Before Your Eyes
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| Before Your Eyes | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| VR/AR | Virtual Reality |
| Developer | GoodbyeWorld Games |
| Publisher | Skybound Games |
| Platform | PlayStation VR2 |
| Device | PlayStation VR2 |
| Operating System | PlayStation 5 |
| Type | Game |
| Genre | Adventure |
| Input Device | Eye tracking, head tracking (PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers optional) |
| Play Area | Seated |
| Game Mode | Single-player |
| Release Date | March 10, 2023 (PlayStation VR2); April 8, 2021 (Windows) |
| Price | US$14.99 (PlayStation VR2) |
| App Store | PlayStation Store |
Before Your Eyes is a first-person narrative adventure game developed by GoodbyeWorld Games, a Los Angeles independent collective, and published by Skybound Games. The player advances the story by blinking in real life. The original version was released for Windows on Steam on 8 April 2021 and detects blinks with a webcam.[1][2] A virtual reality version for PlayStation VR2 followed on 10 March 2023. It uses the headset's built-in eye tracking to detect blinks and head movement to aim, so it can be played without a controller.[3][4]
The game began as a student project at the University of Southern California. Its prototype, Close Your, won the Developers Choice award at IndieCade in 2014 and Best Student Game at the 2015 Independent Games Festival.[2][5] The finished game won the Game Beyond Entertainment award at the BAFTA Games Awards held in April 2022.[6] UploadVR gave the PlayStation VR2 version its "Essential" label and called it "one of the most interesting uses of eye tracking technology we've seen to date".[7]
Gameplay
The player takes the role of a person who has just died. The story begins aboard the ship of a mythical Ferryman who shepherds souls to the afterlife; to learn the story of the player's life, he sends the player back to relive key memories, including family, first love and a career in the arts. When the Ferryman suspects that something is being held back, he pushes the player into more painful, repressed memories.[1][8][9] The story is fully voice-acted, with Sarah Burns and Eric Edelstein in the cast.[2]
Blinking is the main input. Each blink moves a scene forward, sometimes by minutes and sometimes by years, so a blink at the wrong moment can end a memory early. At set moments a ticking metronome icon appears to show that the next blink will move the story on to a new scene; the player can hold off blinking to stay in the current one.[7] The metronome was added late in development, after the deal with Skybound Games.[10] On PC, the Steam store page advises players to use a webcam "for the full experience with blink interaction".[1] UploadVR put the length at around 90 minutes.[7]
PlayStation VR2 version
In the PlayStation VR2 version, a small cursor sits at the center of the player's view. The player moves it over interaction points by turning their head and selects with a blink. No controller is needed after the game starts, although the PlayStation Store listing names the PlayStation VR2 Sense Controllers as optional.[7][4][8] The store lists the game as a seated, single-player experience.[8] UploadVR described it as stationary, with a few sequences of very slow artificial movement and scenes that fade in and out around the player.[7]
Development
The game started as a USC thesis project by Will Hellwarth and other students, built around a PC plugin that let an ordinary webcam track the eyes. Hellwarth asked his childhood friend Graham Parkes to help with the writing and narrative design. The team finished a 15-minute prototype, Close Your, in time to submit it to IndieCade in 2014; it was accepted and won the event's Developers Choice award; Parkes later said the blink technology "barely worked" at the time.[10] USC described Close Your as an experiment in empathy in which a webcam watches the player and each real blink makes the life of a character with memory loss flash before their eyes.[5]
A Kickstarter campaign raised US$35,000. In a talk at the Game Developers Conference in 2023, reported by Game Developer, Parkes described the following years as "five years of constant failure". He cited his own creative block as lead writer, arguments over design decisions (particularly the blink mechanics) that turned personal within a team of old friends, and pressure from Kickstarter backers. Funding came from Ryot, an experimental filmmaking group owned by Verizon. According to the same report, Ryot "wanted to fund AR and VR experiences, and Before Your Eyes worked with eye-tracking systems inside select VR headsets." A later deal with Skybound Games increased the budget, which paid for new hires, more quality-assurance testing and a new lead designer.[10]
Parkes describes himself as the writer and one of the game's three directors, and names Will Hellwarth as co-director.[4] GoodbyeWorld's PlayStation VR2 launch announcement names Oliver Lewin as game director.[3] GoodbyeWorld Games describes itself as an independent collective of game makers based in Los Angeles.[2]
Move to PlayStation VR2
Parkes said that as soon as the team heard that PlayStation VR2 would have eye tracking, "we began fantasizing about a VR version".[2] Writing on the PlayStation Blog before launch, he said that on the headset "the eye-tracking just works perfectly", in contrast to the PC version, where "everybody has a different webcam, different lighting conditions, which made it a real challenge." He also described the team's "Mom Test", a rule that the game had to work for non-gamers as well as experienced players.[4] GoodbyeWorld and Skybound called the VR edition the first version of the game that can be played without controller inputs.[2]
Release
The PlayStation VR2 version was announced on 19 January 2023, with pre-orders opening on the PlayStation Store on 26 January 2023 at US$14.99 or EUR 14.99.[2] It was released on 10 March 2023.[3] The Steam version also supports macOS.[1]
| Platform | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Windows (Steam) | 8 April 2021 | Webcam blink detection[1] |
| iOS and Android (Netflix) | July 2022 | Mobile release through Netflix's games service[2][11] |
| PlayStation VR2 (PlayStation 5) | 10 March 2023 | US$14.99 / EUR 14.99; eye tracking and head tracking, controllers optional[3][8] |
Reception
On Metacritic, the PC version has a Metascore of 77 from 25 critic reviews and the PlayStation 5 (PlayStation VR2) version 79 from 17 critic reviews.[12] OpenCritic lists a Top Critic Average of 83, with 78% of critics recommending the game, across 42 reviews.[13]
| Publication | Version | Score or verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Metacritic (aggregate) | PC | 77/100 (25 reviews)[12] |
| Metacritic (aggregate) | PlayStation 5 / PlayStation VR2 | 79/100 (17 reviews)[12] |
| OpenCritic (aggregate) | PC, PlayStation 5 | Top Critic Average 83; 78% recommend[13] |
| Game Informer | PC (updated with a PlayStation VR2 section) | 8.5/10[14] |
| UploadVR | PlayStation VR2 | Essential[7] |
Harry Baker of UploadVR called the VR version "a truly unique experience" and wrote that "there is nothing about the VR release that feels like a port of a flatscreen game". His main reservation was that an accidental blink can end a scene early, "tragically cutting a beautiful moment short".[7] In Game Informer's PC review, Marcus Stewart wrote that the game's "themes of depression and existentialism hit hard" and reported that his webcam never failed to register a blink. Kyle Hilliard added a PlayStation VR2 section to the review, calling it "one of the few PlayStation VR2 games that takes advantage of the hardware's eye tracking" and saying the headset is "the best place to play it."[14]
Awards
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | The Game Awards 2021 | Games for Impact | Nominated[15] |
| 2022 | 25th D.I.C.E. Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Story | Finalist[16] |
| 2022 | BAFTA Games Awards | Game Beyond Entertainment | Won[6] |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Before Your Eyes on Steam". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1082430/Before_Your_Eyes/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Award-winning game 'Before Your Eyes' comes to PlayStation VR2 on March 10". Indigo Pearl newsroom. GoodbyeWorld Games, Skybound Entertainment. 2023-01-19. https://indigo-pearl.prezly.com/award-winning-game-before-your-eyes-comes-to-playstation-vr2-on-march-10. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Award-winning game 'Before Your Eyes' now available on PlayStation VR2". Indigo Pearl newsroom. GoodbyeWorld Games, Skybound Entertainment. 2023-03-10. https://indigo-pearl.prezly.com/award-winning-game-before-your-eyes-now-available-on-playstationr-vr2. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Graham Parkes (2023-02-23). "A closer look at PS VR2 narrative adventure Before Your Eyes ahead of its March 10 launch". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/?p=376208. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "USC wins top awards at Independent Games Festival". USC Today. University of Southern California. 2015-03-05. https://today.usc.edu/77015/usc-wins-top-awards-at-independent-games-festival/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Sam Chandler (2022-04-07). "BAFTA Games Awards 2022 winners". Shacknews. https://www.shacknews.com/article/129728/bafta-games-awards-2022-winners. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Harry Baker (2023-03-09). "Before Your Eyes VR Review - Sublime Immersive Narrative For PSVR 2". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/before-your-eyes-vr-review-psvr-2/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Before Your Eyes". PlayStation Store. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10007197. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Jan Wöbbeking (2023-02-25). "PSVR 2: You can play this eye-tracking adventure without a controller". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/psvr-2-you-can-play-this-eye-tracking-adventure-without-a-controller/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Sam Machkovech (2023-03-22). "A seven-year blink of an eye: Before Your Eyes' woes deconstructed at GDC". Game Developer. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/marketing/a-seven-year-blink-of-an-eye-before-your-eyes-s-dev-woes-deconstructed. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Tanish Botadkar (2022-07-26). "Before Your Eyes, the critically acclaimed emotional journey is now available on mobile via Netflix". Pocket Gamer. https://www.pocketgamer.com/before-your-eyes/ios-android-netflix-games/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Before Your Eyes". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/before-your-eyes/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Before Your Eyes Reviews". OpenCritic. https://opencritic.com/game/11176/before-your-eyes. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Marcus Stewart. "Before Your Eyes Review: An Emotional, Eye-Opening Experience". Game Informer. https://www.gameinformer.com/review/before-your-eyes/an-emotional-eye-opening-experience. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Carrie Talbot (2021-12-10). "The Game Awards 2021 winners - here are the TGA results". PCGamesN. https://www.pcgamesn.com/the-game-awards-2021-winners. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards finalists revealed". Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. http://www.interactive.org/awards/25th_annual_dice_awards_finalists_revealed.asp. Retrieved 2026-10-13.