Beyond Eyes is a quiet game about a young girl named Rae who has lost her sight and is trying to find her missing cat, Nani. It was made by Tiger and Squid and brought out by Team17, and it came out in 2015 on PS4, Linux, PC, Mac and Xbox One. The game asks players to guide Rae through a world that starts as pure white, with colour only appearing once she touches something. Sound is the whole point.
Trailer, via SpottinGames.
Rae and the White World
Rae is a 10-year-old girl who went blind after an accident with fireworks. She lives alone, and the game opens with her searching for Nani, her cat, who has gone missing. The world is presented entirely in white, and nothing else can be seen until Rae touches it. That touch is the core mechanic, and it sets the tone for everything that follows.
The setup is simple. Rae walks forward, reaches out, and the ground turns green. A tree turns brown. A house turns grey. The effect is immediate and striking, especially on a screen that has been showing nothing but white for minutes. Players are meant to feel what it might be like to see the world for the first time, through touch rather than sight.
Touching the World
Every object in Beyond Eyes must be touched before it gains colour. This means players spend a great deal of time guiding Rae’s hand across the ground, over grass, along walls, and through the air. The controls are simple: move the stick, and Rae moves. Reach out, and the game checks for contact. It is a slow process, and it takes patience.
Sound plays a big part too. Cars drive by, and players must judge whether the noise is far enough away to cross the road. Birds chirp, and Rae can follow their calls to find food. These audio cues are meant to stand in for visual information, and the game expects players to learn the world through listening as much as through touching.
The result is a game that rewards careful attention. Nothing moves fast, and there is no urgency. Rae simply walks, touches, and looks around, and the world builds itself around her.
Finding Nani
The main goal is to find Nani, Rae’s cat. The game does not explain why Nani is missing, only that Rae is looking for her. This search drives the entire experience, and it gives the wandering a purpose beyond curiosity. Players are not just exploring for the sake of seeing new colours; they are searching for a friend.
The search is not easy. Nani is small, and she can hide in corners or behind objects. Rae cannot see her directly, so players must listen for signs of movement or wait for a hint of colour. The difficulty comes from the lack of visual information, not from complicated puzzles or enemy attacks. It is a test of observation, not of reaction.
“Much like a blind person must memorise their environment, the game tries to show how sound memory for a blind person feels.”
The Walking Simulator Label
Beyond Eyes fits into a genre of games often called walking simulators. These are games built around exploration, storytelling, and atmosphere, with little combat or action. The label is not exact, but it captures the spirit of the game. Beyond Eyes is less about solving puzzles and more about feeling a space.
The comparison to a blind person’s reliance on memory is apt. The game asks players to treat the world as Rae treats it, remembering paths, sounds, and locations through repetition and habit. That is a clever way to get across the experience of blindness, even though the game is not trying to be educational.
Sound and Sight Together
The combination of touch and sound is the game’s biggest strength. Without either, Beyond Eyes would fall apart. With both, it creates a distinct identity that few other games share. The white world gives the game a clean slate, and the touch system forces players to engage with it actively rather than passively.
The sound design deserves particular praise. Car noises, bird calls, rustling leaves, and distant voices all contribute to the sense of place. Players are constantly judging distance, direction, and danger through their ears alone, and the game trusts them to make those judgements accurately.
The result is a game that feels more alive than it has any right to be. A world that is mostly white can still be full of detail, so long as players are willing to look closely.
The Length of the Journey
Beyond Eyes is short. The game lasts a few hours at most, and it does not ask for much time beyond that. Shortness is not necessarily a weakness, but it means the game needs to earn its place quickly. It does, mostly, though some sections feel padded and could be trimmed without losing anything essential.
The pacing is uneven. Some parts move at a crawl, while others rush past in a hurry. This is a problem that affects the overall experience, since the game depends on a steady rhythm to build its atmosphere.
Final Score
Beyond Eyes is a thoughtful, well-intentioned game that falls short of greatness. Its central idea is strong, and its execution is competent, but the length and pacing hold it back. The white world, the touch mechanic, and the search for Nani all work together to create a distinctive experience, even if that experience is brief.
The game is worth playing for anyone interested in experimental storytelling or unconventional mechanics. It is not a game for everyone, and it is not a game that demands a large investment of time. But for what it is, it succeeds.
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