Hidden Through Time (2020) [Switch]

“I’d like them to see wonder in places that may not have occurred to them.”

-Martin Handford

As a father looking to introduce his kids (currently 4 and 2 years old) to gaming in an age-appropriate and benign way, I’m always on the hunt for those games which can appeal both to my children and to myself at the same time. It’s not enough that a game has a “kiddie” exterior. It must do more than look the part. I don’t really want my kids playing anything patronizing, either. I want challenging gameplay at an engaging and accessible pace. Cue Crazy Monkey Studios and Hidden Through Time, an exploration point-and-click puzzle game.

For a 4-year-old already familiar with item-finding puzzles on paper in kids’ workbooks, Hidden Through Time was easy to slip into. Easy to learn while still challenging for him. For a 34-year-old like myself, I can’t help but be reminded of the Where’s Waldo? books of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Hidden Through Time scratches that nostalgia-itch with its quirky characters, surreal situations, themed “levels”, and its three-quarters perspective without foreground or background.

Actually, since I doubt any 4-year-olds are reading this, it’d probably be more relevant just to mention my experiences with this game, though I think it’s still significant to suggest that little boys and girls can enjoy this for themselves (particularly the earlier, smaller levels). Honestly, I thought it was pretty relaxing. There’s a lot that contributes to that.e

Over the past decade, I noticed an odd trend, that of the adult coloring book. It was difficult for me, likely considering my personality, not to turn my nose up at adult coloring books. That ended quickly. I haven’t purchased or used many of them, but I came to realize that I still get a lot of savory satisfaction from illustration as an adult now, whether in a coloring book or not. It’s great that adults can have this artistic outlet, and sort of let their mind just be at ease to make simpler decisions for a bit.

That’s exactly what Hidden Through Time was like. It’s not the most complex or the most action-packed title on the Switch. You won’t find the blood and guts of Doom Eternal or the endless chain of cutesy crafting in Animal Crossing: New Horizons here. And that’s ok. Hidden Through Time is like an oasis, a respite from all other things.

The 8-bit Review

 Visuals: 5/10

There’s a lot of utility to the graphics here: there’s no real perspective so it’s easy to examine items and features no matter where you are on the map; the color palette is limited to shades of the primaries and a few browns and greens, again making distinguishing objects easier; the humorous, quirky element to the characters and settings scattered in each level creates a degree of interest for the player. Each of the time periods on display help provide a little change of pace, from the Stone Age to ancient Egypt through the Middle Ages and the Wild West. It’s such a good concept for a game like this that I could wish there were more eras to enjoy.

With all of this said, these are essentially slightly glorified stick figures inhabiting a fairly rudimentary landscape. Taken individually, there are few objects bearing enough detail to be impressive on their own, although collecting hundreds of simple objects creates some really rich backdrops for the puzzles. Since everything is about solving riddles and puzzles in Hidden Through Time, the visuals on display won’t impress, nor do they really need to, but it is significant that they’re highly accessible, discernable, and endearingly cartoonish.

Audio: 5/10

Matching the relaxing pace of the gameplay and the easy-going visuals, the music of Hidden Through Time is soft, gentle, and inviting. I’d say it’s easy listening. Since some of the tougher stages can take a while, you’ll be hearing a lot of acoustic guitar. While it is soothing music, I think the biggest criticism here is there isn’t a whole lot of variety when it comes to the soundtrack. Still, I’d rather hear this than something grating.

 Gameplay: 8/10

The game starts you off on a small-scale map with a handful of items to find, first in the Stone Age, and the maps slowly increase in size and complexity as you progress, becoming exponentially harder even as the objects you’re tasking with uncovering seem to get smaller and smaller. This increase in difficulty reaches a climax just before the time period changes and you’re back to smaller maps again.

The player controls a cursor that can click on any object (to enjoy some wacky sound effects), including buildings like tents and towers to “open them up” and see what’s inside. It’s a game played with a few inputs: the dual sticks to scroll across the screen, the d-pad to scroll through clues, plus confirm, exit, and menu buttons. I could explain it to my 4-year-old in a few seconds but I actually didn’t need to. He figured it out on his own. This inherent simplicity is one of Hidden Through Time’s biggest strengths. It doesn’t get in the way of its own puzzles with complicated controls or systems.

If you can find the knife in the image below, you can play this game. It’s as easy as clicking on it, although, sure, the game is going to require a bit of patience to play.

 Accessibility: 9/10

Some of the objects you’re required to find are really very well hidden, too. I think this speaks to an underlying level of cleverness on the part of the developers. It is important to note that the clues provided by the devs for the stages in Story Mode are pretty sensible: they actually helped guide my son and me toward what areas to explore on the map.

 Challenge: 8/10

Some of the larger maps can be brutal! Below is a picture of a medium-large map, but it’s not even as big as they can come. When a map reaches a certain size, it becomes difficult to visualize the parts of it that are off-screen in your head, and harder to remember where what is that you’ve already seen, and thereby more difficult to sift through. The clues can really help here, but there are clues which are intentionally vague and so you’ve really just got to have good patience and good eyes.

Replayability: 7/10

Besides the Story Mode, there is an Editor Mode where you can create your own levels. This is something my younger self that had much more time and much more Legos would’ve loved to get lost in. As it is, I made about three-quarters of a finished stage called “And It Was All Yellow”, in which everything was shades of yellow. I even hid a tiny chick in a huge moving swarm of yellow scorpions. Good times!

One of the issues with puzzles like Where’s Waldo? is once you find the objects, it’s very difficult to forget about them the next time through, especially if you’re a visual learner or have even a slightly photographic memory. Since Hidden Through Time has a finite amount of stages in its Story Mode, that was a question I had about its longevity going into it. However, the Editor Mode really goes a long way to giving Hidden Through Time some legs. I found myself coming back to it now and then to solve the Story puzzles I hadn’t yet, as well as play around in Editor a little more.

Editor Mode stages can be uploaded online for other players to enjoy, which is very cool. I played a handful of player-created stages and they were hit or miss. Some were simply too easy, which is understandable since the Editor can take some time to build up something really complicated. But I did come across some gems and there is a kind of ranking system in place to show you which user-generated stages have put the most smiles on faces.

Uniqueness: 7/10

The fact isn’t lost on me that it’s easiest to compare Hidden Through Time to a book series rather than any particular game I can think of. That said, its core concept isn’t something that’s going to be all that new to anyone, though it has enough personality and player-generated features to give it some edge in the uniqueness department.

Personal: 6/10

Playing games alongside the next generation of humans and learning how they learn and how games teach is a truly remarkable experience. My son and I didn’t quite have the tenacity to finish every last puzzle in Hidden Through Time, but I fully expect it’s going to be a staple in our household for quite a while yet, in brief bursts of gameplay. And in each of those bursts, I can pretty much guarantee at this point that we’ll have fun.

We’d like to thank Crazy Monkey Studios for entrusting us with a copy of their game for this review.

Aggregated Score: 6.9

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage, Mage Cast, or Story Mode.