We’re shaking things up a little bit today, although you have read my Day Zero Post, then you knew that I might grace you with a non-film, or TV related review from time-to-time. There are thousands, and maybe even tens of thousands of video games that I could choose to review, but the truth of the matter is, I haven’t played any of them. I tend to limit the scope of my video gaming so you know that this one must be really noteworthy. And indeed it is. Rest Your Eyes, RYE from here out, is looking to push the boundaries of video gaming in previously unexplored directions. It’s innovating in ways that, until recently, no one had thought necessary, or even possible. But first, some backstory… Last year, I happened to be browsing my local game store (not video game store) and I happened across a young man by the name of Zach Smith. Zach was running demos of his video game project, and although the idea intrigued me, I tried to avoid eye contact lest I be sucked into a lengthy, and tedious demo session with some nerdy guy. It was my wife who first took a crack at it. She actually doesn’t play video games so this was kind of an event. She appeared to have a fun time, and so I bowed to peer pressure and gave it a go, and it. Was. A. BLAST!
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get into what makes this game fun and unique. So the screen looks like this as you’re playing:
As you can see, there’s not much to the graphics of this game. It’s certainly not winning any video game awards there, but that’s okay. The object of the game is to move your little token guy, the red thing, until you get what’s called a pickup:
The pickup is the white sphere on the right, and it’s called a pickup because you’re supposed to pick it up. It’s pretty simple, and in fact, if you play it normally, it actually is ridiculously simple. However, you’re not supposed to play it the way you would play any normal game because it isn’t any normal game. You’re supposed to play it like this:
This is what makes RYE so dramatically different from any other game out there. It’s designed to be played by the visually impaired.
So how does that actually work? Well, the headphones plug you into the stereoscopic soundscape to give you an idea of where you are relative to the pickup in each level. There are pleasant sounds that tell you how close you are to the edge of a platform. As you near the edge of a platform, the sounds pulse in your ears at higher pitches, and faster tempos. Then off in the distance as it were, there’s another distinct pulsing sound leading toward those sweet, sweet pickups. So you have to listen really closely to navigate each level literally blindly. It’s tremendous fun, and it’s exceptionally challenging. You would think that the lack of visual stimulation would hinder the experience, but really it enhances it. This is because without the visuals pre-programmed, you get to fill in all of those gaps with your imagination. It’s an ingenious setup.
Where’s it at right now? Right now, it’s a free demo that you can get right here for free. But remember that it’s a demo. There are currently four playable levels, and a practice level as of the 0.0.0.8 version, although 0.0.0.9 is the newest available version. It’s light on the hardware necessities, and it’s designed to be played with a regular controller even though it’s for computer. It’s a unique experience that will blow. Your. Mind! It receives my highest recommendation. You should definitely get to the website and give this beast a whirl and no cheating! Enjoy this unique gem, and stay tuned for next week’s review! And in the meantime, enjoy our shiny new Facebook page right here!
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