‘Hindsight’ Mobile Review – Beautiful Grief
When I heard that Joel McDonald's new game, Hindsight ($4.99), would be available on multiple platforms, including iOS, I was pretty excited to try it out. Annapurna Interactive putting out a game is usually a good sign, but what really got me excited about Hindsight was how its story would be told. I've played a lot of interactive story-based adventures that have a good story but don't let you do much. It's worth your time to do these things, but I'm always hoping someone will do more. This is where I was surprised by Hindsight. For this review, I've now played it on both the Nintendo Switch and iOS, but I'll focus on the iOS version played on my iPhone 11 and iPad Pro.
Hindsight is a short story-driven experience where you can relive memories by interacting with different objects and places. It is about one woman's life from the time she was born until now. It brings up a lot of sadness and feelings. It's hard to talk about a game's story without giving anything away, but I will say that this game has one of the best stories of the year. It's great because it takes you through different stages and gives you a little bit of hope at each one.
In the real game, you have to solve light puzzles by moving the camera or objects in a certain way to get to the next place or story point. I really like how you have to do something every once in a while while listening to the story being told. In Hindsight, I also liked almost every place and person a lot. As much as possible, I didn't want to give anything away in this review, but the ethereal feel of some of the movements and sequences is amazing. I don't know how it could stay interesting, but I'd love to see the same team tell more stories like this.
Hindsight has a great story and art, but the music and voiceover make it even better. I played Hindsight a few days before it came out, so I was waiting for it to come out on Steam so I could buy a bundle of the game and its soundtrack. Kyle Preston's music is really good.
Hindsight is best controlled with a touchscreen, even if you play it on the Nintendo Switch. With touch controls, it feels great. If you want to play this game with a controller, the developers did a good job of making it work with a controller. The iOS version also has full support for controllers, including rumble and other options. The picture below is from when a controller is connected. I used the DualSense controller for the PS5.
Hindsight on iOS is great, but I don't like how it doesn't have proper save states. When I switched to another app and came back later, I lost my progress. Given that the game only lasts about 2 hours, this isn't a deal-breaker, but I'd recommend playing Hindsight all at once to get the most out of it. Some people might not like how short the movie is.
Having played Hindsight on both iOS and Switch, I can say for sure that the iOS version is the best. It has the same features, like support for controllers, but it costs a third less and runs at a higher resolution. When I played Hindsight on iOS, I didn't know how much it would cost, but I did know how much the Switch version would cost. The game itself is definitely worth the price, but the mobile version is better if you have the choice. If you do want to get it on Switch, that version also works well with touch controls, which is always a good thing to see.
Even though I have some small problems with the iOS version of the game, Hindsight is a must-have if you like emotional stories. I love how you can always do something, even if it's just a simple swipe, while listening to great narration, music, and a story you won't forget. Hindsight is worth your time if you like short stories, and it's one of my favorite stories in games this year. This is now my favorite Joel McDonald game, even more so than Prune.
