Eye of the Beholder (2020)
Eye of the Beholder is a 2020 adventure video game made by Westwood Studios.
A war game that would rather you put the gun down. Eye of the Beholder is a twenty-minute VR piece built out of My Enemy, My Brother, the Oscar-shortlisted documentary about two former soldiers who once fought on opposite sides. It sets you down in contested territory and then complicates the reflex every shooter trains: the people in front of you can be fought or worked alongside, and it keeps handing that choice back to you. Short, pointed, and far more interested in what you decide than in what you can shoot.
Quick answers
What is Eye of the Beholder about?
A war game that would rather you put the gun down. Eye of the Beholder is a twenty-minute VR piece built out of My Enemy, My Brother, the Oscar-shortlisted documentary about two former soldiers who once fought on opposite sides. It sets you down in contested territory and then complicates the reflex every shooter trains: the people in front of you can be fought or worked alongside, and it keeps handing that choice back to you. Short, pointed, and far more interested in what you decide than in what you can shoot.
When was Eye of the Beholder released?
Eye of the Beholder was released on 30 November 2020.
Who made Eye of the Beholder?
Eye of the Beholder was made by Westwood Studios.
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Explore Eye of the Beholder guides
Eye of the Beholder in our writing
- Companion guide: Westwood Studios: The Studio That Invented Real-Time Strategy
A few thoughts on Eye of the Beholder
For the same pull between fighting and refusing to, Undertale is the obvious companion, a game that notices and remembers when you choose not to strike. Life Is Strange shares its interest in decisions that sit with you afterward rather than resolving cleanly, and in treating the player as someone accountable for the call.
Games where mercy is an option
This VR piece hands you a choice most war games never offer: lower the weapon and cooperate instead of kill. These titles build the same fork into their design, rewarding restraint as much as violence. If the moment you spared an enemy stuck with you longer than any firefight, follow that instinct here.