Hindsight

Hindsight is an upcoming indie point and click narrative exploration game from the creators of Prune. We got to sit down in a closed preview event thanks to Annapurna Interactive with developer Joel McDonald and narrative designer Emma Kidwell. During this screening, we got to see a snippet of gameplay through one of the sections as well as hear about some of the inspirations and philosophies that went into creating this game.

You play as Mary, throughout the entirety of her life, from past to present. The game is divided up into chapters. In one chapter, you visit Mary's childhood home and reminisce about the passing of her mother. Joel and Emma specifically mentioned the use of apertures as a core mechanic to the game, where manipulating parts of the environment allows you to see things in a different perspective and ultimately leads you to a memory of the past. After all, the game is about rediscovering what’s important through the little things that were left behind.

Aside from examining objects, there are also mini games, like fitting all of your stuff in a suitcase, but only being able to choose what’s most important to you, or fitting together broken pieces of a mirror to see a reflection of yourself. It’s heartfelt to see that the narrative draws upon personal experiences from both Joel and Emma. In addition, the entire game is voice acted and accompanied by a calm and soothing soundtrack. Paired with abstract visuals and a vibrant color palette, Hindsight is serving up to be an gentle and sincere indie experience.

Hindsight will have a runtime of around 3-4 hours if you decide to do everything there is in the game. However, the story is linear, so no matter what you choose to do in the game, there will only be one outcome. The target audience is mostly directed for teens and adults as the narrative draws on some very emotional and heavy subject matters.

There is currently no price listed but Hindsight is set to release sometime in 2022 on iOS, PC and Mac via Steam as well as the Nintendo Switch.