Beyond Eyes

Beyond Eyes is a breathtaking accomplishment. It's a game that not only entertains, but that also gets across some of the difficulties that a differently abled person would need to contend with, in a way that is entirely understandable by everyone. Difficulties that you probably hadn't even imagined before and that seem trivial are suddenly brought into stark relief and it takes a heck of a lot of talent to get that just right. If you approach the game correctly, it's a massively rewarding experience that will undoubtedly live long in your heart. There's definitely a feeling that there could h...

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As an educational tool, Beyond Eyes did a great job of teaching me of the struggles people face when their vision is impaired. Rae’s way of seeing the world through memories and senses creates some fascinating insights, together with some genuinely appealing watercolour visuals and brilliant sound direction. As a game though, Beyond Eyes is about plodding through a maze with barely any meaningful plot until right at the end.

I badly wanted Beyond Eyes to use its attractively whitewashed look and novel, visually limited ideas to tell a much more moving story whose empathetic lessons could’ve stayed with me long after the end credits rolled, but it didn’t. Only its ending taps into this potential, and it’s a shame the rest of its short playthrough time couldn’t follow suit.

When I first delved in to Beyond Eyes I really thought it was going to be something special, and to some degree it still is. The bare-bones storytelling successfully manages to create an adventure that is both heart-warming yet crushingly depressing at the same time, which is to be applauded. Unfortunately the gameplay itself is just dire. If you have the patience of a saint and want to play something entirely unique than you may get something more out of Beyond Eyes than others, but for most its dawdling and repetitive nature will feel too much like hard work for what is on offer.

Beyond Eyes' story and experience come nowhere near to making up for the boredom delivered by the gameplay.

Beyond Eyes has it's heart in the right place and on paper might have seemed like a good idea. As a game though it is slow and misses the mark leaving us with a walking sim where you can't even see where you're walking.