In Trusted Hands Review (Xbox Series X|S & PC)

In Trusted Hands is a bit like swiping through the private chat log of a stranger’s mobile phone. In most cases, it feels intrusive—oddly pointless, even. Yet, behind each and every image and encrypted folder lies a sense of intrigue that compels you to keep scrolling, even when you aren’t contractually obliged to. In one instance, you could be scanning through old chat logs, mulling over intimate affairs and extracting vital data that could be used to rock the apple cart. In another case, you could be selling private information for a few extra bucks to help you make ends meet. But for the most part, you have a simple obligation: to repair devices and complete relatively standard maintenance procedures. Invasion of privacy, though, is always an option here, but one that also happens to carry a lot of emotional baggage and, on occasion, consequences.

In Trusted Hands doesn’t hide its true intentions under lock and key; it grants you immediate access to the whole device—the messages, the folders, and the little credentials that help you identify strangers. You never truly know who these strangers are, and you rarely receive the full picture. Instead, you get left with a dainty repair shop, a handful of broken devices, and a moral compass to navigate. How deep are you willing to go, and how much are you comfortable with accepting for the sake of sacrificing private data that simply doesn’t belong to you? In Trusted Hands doesn’t give you the answer; it silently judges you, and it asks you to complete routine tasks whilst you work to unveil the secrets of various civilians’ private lives.

If you’re looking for a maintenance sim with intricate repair-like mini-games, then you won’t find that here. But what you will find, however, is a window into a world where violation of privacy is commonplace, and data is the currency that binds humans to their true intentions. You aren’t the “monkey see, monkey do” repairman; you’re the curator of knowledge who just so happens to have the keys to infinite knowledge on a palm-sized screen. You are, however, a regular human with human needs and obligations. You have rent to pay, fatigue to eradicate, and a moral imperative to protect data and, when the time strikes, expose it for the sake of lining your own pockets.

In Trusted Hands is all about making choices that can usher the world into a new digitalized reality. In the morning, you open your store and unlock a phone with a simple interactive puzzle. Shortly after, you begin to scan the contents and ingest as much or as little as you can stomach. A customer then visits, and asks you to compromise your technical wizardry in exchange for a quick payout. And it falls to you, as the collector of data, to decide whether or not to lift the veil on the intel, or to keep the information to yourself and out of others’ hands. If you expose the data, then you can earn a paycheck that will satisfy your lease agreement — but at a price, naturally.

The good news here is that In Trusted Hands doesn’t slap you on the wrist for being overly nosy. It simply presents you with a choice, and it carefully reminds you that, should you be willing to disclose vital data to strangers, you are likely going to have to deal with the ramifications that may or may not occur a little later down the line. But that’s all part of human nature, and something that In Trusted Hands leans into naturally — the desire to keep looking even when you shouldn’t. A paycheck might linger on the back end of a quick repair job, but at no point does it ever truly satisfy the bank account or the landlord. The question is, how far are you prepare to go in order to achieve your goals?

While In Trusted Hands doesn’t deliver an intricate puzzle-solving experience with all of the bells and whistles of a technical romper, it does provide a moral compass for you to navigate and vast consequences to deal with over a fairly sizable campaign. Granted, it can be a lot to juggle at times, given that certain jobs often overlap or fabricate previous ones without your knowledge or input. Moreover, as you have various duties to fulfill—the rent, for example—you can be made to feel as if exposing secrets is the only route to getting a foot on the financial ladder, so to speak. But other than that, the act of mindlessly scrolling through mobile phones is a lot of fun.

Given that each device has its own unique tale to tell, there is always something fresh to unveil here. Case in point, you might find a thread of emotional blackmail messages, or perhaps even top secret information that relates to a circulating underground criminal network. You may also find private data that connects to certain industrials’ personal love interests, and so on and so forth. The point is, every case has its own tapestry of clues and secrets. It’s your job, in short, to decide what is worth digging into, and what is worth setting aside for the greater good. It’s a simple job, yet one that also carries a lot of responsibility.

While the core gameplay loop is rather simple and without any major curveballs to solve, In Trusted Hands does provide enough variety to keep you tapping, swiping, and delving deeper into its cortex of data. It’s still a relatively short game, but with a layer of intrigue nested deep within each of its chat logs, it is a game that’ll keep you hooked from the moment you accept your first job to the second you part ways with the final device.

Verdict

In Trusted Hands unapologetically jailbreaks a device that can host dozens of stories, some of which can easily hook you and keep you scrolling indefinitely, some of which can leave you feeling a little, shall we say, dirty. Even still, for a game that lacks the proper infrastructure of a solid puzzle game, there is a rich layer of intrigue rooted deep within each chat log that you encounter here. It might make you feel like the worst maintenance person in the world, but if it helps to pay the bills — who cares, right?

If you’re all for the idea of waxing your moral compass and playing god in the technical field, then there’s a good chance that you’ll enjoy jailbreaking the devices and mindlessly scrolling for dirt in In Trusted Hands. It might make you think twice about handing your phone over to your local repair store, but it’ll probably scratch that itch for data exploitation. Take from that what you will, folks.