Hidden Office LadiesGamers

Hidden Office Review

Game: Hidden Office
Genre: Casual, Indie, Puzzle Hidden Object
System: Steam (Windows) (Also available on Android & iOS)
Developers | Publishers: Anna Sevryugina
Controller Support: No
Price: US $4.99 | UK £3.99 | EU € 3,99
Release Date: October 21st, 2021

Review code used, with many thanks to Anna Sevryugina.

Hidden Office is 3D hidden object game. Set across twelve different 3D diorama environments or scenes. The game was released on Steam in October 2021, and let’s check it out.

Hidden Office LadiesGamers
Find the objects

Hidden Office

Each of the 108 hidden-object puzzles presents the player with a 3D scene. Listed on the left of the screen are the objects the player must find within the puzzle. As you seek and find each item in the scene on the checklist, they are removed from the checklist. Items to find are mostly office items, papers, disposable coffee cups, wall signs and magazines.

Hidden Office LadiesGamers
Outdoor scene

Find the Items on the Checklist

Once you find all the items on the checklist, the puzzle is complete, and you move on to the next. Except, you don’t move on to the next puzzle in numerical order as the level unlock is somewhat skewed. Instead, you have to go back to the main menu screen and pick the next level. Picking the next level to play does not work the same as in any other games I have ever played.

hidden office LadiesGamers
108 levels

I’m mystified as to how the levels unlock. For example, I have unlocked levels one and two, but three, four, are still locked, yet levels twenty up to twenty-three are unlocked, as are levels fifty-six to sixty-three. But some of the levels in the teens and up to the thirties are still locked? At a guess, I would say the levels are unlocked in order of the object you find, but since there is nothing in the game that mentions this I can’t be sure if I’m correct or not.

Hidden Office LadiesGamers
Glittery cat and dog pictures

Rotate and Zoom

Anyway, moving on, you can rotate each scene by clicking and holding the mouse button, and you can also zoom in and out to find all the items. If you get stuck and can’t find an item, you have the option of using a hint. However, it is not a hint so much as it points you directly to the missing item.

Some of the puzzles have a cat or dog in them to find as well. There are quite a few cats and dogs in all to find. Once you find the cat, your reward is a glittery card of said animal. The animals to find are pretty obvious on some of the levels; most of them aren’t even hidden that well.

Hidden Office LadiesGamers
Find the matching pairs

Twelve Environments Repeated

There are twelve similar environments in which each puzzle is set, such as an office, a living space, and a bathroom. The same environments are repeated throughout the puzzles, with different filters applied to the puzzle to make it look different to the last one you played.

Hidden Office LadiesGamers
Hurts my eyes!

Normal and Special Effects

Let me explain, you can have a typical office scene where you find the hidden objects in the checklist, and the next level could be the same scene but in silhouette, and you have to find the items based on the general shape of what you are seeking.

Then some levels have an effect added to them, similar to wearing 3D glasses, and everything is blurry. I found that these levels hurt my eyes and were not enjoyable to play. There are also levels similar to a Kaleidoscope effect on the scene, like looking into a kaleidoscope toy. Finally, other levels ask you to find the hidden items in a shaded grey colour scene without colour in it at all; this is like playing a game in the dark.

Hidden Office LadiesGamers
silhouette

Niggles

While I applaud the developer for coming up with new ideas for the hidden object genre, I’m not entirely sure that repeating the same scene over and over again with a few different graphical twists is the way to do it. Some of the levels were fun to play, but since most of the items you are searching for don’t change much from puzzle to puzzle, you lose interest in finding them.

The menu and the UI could do with some work as the way the puzzles unlock is confusing for the player. The game is played solely with the mouse, there is a little music to accompany you on your puzzling, however, there aren’t any sound effects in the game.

Hidden Office LadiesGamers
Warped view

Conclusion

Hidden Office isn’t a terrible game but there are many, many other Hidden Object type games out there that are much more fun to play. It took me around two hours in one sitting to complete the game, so the price point of the game being sold at $4.99, £3.99, € 3,99 is a little expensive for what you get. There are many hidden object games on Steam that are less expensive and more enjoyable.

Final Verdict: I Don’t Like It  I don't like it

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