Before Your Eyes is a game with a solidly strong gimmick that unfortunately doesn't really have much else in its bag of tricks, and you'll likely forget about it pretty quickly after finishing it. I'd be shocked to hear that this game gave anyone a super strong, profound reaction, and that's a shame because the concept itself is so powerful that you would expect it to easily make it all the way to the touchdown. Not so!

The most successful thing this game does is serve as a way for you to reflect upon your own life and your own experiences, but that's only half of the puzzle. I will say that I was a sobbing mess by the end, but I don't particularly think the game itself is necessarily what moved me, more just circumstances in my life and the lives of the people around me at the time, things the game successfully prompted me to think about, but the game's own answers to these things didn't line up with my experiences and also failed to be compelling as they were presented by themselves, so it kind of felt like a damper on the experience.

I still feel somewhat thankful that it could serve as a venue for a little emotional introspection, but there's little staying power here. Other than the big idea of "stare into a webcam and try not to blink while the game attempts to pluck your heartstrings and hope there's a memory rattling around in your head that will make the sound ring true", it's pretty much guaranteed that you will struggle to remember the game's name a few years later.

Still, I want to see what these developers do next. This one is close but no cigar, but maybe next time we're gonna get a whole pack of Cubans. I'll keep an eye out...

Está muy interesante la idea de controlar el juego con el parpadeo, hace a una mecánica entretenida de intentar mantener los ojos abiertos o jugar con la estrategia de cuando podes parpadear para descansar para cuando no podes y qsyo. Que el juego pase cuando parpadeas es frustrante, en el buen sentido. Me pasó varias veces de parpadear en momentos que quería ver, sin querer, y decir fuck! Y perderme del momento y de la historia que quería escuchar. El problema es que siento que hay pocos momentos que valgan tantísimo la pena como para que realmente sientas que te perdes de algo, salvo por algunos momentos que me perdí y me dieron ganas de rejugar, pero son pocos, la mayoría de los momentos importantes no te los podes saltear. Igual la experiencia está buenísima y es muy original, además de que funciona muy bien. La historia es re linda y no es lo que me esperaba para nada. La relación con la madre y la enfermedad del chico me parece que estaban demasiado bien escritas, y no me esperaba la cuestión esta de ser un alma que rescata el pescador este, de buscarme entrada al cielo. En general la historia me gustó aunque no me voló la cabeza, pero es emotiva y hasta llore un poco.

A simple yet effective story incorporating some interesting mechanics.

While many of the plot points and setting aren't completely relatable for me, the main theme of feeling like you have to be more than just "good enough" does strike home. And the game does a great job at not just showing that, but showing why people might contribute to such an unhealthy obsession. Characters throughout the story are flawed, they feed into the obsession but their motives are realistic and their flaws don't make them villains. It just makes them like everyone else.

My only negative mark for this game is that, while the blink feature is interesting, I find that for people who may have some form of eyelid droop (or they're even just tired) they might find themselves accidentally skipping forward. Calibration does exist to try and fix these issues but after 3 or so calibrations in a row with the game still thinking that me looking at the bottom of the screen was me blinking, I decided that I'd rather just accidentally skip stuff and deal with it. You can play with a mouse instead, and that will work to prevent any accidents. But with the blink feature being a prominent method of gameplay I feel it's still a valid criticism.

There's a category at the Bafta Game Awards called "Game Beyond Entertainment". About an hour and half ago I would have ridiculed the idea that art and entertainment are such separate bodies. In 2021, Before Your Eyes received said award. When games like this and Assasins Creed exist with little differentiation, perhaps art like this should be raised above the pack, and placed on such a pedestal.

This joins a very very small list of games that made me cry, and an even smaller list of games with something to say.

Irei admitir que sou meio chorão, mas eu raramente choro jogando video games. Algumas exceções que eu posso listar de cabeça seriam Undertale, Nier (franquaia), The Beginners Guide e Before Your Eyes, que é o mais novo a entrar nessa lista. Before Your Eyes tem uma mensagem muito poderosa e eu acredito que seja impossível pra mim colocar em palavras o quanto esse jogo é lindo, lindo em todos os sentidos da palavra. O jogo só não é perfeito porque eu pisco muito e a camêra do meu pc e meio merda, então não pude experenciar o jogo da maneira entendida. VAI JOGAR, AGORA.

9/10 (É difícil dar nota pra um jogo tão pessoal quanto esse, mas irei dar nota 9/10 porque como eu havia dito antes, a mecânica principal do jogo não funcionou pra mim.)