Eyes: The Horror Game

Genre: First-Person Horror

Players: 1

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Review:

Eyes: The Horror Game is a First-Person… well, Horror Game, originally released on mobile devices in 2013, ported to Nintendo Switch in 2020, then ported to PC and PlayStation 4 in 2024. This game puts players in the role of someone hired to explore an abandoned location (mansion, school, hospital) and search the place for all of the hidden bags of treasure spread throughout it… all while evading the monster hunting you down while you do.

There are a few Graphic Adventure elements thrown into the mix here, where you must find a key or some other item in order to proceed beyond a barrier or locked door, or collect notes or other objects that add to the game’s lore, but for the most part Eyes: The Horror Game plays out like a game of cat and mouse where you need to take care of your task while keeping out of sight of the looming monster (there are a few different kinds, but they’re all functionally the same).

To assist you in this matter, you’ll find the titular eyes painted on the walls every once in a while, which you can collect and use when you want to briefly look through the eyes of the monster, which should hopefully give you some clue as to its current location. However, you’ll have other signs to help you know when it’s nearby – you’ll hear a moaning coming from its direction, lights will flicker, and objects around you will start to shake and shudder. It’s actually a clever effect that’s not only functional but does a superb job of raising the tension whenever it starts happening.

Unfortunately, the character models of the monsters themselves don’t quite live up to the level of scary you get from the sound design and the way the environment reacts. At the very least those environments look decent enough, although the game’s decade-plus age definitely shows here.

When it comes to problems, I think the mazelike nature of the game’s maps is frustrating, and makes it harder to get a real sense of the monster stalking you through a real location, rather than some unrealistic fictional space. There are also a lot of dead ends that can make evading the monster impossible if it happens to follow you down such a path.

There’s another issue, and that is that other versions of this game have more to offer than this one does. The mobile version of the game supports multiplayer and the ability to custom-edit parts of the game. Meanwhile, a remake is in the works for PC with much-improved visuals. The Nintendo Switch version’s $2.50 price tag definitely helps to make the lack of this stuff more tolerable, but it’s worth mentioning in any case.

In the end, I think Eyes: The Horror Game does a good job with what it aims to do – it delivers a simple Horror experience that’s fairly original within the genre, and works well enough even if it’s not without its flaws. And while it absolutely does have flaws, it’s hard to be too harsh on this game when it’s selling for such a bargain price.

tl;dr – Eyes: The Horror Game is a First-Person Horror Game where players search the for treasure while evading the monster hunting you down. This game’s cat-and-mouse gameplay works well enough and the atmosphere does a good job being sufficiently creepy. There are some major flaws here too, but for only $2.50 it’s hard to complain. Players looking for a fun and inexpensive Horror experience will find this to be a good choice.

Grade: B-

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