

The result is a fascinating game that explores the unforgiving pace of life. The uncertainty of how much time you blink forward combined with your inability to hear everything you want to before moving on powerfully creates a sense of powerfulness and inevitability. This combines with the themes of illness, family expectations, performance anxiety and our legacy after death to tell a story that gets under your skin in ways a book or film is unable to do.

GAMEPLAY TRAILER

Good to know

Insights to ensure your child's gaming experience remains safe and enjoyable

Explore story themes

These games focus on storytelling and often have complex themes. Expect touching stories that can make your child feel strongly. Discuss the game's themes and emotions with them.

Stay engaged

Ask your child to tell you about the game, its story and the world it's set in so you can share the experience and enjoy the game together.

Support critical thinking

Talk about the story your child experiences through the game and the problems it brings up to solve. Ask them questions about the in-game world, the decisions they make and the content of the story to support their critical thinking.

Skill level

Suggested by Family Gaming Database

It's a slower narrative game that requires some maturity to understand the weight of the story. The interactions revolve around blinking your eyes in the real world so you need to be able to control that to some extent. Younger players are sometimes attracted to the unusual interaction here. Very young players could choose to play by tapping rather than blinking.