The comeback wasn’t going to occur. I used to be blowing it. I misplaced my first character in my first match of The Hidden Ones as a result of I didn’t money out with my Ultimate Skill, however I made a comeback with my mid earlier than dropping her to my opponent’s anchor. I didn’t have an ideal reply for what he was doing, and I used to be satisfied I used to be going to waste what had began off as an ideal comeback. Then my anchor got here out. It was my first sport; I’d by no means used her earlier than. And at first, it was going about the identical, after which I noticed what I used to be doing. I canceled my default combo into one other combo then one other, and cashed out with my Ultimate. And on the final hit, I bought the kill. God, I really like preventing video games, and if my time with it’s any indication, The Hidden Ones resides as much as what makes the style so nice.
If you’re not up on The Lore ™, The Hidden Ones is predicated on the anime Hitori No Shita: The Outcasts, which in flip is predicated on Under One Person, a Chinese webcomic. Whew. Okay, so the historical past is a little bit sophisticated, however you don’t actually need to know what’s happening with the opposite components of the collection to vibe with The Hidden Ones. I’ve no expertise with the anime, however I used to be capable of observe what I noticed fairly simply. I began with the story mode, which dropped me into the footwear of Wang Ye. Ye is among the Outcasts, blessed with one of many Eight Secret Arts, which had been usually believed to have been misplaced to time. Once individuals work out what Wang Ye has, although, they go after him to get it.
Wang Ye tries to nip this within the bud by talking with Li Gaofeng, the top of the Li Troupe, and making an attempt to persuade him to go away Wang and his household alone. Impressed by Wang’s gumption and preventing prowess, Li agrees to let him go and depart his household alone. Of course, issues don’t go as deliberate and Wang finds himself framed for Li’s homicide and battling the Li Troupe as he tries to flee.
The Devil’s within the Details
Whew, okay, arrange. What’s cool, although, is the sport Morefun video games has made out of this. The Hidden Ones would in all probability be greatest described as an enviornment fighter, however you don’t simply go from battle to battle. Between the fights themselves, you’ve bought the power to run round and take a look at The Hidden Ones’s world, whether or not meaning having fun with the environmental element on show or trying out a ledger or diary you discover on the earth. This consideration to element is vital: throughout an interview that occurred between my two play periods, Lead Game Designer Fox Lin and Senior Game Designer Stan Fan informed me that the workforce at Morefun spent a very long time capturing the element of those environments, a lot of that are primarily based on precise, particular person Chinese streets. They wished the world of The Hidden Ones to really feel actual, and that comes throughout even within the comparatively small space I used to be taking part in in.
The similar is true of The Hidden Ones’s visible type. This sport is gorgeous, and that focus to element is obvious in all the pieces from the characters to the way in which they battle. This is intentional, too. The story and world of The Hidden Ones are primarily based closely (although not completely) in Chinese martial arts and fantasy, and that meant getting the little particulars proper, proper right down to the movement seize carried out by actual martial artists.
Morefun can be fast to notice that whereas the Outcasts are extremely highly effective, they’re additionally of us going about their day. Maybe they’re going out to purchase groceries or simply utilizing their skills to perform their objectives in delicate methods. The level is these are common individuals, and that’s a serious a part of the story right here, even when they’re throwing punches and casting magic.
Like a Flowing Stream
Speaking of the preventing, The Hidden Ones feels nice while you’re throwing punches. This is an enviornment fighter, so motion is essential, however the rock-paper-scissors interactions of what makes a preventing sport a sport preventing work are right here, too. You’ve bought your fundamental assaults, which lose to particular assaults; these losey to your defensive stance; and your defensive stance loses to assaults, which change into throws in the event that they’re in that stance. There’s additionally a dodge, which prices a restricted quantity of stamina, and you’ll time completely for a Witch Time-style slowdown that can can help you retaliate while you in any other case wouldn’t, and a parry which you can carry out out of your defensive stance throughout particular assaults, so you’ll be able to swap from protection to offense with a well-timed button press.
Stamina additionally comes into play on offense. You can spend it to cancel actions — whether or not they’re bodily or particular assaults — permitting you to construct customized combos and combos into your Ultimate Skills, which is how I gained that match I informed you about in the beginning. If you’re the one getting your face rearranged, you can even spend stamina to interrupt out of combos and reset to impartial. Put collectively, all of which means, regardless of The Hidden Ones’s pretty easy management scheme and combo construction, you’re continually making attention-grabbing selections the place you’re alternating between taking part in impartial, reacting, and pre-empting your opponent, all whereas managing your character’s distinctive abilities (Wang Ye, as an illustration, has a particular assault that may go into three totally different variations). The proper play on the proper time, like say, throwing out a particular assault while you assume they’re going to swing at you, can swing a match.
Nah, He Just Looks Big
The actual meat and potatoes, and my favourite a part of my time with The Hidden Ones, goes to be the mano a mano fights between your three-person groups in opposition to different gamers, however I additionally actually loved the three boss fights I bought to play. The first, which I bumped into throughout the story mode, began off as a one-on-one brawl earlier than the boss in query introduced out her skyscraper-sized snake, forcing me to mess around its large fangs earlier than its grasp would come down and I may get again to the nice artwork of knocking her out.
If that’s not sufficient for you, although, there’s additionally Trial mode, the place you’ll be able to face off in opposition to a boss with any of the characters you’ve bought. There had been two obtainable within the demo I performed, and each had been difficult, particularly on the best of the obtainable difficulties. Both finally went down, however they compelled me to make use of characters I knew, decide my spots, and study their patterns. It’s a enjoyable change of tempo for a sport like this, and I’m wanting to see what different fights appear like sooner or later.
When my time with The Hidden Ones ended, I left excited, and wishing I may have performed extra, particularly extra multiplayer. But I left with a good suggestion of what Morefun is making an attempt to perform, and I appreciated how a lot cool stuff there was and the way distinctive and attention-grabbing the characters they’ve created listed below are. Arena fighters are a tough enterprise, however up to now Morefun has nailed the stability of simplicity, depth, and sport really feel that any good fighter wants whereas offering extra to do in case you’re not seeking to throw down on-line. I’m excited to see the place The Hidden Ones goes, and within the meantime, I’ll be excited about touchdown that Ultimate Skill on the proper second, and the way cool it was that The Hidden Ones gave me the choices to play how I wished in that second. Like its characters, The Hidden Ones is aware of even when the chips are down and the end result is unsure, there’s at all times a play to be made, hidden in plain sight.