Beyond Eyes | PS4 Review

 

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Publisher: Team17

Developer: Tiger & Squid
PS4 Review

Sometimes I just want to play a chilled out game instead of something with too much content in it, I came across a very short game called Beyond Eyes, it stood out to me because it reminded me a little of the Unfinished Swan which was another relaxing game to play. I had no idea what it was about or how I would feel playing it. I have to warn you now, this is a very slow game, you're not able to run in it and you're quite literally the eyes of a little girl. The little girl you play as is called Rae who lost her eyesight, she spends much of her summer alone until one day a little cat pays her a visit and they soon become friends, what I find most adorable about this is the cat is so happy to spend time with the little girl and it's made her summer so much brighter to have someone around.

One day she realises her little cat friend hasn't been around for a while so she sets out on a journey to find the cat, being blind this is a very daunting task, as you walk along each sound, feel and even smell stimulates your brain and the world around her turns to colour which is what reminds me of the unfinished swan, except in that game you have to splatter the white walls with black ink to make the world visible. I quite like the system of a world coming to life based on what the girl thinks, her perceptions are sometimes completely different to what the real world is, for instance, she walked past some water and thought it was a fountain but in fact, it was a sewer pipe.

Seeing how Rae reacts to dogs and birds is often sad because she is out in this big world alone braving it all but has to pluck up the courage to find her way past the dogs and birds to continue her journey. When Rae is near the birds or dogs she cowers and the game gets a little darker, that brightness turns dull and she goes int herself and cowers, she isn't able to run in this game so she slowly paces herself around, it is a huge downfall for the game you can't get through the game faster you are made to go at one pace only by walking.

I was really looking forward to playing this game as it was about a little blind girl, you see a lot of games portray disabled characters as the bad guys but this game shows how vulnerable and realistic life for a blind person could be and I think it's important that disabled people are represented well in video games especially when there is such a lack of accessibility when it comes to the gaming world. The problem I think a lot of people will have with this game is that they will get bored too quickly, yes it's slow but it has a beautiful story once you read the end. I liked having to solve little puzzles in order to move on to the next part of the game and it made it into more of an interactive book than just a video game.

When I started to get closer to the end of this game I kind of knew that there wouldn't be a happy ending for the cat, and in a way it made me heart broken for Rae, that cat was her happiness in her darkness it brightened up her days and she had a friend again, but at the same time the game teaches us about grief and making friends whilst going on a journey and even though Rae loses her best friend, she gains a new one just by fetching her ball for her. I personally think it was the money I paid for it which was about £2 in the PlayStation sale, it's game parents can play with the little ones and they can sit and make the world turn to colour. Finding all the trophies can be a bit confusing but I managed to get them all with the help of a youtube tutorial, I know that's slightly cheating but it helped a lot. I'm going to give this game 3 out of 5 just because the artwork alone, the way they incorporated the watercolours in the game and actually used a disabled character in a good light is why I give it the thumbs up.

One last thing I know a lot of people say how inspirational people who are disabled are but what I feel they forget to remember is people who are disabled are just trying to get on with their life, so I hope I don't get any comments about how inspirational this game is because inspiration porn can be very ableist at times especially when people say if someone who is disabled can do something then you should be able to, so please bear that in mind.