Before Your Eyes, the 2021 British Academy Games Awards winner, debuts on mobile under an exclusive deal with Netflix Gaming. Starting July 27, active Netflix subscribers are able to explore the emotional narrative of the adventure game on iOS and Android. The much anticipated mobile release comes a year after being available on PC.
Related: Netflix Gaming: Everything You Need to Know
What Is Before Your Eyes?
Before your eyes is a first-person adventure game that tells a tear-jerking story of a soul’s journey in life after death. The game begins after the death of the player character named Benjamin Brynn, accompanied by a ferryman who must help him pass on. To do this, players must help them relieve Benjamin’s life story and recall the most important moments of his life until his death. And so, his memories unfold right before your eyes.
This compelling story is paired with a unique way of navigation. Before Your Eyes uses eye detection technology and uses your blinks to let you move forward in the game. On PCs, it uses your webcam to detect your eye movement. The same goes with the mobile version; it uses your camera to capture your blinks as you unfold the game’s narrative.
Download NETFLIX Before Your Eyes from App Store
Download NETFLIX Before Your Eyes from Play Store
A Game Controlled by Blinking
You have to allow the game to use your phone’s camera so that it can capture your blinks. Upon starting the game, it will guide through calibrating the controls for precise eye detection. Generally, you would want your face to be well-lit and have a straight angle with the camera so that it can accurately capture your eye movement.
Every blink constitutes an action in the game. It helps you interact with scenes and allow you to expand them to learn more about the backstory of the main character. A small metronome also appears on each clip. Blinking while it’s on will allow you to move forward to the next cutscene.
You Don’t Always Have to Use Eye Detection When Playing Before Your Eyes
The eye detection control is what makes Before Your Eyes an immersive game, but it’s getting a mixed opinion from players. Aside from security concerns, it also has a bit of inconsistency in detecting eye movements on both PC and mobile.
Using eye detection controls is even harder for mobile players. When playing, it requires you to keep your camera angled straight with your face, which is hard to achieve on a mobile phone. Thankfully, you don’t have to use eye detection every time you play the game.
On PC, you can control the game using the mouse by clicking the left button to do a manual blinking. The developers have also brought this option to the Netflix version of Before Your Eyes – tapping on your screen will act as blinking.
Is Before Your Eyes Free to Play?
Before Your Eyes is not a free-to-play game. On mobile, you need an active Netflix subscription to play it. If you play on a PC, you have to purchase it on Steam at $9.99 on regular, but you can get it for half the price until August 5, 2022.
Before Your Eyes add to the growing list of games on Netflix Gaming, following the successful release of Hextech Mayhem, Dungeon Dwarves, and more. They also plan to release more games next month, including Immortality, Heads Up!, and Wild Things: Animal Adventures.
