Blink and you’ll miss it: Feeling and fighting time in Before Your Eyes

Hegemonic game time and slow game time represent opposing video game design paradigms. The former emphasizes commercialized gameplay rhythms that link pleasure and power to speed and control, and the latter focuses on process, stillness and waste, challenging the naturalized connections between play, power and time. The independent video game Before Your Eyes (GoodbyeWorld Games, 2021) exemplifies the tensions between these paradigms through its innovative blinking mechanic, where players control the game by staring and blinking to navigate the protagonist’s memories. This article examines how Before Your Eyes uses its narrative and mechanics to explore the fleeting nature of time, positioning time as both a precious, ever-dwindling resource that demands control and as something to be cherished in the moment. The game confounds the temporal binary between hegemonic and slow game time, presenting a unique case study in the complex interplay of these oppositional design approaches.