My playtime: 07:32:14 (based on in-game clock, last save before the final boss)

Intro
Cover Your Eyes is an adventure RPG Maker game with a shooting element. Despite being tagged as a horror game, the game isn't scary at all.

Graphics
The first thing I noticed is how the game has customized assets for everything. It has a whole city as its setting and you have to explore everything on foot, meaning that there is a lot of mapping involved. However, the game still tries to make every area unique, with or without reusing the same-looking tiles in the process.

RPG Maker games usually only show what's happening through text, but Cover Your Eyes tries to show emotions through the characters' expressions. However, it can be hard to see what's shown in the character's face. You need to see the expressions that are drawn in their face without being zoomed in, and since their face have such a small size, it can be hard to see what's being shown. It still helps with the dialogue to some extent though.



Story
The story is decent. There isn't much that is being told at the beginning, leaving you confused about what's happening. The story won't focus much on the plot at the time either before it hits the middle half of the game. It then tries to reveal some mysteries which will lead to the ending. A lot of revelations will be revealed there, and the sudden outburst of information might get you overwhelmed. It can take time to process them all, especially with how everything is connected. To be honest, I still had questions about what is happening at the ending, but the visuals are good enough to leave you entertained.

The Game
Gameplay
The game feels more like a point-and-click instead of a shooter, except that you are using a keyboard instead of a mouse. The gameplay tends to rely on securing key items to pass through areas besides looting ammo and health packs. This feels repetitive after a while, especially when you have to explore optional areas for supplies.

Despite being tagged as an action game, there isn't much that you can do. The game offers some firearms to shoot monsters, although the limited ammo will make you think twice before shooting. You end up having to dodge the enemies, completely throwing the shooting element off the table unless necessary. The introduction of companions later on also discourages shooting even more since they can do the job without losing ammo - you can even defeat bosses by just running away and letting your companions take care of it. It can take a while before the enemy is defeated this way though.



The wonky controls also become one of the reasons why you have to refrain from shooting. Despite the game requiring you to use the mouse button to attack, your character can only shoot in 4 directions. This makes it hard to defeat some enemies, especially the faster ones since they can move between tiles quickly. Some luck will be needed to defeat these kinds of enemies without losing HP, forcing you to save-scumming a lot if you don't want to waste too many health packs.

The lack of background music can make the game feels stale. I hardly can hear music throughout my playthrough, and some areas feel as if there is no background music at all. The only sounds that I could remember are the sound in one dungeon and the siren blaring at some areas which came from the enemies. To be honest, I don't think the siren sound fits the situation at all, especially if you are entering a resident's house.



Length and Difficulty
The in-game clock states that I finished the game in ~7h with some additional time spent on rereading dialogues. The game isn't difficult except for the final boss - you need to get used to attacking enemies despite the game discouraging you to do so throughout the game. You also can get stuck in some parts of the game if you don't know what to do.

Problems
The game never informs you of the input to switch weapons even though it's crucial in the game. I also wish that you don't have to wait before advancing a dialogue. It can take a long time to wait for a cutscene to finish, especially those with short dialogues.

Pros:
- A lot of weapons to use
- Various enemies to beat

Cons:
- The ammo limitation might make some fights last longer
- The game feels repetitive after you play it for a while

Final Rating: 3/5
If you think that Cover Your Eyes is a horror game, you are mistaken. It's a bizarre game where you are experiencing a lot of strange phenomena with some shooting element in it. There might be some things that still need to be improved such as the lack in the music department, but the game is good enough as it is.

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Bugs:
- The date at the save slot is wrong. It's written as "1970/01/01 07:00"
- Mouse button changes to the one when you are in "shooting mode" after you beat the game
- After you get a call from the MPD (the one that says that Rupert doesn't exist), you still can enter the house that has a "No time!" sign in it.
- Collision error (check the security cam at the top)


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Suggestion:
- You might want to map the pause button in a different key from F12 (P, perhaps?).
- Make a confirmation button for when you press exit. I always pressed the escape button by accident when I want to pause.