Beyond Eyes

While illuminating and restful, it’s rarely ‘fun’ in the same way that, say, a Tomb Raider game is fun. The pace is necessarily ponderous, yet the story can be completed in an evening, and while there are a few traditional puzzles, they’re extremely simple, more there for variety’s sake than to provide a genuine challenge. ...Plenty of games set out to be entertaining. This is one of the few that wants to change you.

Maybe it’s petty to lay into a game for what it could’ve been, but this game, though unique, charming, and well-executed, feels like an appetizer when I really wanted a meal. Although the story doesn’t feel cut off, it just feels too brief overall. I’d have preferred a game that ended when I wanted it to end. Still, I’m impressed with the job Tiger & Squid did with Team17’s faithful help.

Its message is loud and clear – to let life in, with all its risk and upset, so that the good can enter too – and its conclusion Watership-Down uncompromising. What’s more, it’s occasionally fun to indulge in a small-scale kind of exploration that encourages you to feel out the entirety of your environment rather than cast your eyes about for enemies and items. But for the most part the execution is too simplistic, and the frustrations are too frequent. Beyond recommendation.