GAZE ATLAS / RESEARCH REVIEW / 2026-10-16
Eye-tracking games: interaction, purpose, and research
The collection contains 122 records spanning games, prototypes, activity suites, and research environments. This review organizes them by genre, design purpose, and gaze role, with project documentation and research sources.
1. Coverage and classification
| Primary category | Records |
|---|---|
| Commercial games | 34 |
| Research observation & datasets | 2 |
| Training & serious games | 22 |
| Indie & small games | 22 |
| Accessible gaze games | 16 |
| Research prototypes | 26 |
Overlapping tags cover 35 commercial, 24 Steam, 25 indie, 4 award-winning, 21 accessibility, 51 research, 33 training, and 7 VR records. A project can carry several tags.
2. How gaze enters play
| Gaze role | Records |
|---|---|
| Gaze assistance | 29 |
| Measurement only | 3 |
| Gaze control | 56 |
| Blink detection | 2 |
| Multimodal | 28 |
| Gaze-responsive | 4 |
Design purposes include entertainment, accessibility, training, assessment, artistic expression, and social interaction. Gaze roles describe control, assistance, multimodal input, responsiveness, blinking, and measurement. The two axes describe motivation and mechanism.
Classification draws on the EyePlay survey and a retrospective of gaze interaction, alongside project documentation. EyePlay (2016) · Gaze interaction retrospective (2018)
3. Genres and design purposes
Simulation and action
Truck, flight, and space simulations use eye and head movement to adjust the view. Action games use gaze for aiming and target selection. Each entry records its documented platform and hardware. Euro Truck Simulator 2 · DCS World · Elite Dangerous · Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Puzzles, narrative, and experimental mechanics
Stonesight lets players gaze at and stack stones. EyeChess uses gaze for chess selection. Before Your Eyes advances a memory narrative through blinking. SuperVision and Twileyed build challenges around peripheral vision and gaze aversion. Stonesight · EyeChess — endgame tutor · Before Your Eyes · SuperVision
Accessibility and training
EyeMine’s adapted keyboard, Eye Can Fly’s flight settings, and GazePlay’s mini-game suite provide different forms of gaze access. Attention tasks include rapid gaze shifts in Space Race, sustained fixation in Shroom Digger, target selection in Dr. Mole & Mr. Hide, and platform guidance in Kung Fall. These projects share categories and filters with the rest of the collection. Minecraft + EyeMine 2 · GazePlay · Space Race · Shroom Digger · Kung Fall
Research environments and evaluation
Atari-HEAD pairs gameplay actions with gaze. The Overcooked research environment studies collaboration. TrackMaze compares gaze, head movement, and tilt. InViRS and LEGO-puzzle studies examine social attention. Details record study design, sample, and publication type. Atari-HEAD — Atari research game suite · Overcooked — collaborative gaze research environment · TrackMaze · InViRS — Tangram & Bubble Popping · LEGO Puzzle — joint-attention study
VR
Synapse selects telekinesis targets with gaze and manipulates objects with controllers. Rez Infinite provides gaze aiming in its PS VR2 edition, while Switchback links blinking to enemy behavior. Synapse · Rez Infinite · The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR
4. Awards and recognition
- Before Your Eyes — BAFTA 2022, Game Beyond Entertainment.
- Close Your — IGF 2015, Best Student Game; IndieCade 2014, Developer’s Choice.
- Limbitless Journey — Serious Games Showcase & Challenge 2023, Best Student Developed Game.
- Rez Infinite — The Game Awards 2016, Best VR Game. Its PS VR2 gaze integration followed in 2023.
- HyperDot — The Game Awards 2020 Innovation in Accessibility nominee.
Original award links accompany each project’s details.
5. Cognitive and perceptual training
The related collection covers Recollect, Recall, Remember Bee, Poly Rules!, Saving Memo, Sightseeing, and Listen from the Brain Game Center, organized by memory, cognitive flexibility, vision, and hearing. A 2025 gaze-contingent framework documents eye tracking that updates a simulated central scotoma in real time. The gaze-contingent framework is included under Research prototypes, with gaze-responsive interaction and perceptual-learning tasks.
6. Documentation and open data
This source-led scoping review draws on official game pages, developer projects, Steam, institutional repositories, publications, and award records, reviewed through October 16, 2026. Stable IDs link the Chinese and English editions. Suites have one record, and mini-games from a shared study retain the same sample information.
Images include official screenshots, project media, collection overviews, and image placeholders. Each record retains its image source, credit, and rights information. Original descriptions and arrangement use CC BY 4.0; third-party images and papers retain their original terms.