Have you ever wanted to be Daredevil but realized you hate tight spandex and have an unwillingness to become a lawyer? Oh, and maybe fighting bad guys isn’t your thing either, and you’d rather keep the ability to see? Then you’re in luck: Blind thrusts you into the shoes of a woman who awakens to find out she’s blind… sort of. While you can’t actually see, sounds allow you to “see” things nearby in black and white. At first this is made easy thanks to a mysterious stranger with his recordings providing a consistent sound in each room, but soon you’re left to your own devices, flinging items around and eventually using a cane to smack against objects and create noise whenever you’d like.
Blind is one of those games with a name that’s perfectly fitting both literally and metaphorically. Yes, you’re blind, but you’re also in the blind about where you are, who this mysterious man is, what he wants with you, and how to regain your sight. He tells you from the start that you’re not permanently blind, and even works to help you see, but is he really as benevolent as he seems?
I was really surprised by Blind. It’s a puzzle game at heart, sure, but puzzling out what’s going on is just as interesting as the puzzles themselves. The entire game is only an hour or two long, but I was on the edge of my metaphorical seat the whole time (this is a VR game so I didn’t spend a moment of it actually sitting). You interact with the world with your two hands and the ability to walk and duck, that’s it! You can grab things, throw things, move things, inevitably duck down to more easily reach things you dropped by accident, and walk around, but that’s more than enough to keep things interesting. As mentioned you’ll eventually be gifted a cane to smack against things, and holding a button puts it in that hand so you can smack it against a wall, the ground, or whatever else you want. I reviewed this on PSVR both with the DualShock 4 and the Move controllers, and the latter was especially interesting since you could use both hands to grab things, or carry something in one hand while using the cane with the other. I was delighted when I found out that you could even grab things out of one hand with the other which was a blessing since I had to keep the trigger held down to hold an item and my hands would cramp sometimes.
The puzzles in the game were all somewhat straightforward yet still challenging. You end up seeking out items quite often, but the actual puzzles are made up of things like directing water properly by blocking off various pathways, fixing a broken jukebox with a chain of gears, and a lovely music box puzzle. There aren’t a bunch of puzzles in the game but they’re all varied; I never felt like I was just doing more of the same.
Easily the best things about Blind are the theme and story. Learning about who the mysterious person is, where you are, and why you’re there is fantastic. Another way that Blind is a fitting title is that the game is best if you go in blind; the less you know about the story the better, no matter how badly I want to tell you all about it! The sounds are vital to a game where you’re technically blind, and they work perfectly along with the system of sound-as-vision. Plus it’s just kinda fun grabbing all the books off of every bookshelf and throwing them all around, or grabbing everything off a sink and tossing it as far as you can. The developers must’ve been aware of this since there’s a little dartboard with a few darts in the main menu!
One thing that’s worth mentioning is that the game only allows you to play using smooth movement. When using the Move controllers I did turn with button presses, so that part wasn’t smooth, but walking forward and backward is done like any other non-VR game and there’s no option for teleporting. For those who get nauseous from this type of movement, keep in mind you’ll want to play it in short bursts rather than all at once. I’ve played quite a few PSVR games but this is only the second where the player takes control of the main character in first person and I ended up nauseous and dizzy for about 45 minutes after I took the helmet off.
Blind isn’t a horror game, but the graphics, theme, and a few moments do make it rather tense. People who don’t like horror games may still enjoy Blind – I personally hate horror games and was worried I’d end up ripping my PSVR helmet off and throwing it somewhere! – but keep in mind that you’ll likely still feel rather uncomfortable and nervous in the best of ways throughout your adventure.
Blind is available on PS4 (PSVR required; reviewed) and Steam (PC; HTC Vive or Oculus Rift required).
A review code was provided for this review.