2020-07-11

elf: Computer chip with location dot (You Are Here)
[personal profile] elf2020-07-11 06:13 pm

Hidden Folks

Hidden Folks is a find-the-things game, like Where's Waldo grown up. It's all black-and-white line art, animated, with sounds that are all created by human voices. It's got several "areas," each of which starts with a few simple things to find, and then moves into a larger area with lots of things to find.

It's a delightful puzzle game, nicely challenging because not everything is visible - sometimes, you have to click on doors to open them or tools to activate them before you reveal the person or item you need to find.


It's won several awards and deserved them.

What I don't like: The sounds. (Most people will probably find them charming. I don't. But I enjoy the game enough to put up with them.) The fact that zooming in makes the sound louder - so it's hard to pick a comfortable volume level.

What I love: That you don't have to find everything before moving to the next stage. Figuring out what to find - if it says "Elsa doesn't have enough change for a soda," you'll find her somewhere near the soda machine. The interactive animations. The ease of zooming in and out. (Scroll wheel.) The logic behind the interactions, once I figured it out. (Like, trees with a wiggly line in the branches can be clicked to reveal something inside, often a bird's nest.) The way the background noise changes by section. That there's a mix of easy and hard to find things at each level. That there's no penalties for not finding anything, or for not finding them fast, other than not being able to move to the next area.

Terrific game for people who like high-detail, low-stress activities.