Before Your Eyes

Before Your Eyes is a smart and moving first-person looker where your eyes are in control.

Brynn's tale is told mostly in flashback, for obvious reasons, and as I watched it play out, I could make some limited decisions by putting the cursor on one of the eyeball icons on the screen and blinking to make my selection. Once the interactive portion of a moment is over, a metronome begins to tick back and forth at the bottom of the screen, even if characters are still talking. You can stay in that moment as long as you'd like ... as long you can keep yourself from blinking. Blink, and you're removed from the memory and sent someplace else.

It’s one of the few PlayStation VR2 games that takes advantage of the hardware’s eye tracking and it works great. I personally encountered issues playing with a webcam in the past, but I never encountered a single issue on PlayStation VR2. It also doesn’t require initial calibration. It just works immediately, and continues to work, letting you focus wholly on Benjamin Brynn’s story. Beyond the blinking, though, being able to look around the environments makes everything feel more impactful and real. The structure of the game, where you as the player character are sitting in one place as you move through life, is perfectly suited to VR. It’s also not a long experience, so the nausea potential is very low. You should play Before Your Eyes if you can on whatever platform you can, but if PlayStation VR2 is an option, then that is absolutely the route you should take. Plus, no one will be able to see you cry if you’re wearing a headset.

Before Your Eyes left a lump in our throat, which we weren't expecting at all. The game starts fantastical, but eventually matures into a relatably human tale, which we imagine will touch the majority of people who play it. Strong writing, fantastic voice acting, and an outstanding 3D audio mix all contribute to an impressively poignant campaign, which helps showcase how impactful interactive media can be.

Before Your Eyes is a heat warming tale of a life well lived, and one of the best titles PSVR2 has to offer.

Whereas scores of other titles look towards filling potential holes with content, Before Your Eyes has a more special goal in mind: making you appreciate each and every second.

Before Your Eyes is a devastating journey in VR that you won’t soon forget. While the journey itself doesn’t last that long, the story is long enough to leave an imprint on the gamer for years to come. It has a very Grave of the Fireflies vibe to it, so bring the tissues.

Before Your Eyes is a narrative-driven VR game that uses eye-tracking technology to immerse players in the life story of Benny, offering a short yet emotional experience, but with graphics that may not satisfy everyone and a narrative that could be more developed.

Before Your Eyes is a unique and emotional narrative about a soul on its way to the afterlife and a deep dive into what is important in life. Sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, Before Your Eyes manages to make you care for Benjamin in the short time that you have with him. Controlled using only your eyes, Before Your Eyes is a testament to what the PSVR2 can do, helping craft a story which has no need for controllers to experience. Simply sit back, watch, and blink when you're ready to progress.

Playing Before Your Eyes in VR brings your even closer to embodying the life and times of Benjamin Brynn. There's some quibbles from the jump to VR, but Benny's tale remains a beautiful told story that's well worth experiencing.