Hindsight PS4 review: A brief yet impactful experience

Annapurna Interactive and Team Hindsight's interactive narrative experience, Hindsight, is not your traditional "video game" per se, despite it being labeled as one. I tried out Hindsight knowing little to nothing about the game, but was genuinely surprised by its sheer storytelling prowess.

The game was previously released on PC, Nintendo Switch, and iOS, however, I never got around to playing it until its recent PlayStation release. I'm still not a fan of games where narratives take precedence over gameplay, but I would be lying if I said Hindsight did not keep me engaged throughout, despite it lacking a meaningful "gameplay loop".

The narrative exploration game is more of an interactive novella, something that has very little in common with traditional video games. It took me a while to understand the story. However, upon figuring it out, it easily became one of the most moving and thought-provoking narratives I’ve experienced since Bloodborne.

Note: This article is subjective and only reflects the writer's opinions.

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Hindsight: A roller-coaster of emotions, conveyed through memories

I would be lying if I said I wasn't expecting an emotionally impactful story, due to my previous experience with games from Annapurna Interactive, such as What Remains of Edith Finch, Gone Home, Outer Wilds, and Stray. However, I wasn't expecting the gravity of the story to be so impactful that I would be pondering over it for days after completing the game.

Shift from one scene to another with just a click (Image via Annapurna Interactive)

The game's story is very much an allegory of its title, "Hindsight," wherein players get to experience the memories of the narrator as she recollects the loss of her parents. The game's protagonist and narrator, Mary, takes players on a journey as she reflects on her past, while trying to come to terms with the loss of her mother.

The story is a fragment of the narrator's memory, with only key moments of her life being represented. However, it never feels disjointed, in part due to how each scene is visualized, and also the stellar voice acting. The idea of imbuing physical objects with fragments of memory and using them as tools to convey a heart-wrenching personal narrative is truly astounding.

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From the unique visual style to immaculate storytelling, things that impressed me most

Team Hindsight's choice to go for a simplistic yet expressive art style for the game really helps make the game much more immersive. I personally feel the game is built to be played in a single sitting. After starting the game, players are thrust into Mary's memories as she narrates her past, reflecting on her childhood.

I really liked how seamless the entire experience felt, and shifting from one scene to another via objects that hold a piece of memory of the narrator's past. A slight flick of the left stick on the controller and players are shown a completely new perspective of the scene and memory being narrated by Mary.

Using objects as canvases for memories of the past and as a means to shift between scenes kept me in constant awe. The gameplay revolves around shifting perspectives and finding a connecting link between memories in order to progress through the game's chapters.

Hindsight's simplistic, yet beautiful art style (Image via Annapurna Interactive)

Be it a photograph, pendant, or even a wall, I was constantly amazed at the new and interesting methods used to transition between scenes. Another aspect of the game that adds to the overall immersion is its soundtrack. The beautiful and melancholic ambient score that perfectly encapsulates the narrative of each scene is another major highlight.

The subtlety and care used by the developers to handle the heavy subject of losing one's parents is commendable. Going through Mary's bittersweet memories and watching her relationship with her parents deepen before the game's rather satisfying conclusion was nothing short of an emotional roller-coaster.

From stacking boxes to painting walls, there are some unique scene transitions in the game (Image via Annapurna Interactive)

While I've played my fair share of narrative-driven games this year, including some high-budget AAA titles, I'd be hard-pressed to consider any of them coming close to the narrative depth of Hindsight.

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A few things that felt lacking

While I really loved the narrative experience presented by Team Hindsight, I did find the game lacking in certain aspects. In terms of technical stability and performance, the game is pretty solid on the PlayStation 4.

The narrative reminiscing over the loss of her mother (Image via Annapurna Interactive)

The simplistic art style also makes the game very easy to run on any modern system, and despite the aging PlayStation 4 hardware, I faced no issues playing it on my PS4 Slim.

However, the issues I have with the game stem from its short runtime and lack of any substantial gameplay depth. Hindsight, from start to finish, only takes around two hours to complete. While having a short runtime is not explicitly a negative for narrative-driven video games, it does feel like Hindsight could have benefited from a few more hours of content.

The colorful art style really accentuates the game's storytelling (Image via Annapurna Interactive)

Another issue that I had with the game was the lack of any meaningful gameplay loop, apart from the point-and-click segments. While there were a few puzzles in various chapters of the game, they were few and far between, and often didn't even feel challenging enough to complete.

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In conclusion

Hindsight offers a masterfully created narrative experience, and a roller-coaster of emotions from start to finish. The game could definitely have benefited from a longer runtime and more varied gameplay. However, the stellar narrative, accompanied by an equally stunning art style and a beautiful soundtrack backing it up, more than makes up for its shortcomings.

I like stories in video games that invoke a sense of wonder and raw emotions, long after I've rolled credits on them, which is why I adore FromSoftware's souls-like titles, especially Bloodborne. This is exactly the reason I enjoyed playing Hindsight despite it having a few issues.

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Hindsight

The scorecard (Image via Sportskeeda)

Reviewed On: PlayStation 4 (Review copy provided by Annapurna Interactive)

Platform(s): PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, macOS, and Windows PC

Developer(s): Team Hindsight, Joel McDonald

Publisher(s): Annapurna Interactive

Release Date: December 6, 2022