Beyond Eyes PC Review by Lolinia of We Touch Games – Developer: Tiger and Squid / Team17 Digital Ltd – Publisher: Team17 Digital Ltd – Genre: Adventure
I don’t know if any of you were there for the Bob Ross marathon on Twitch, but if you liked it, you will have loads of fun with Beyond Eyes. Published by Team17 Digital Ltd and developed with Tiger and Squid, Beyond Eyes weaves a beautiful story on a blank canvas. This game is absolutely wonderful in art, music, story, and gameplay. The ending had me in tears and grinning ear-to-ear. It is a game that gives me the feeling of watching a Studio Ghibli film. (For fans of Ghibli, that means a lot from me, as this is the only game that I’ve yet played that has given me that feeling after it was done.) I cannot say enough how much I love this game.
You are Rae, a fun-loving, energetic little girl who tragically loses her eyesight due to a fireworks mishap while having fun with her friends, one summer day. After her recovery, she begins bonding with a stray cat (named Nani) over the seasons. When she notices that the cat has stopped coming around, she moves beyond the gates that shield her and journeys around town to find it.
Visually, the game is like a painting. More so than ‘like’, you are digitally painting the scenery in the game as you walk around. Though your character is blind, moving her around the world generates lovely backgrounds that are vividly colorful. Every step you take puts more on the screen and brings you one step closer to discovering Nani. The art is simply beautiful to look at and I found myself wandering around the map just to see more visuals. Beyond Eyes has truly unique art that I wouldn’t want to change at all.
Not only is the artwork fantastic, the music/audio of the game is superb. I really, really, really, really, really adored the atmosphere brought about by the use of sights and sounds in this game. What you hear affects what you see because… you know… blind, little girl. *cough…* Walking around as Rae truly opens your eyes as to how sound effects your perceived environment. What sounds like a woodpecker may be a rat scratching a door, or worse. A cat’s meow may be nothing but a toy (which could toy with your heart, too), but you won’t know unless you walk toward it. Beyond Eyes truly shows you how your environment changes as you interact with it through the sounds you hear. Will you move closer to the sound or stand frozen in fear? I find the atmospheric audio to be one of this game’s strongest points.
Furthermore, the voices and music add so much to your experience as the player. While moving around, you hear Rae giggle; you hear Rae shriek; you hear Rae cry. You experience not only her movements, but also her emotions through her sounds. While words among different characters in the game are sparse, you really become Rae as you walk around. As she calls for Nani, cowers from the unknown, and becomes gleeful at certain smells or sounds, you feel the humanity that she has. That although Rae is blind, she is still a fun-loving child and that, in itself, is a beautiful thing. I would change nothing about the game’s audio.
Storywise, Beyond Eyes is absolutely beautiful. More than just telling you to read words on the screen, Beyond Eyes takes it a step further. You not only read a story, you hear a story. You feel a story. Told beyond the words on the screen, Rae’s journey to find Nani is an experience. The ups and downs of Rae’s emotions and the sounds playing with how you perceive her environment tell even more of the story as you play the game. As you come to the end of the game, you will have many realizations. It may make you want to deny what it shows you, but if you persevere to the very end, it tells you a beautiful, modern-day fairy tale with a solid ending. I would change nothing about the story.
Gameplay is fantastic on both keyboard and Xbox 360 (wired) controller. The menu is stylistically designed to blend with the game’s art and is very solid. Walking around the world map as Rae is very fluid and the effects of how scenery is generated is extremely well-done. Depending on how you play, you can replay the game many times to find new scenery or have a very long session discovering everything. Either way is enjoyable. The game is a bit puzzle-y in some places and in others, very simplistic. The puzzles are not very hard and only require you to do one thing: walk around. Discover the world around you and you will solve the puzzles. You may even find little easter eggs over the place. The gameplay is solid and I wouldn’t want to change a thing about it.
Overall, Beyond Eyes is an absolutely stunning game. I did not expect to have such a good time with the game as I did. I highly recommend this game to you. For the price of $14.99 USD on Steam, Beyond Eyes is completely worth every penny. I think this game is amazing and you should get it the next chance you get.
Lolinia gives Beyond Eyes a Drastik Measure 10.0 out of 10.0 (100).
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