Hidden Through Time Review (Nintendo Switch )

Review Code used many thanks to Crazy Monkey Studios.

Hidden Through Time is a puzzle game, where you search for hidden object people and animals in a copiously busy scenes. This is a neat game from developers Crazy Monkey Studios and its been released across all format.

Hidden Through Time takes the same idea as the Where’s Wally or Waldo books and other media, in those you’re tasked with searching for Wally who wears a red and white shirt in among lots of objects with similar red and white colour’s. Unlike the Where Wally series, in Hidden Through Time instead of searching for one person you’re given a wide assortment of items to look for.

Throughout the Ages

There are three different modes in Hidden Through Time, story campaign, Map editor and online mode. The main core of the game is story campaign where you join Clicky (the little pointer icon) through 26 levels incorporating the Ages, from the Stone Age though the Middle Ages and the Old West.

All the object’s, people and animals you have to find in each puzzle are displayed at the bottom of the screen in icons, and a helpful all be it cryptic clue appears when you highlight each icon.

Lets Get Busy

Each scene represents the Age it is in and the objects to search for tie-in with the Age. So, for example, when you’re searching a picture from Egypt one of the items you might have to find is a sarcophagus among many others. Or in the Middle Ages you’ll likely come across Merlin and King Arthur.

Each puzzle gets bigger in size and busier with the amount of objects, people and animals to find in the puzzle as you move through them. It wouldn’t be puzzle game if it didn’t get harder to find items and that’s exactly the same as in Hidden Through Time, but never to the point of frustration. Most objects are very well hidden and some are sitting out in plain view. It’s a great mix for what is essentially a hide and seek game.

There is no time limit for finishing a puzzle and you don’t have to find ever item to be able to move on to the next puzzle. Once you find a set amount of items indicated by the icon on the right side of the screen, you can press Y to move on to the next puzzle. There is a feature in the options to turn this Off, so that you do need to find everything if your looking for that extra challenge.

I think this is a good choice by the developer to not have a time limit on the puzzles. There is no pressure to rush to find everything before a timer hits zero. It makes the game a stress free and relaxing experience to play. Allowing you to move on to the next puzzle before you have found everything adds some replay to the game for those that want to go back and 100 percent the game.

The World is Alive

The puzzles, as I’ve mentioned, are very, very busy and filled with objects, people and animals. In your search for a particular item from the list you will probably click on many other objects before you actually find what you’re looking for. And that’s fine, as the world of Hidden Through Time is alive and animated. Everything you click on will make some sort of sound, from trees rustling to the sounds of rocks crumbling when you click on them. Birds tweet and people make little Ohh and Ahh sound’s or even shout out a grunt.

It’s a great idea and it brings the puzzles alive for the player and makes the scene much more interesting while you’re searching for a minuscule leaf in among hundreds of other leaves scattered around the puzzle pictures. It’s lots more fun to search for items in a scene that is animated alive than in a static picture

Create and Edit

Hidden Through Time has a create and edit your own puzzles mode, which would provide those that are creative with hours of entertainment. Everything for creating your own puzzles is laid out well and very easy to understand. All the objects, people and animals from the puzzles are available to use to create your own puzzles and there is a lot of content. Even someone like myself who doesn’t have a creative bone in her body tried creating my own puzzle and enjoyed the experience.

You can create any number of puzzles and share them online as well as download and play puzzles that others have created. Join in with the rating system for online puzzles and even get your own uploads rated too. Even before the game was released there were already puzzles from fans and the developers online that you could download, some of which are cleverly designed. This again adds extra content to Hidden Through Time for you to enjoy. Put the Switch in docked mode and the whole family can all join in with the searching, creating and editing.

Cute Stick Figure’s

Graphically the game presents itself in a cute,stick person drawn style and I think it fits the purpose of the game spot on. Since each scene is so busy with objects, people and animals the simplicity of the look of the game along with the sound effects is just the perfect combination.

Unfortunately the game is let down by one music track that is on a constant loop, once you have heard it a few times it gets old. The game is still enjoyable to play with the sound turned down if you do find the music to be repetitive.

Conclusion

If you have read this review up until this point it should not come as a surprise that I really like this game. Hidden Through Time is a delightful engrossing and cute little game. For anyone with a young family to entertain, Hidden Through Time would be a fantastic opportunity for some quality family time in front of the TV and the Nintendo Switch.

Happy Puzzling!

Final Verdict: I Like It A Lot