Have an obnoxious collection of video games? "Games Then, Reviewed Now" yanks the dusty cases off of the shelves and looks at why they should have been played when they were released. This week takes a good, hard look at the water-colored world of "Beyond Eyes," an adventure game that was released on Aug. 4, 2015 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Mac and Linux.
Watercolor is one of the few art forms where there is little control; the artist is at the mercy of the pigments.
In much the same way, "Beyond Eyes" puts the player at the mercy of a greater force. Instead, rather than pigment, the power of a child's imagination and blissful innocence take ahold of the reins.
Players assume the role of Rae, a little girl who was born with sight, but eventually lost it in a fireworks accident. Naturally, she's met in the depths of despair, hiding in her family's garden. With a sweet jingle of bell, Nani, a fat cat, swoops in to save her troubled heart. But, like the ever-flowing swish of pigment, Nani disappears one day, sending Rae on a journey to reunite with her beloved friend.
At face value, "Beyond Eyes" is visually stunning, but its gameplay is akin to a walking simulator. Even so, that weakness doesn't take away from the title's impact. At times, it's a bit monotonous, but the physical act of walking, traveling and discovering has a huge role in the overall purpose of the title.
What stands out the most about Rae's story is that the world around her is literally painted before the player's eyes. She always initially stands in a small patch of life among a pure abyss of white. As she takes steps, the everything around her comes to life with vibrant, yet softened, shades of pastel greens, purples and blues. Each step breathes Rae's world into existence, or rather, the world she believes is there.
It's important to keep in mind what kind of character Rae actually being portrayed as physically: she's a child and she's blind. Along her journey, her fears, the things that make her happy, everything that is known and unknown to her is laid bare to the player. But, there's something off about that--if Rae can't physically see, how does the player see from her eyes?
The reality is, they don't. Players see Rae's journey from her imagination.
A blind person can never know color, but Rae can. She had sight at one point her her life, so she has memories of color and texture and shape. The environment that she "sees" along her hunt for Nani is what she inherently believes it to be, and of course, that isn't all rainbows and butterflies. The rain washes away paths the player has already made. Rae's fears block the way. At the same time, she has unwavering courage to keep moving forward.
This sort of gameplay isn't really meant to purely entertain; it works more like a piece of fiction. It's about creating Rae as a character. She's an innocent kid, incredibly naive and has some lessons to learn. But she's also a kid who's been in a place where we all have: lonely and looking for someone to love.
"Beyond Eyes" is a tale worth curling up with a mug of bittersweet tea on a quiet afternoon. It's a short journey, but it's one to stick around for a while and jog memories of when life really was that colorful.
