A 2D hidden object game, Hidden Through Time 2 is a hand drawn virtual picture book that takes you through different time periods to locate items. There are four areas total, each with numerous levels. Your goal is to find all of the items on a list. Sometimes you have to change the weather in order to find specific objectives. If you get stuck, there are always hints to give you an idea of what kind of area the item is located. Besides just the main story, you will also have the option to create and upload your own levels. This makes for a lot of playtime as you can discover other levels made by people. Between the two modes, you will have hours of fun scanning the environment and interacting with various things to finally find what you’re looking for. This is a stress free and casual game anyone can enjoy. Can you find everything on the list?
Here’s what I liked:
Like a Kid Again — In elementary school, I would love going to the library to find myself a “Where’s Waldo” book. I would lose myself in the dedication to finding the red and white striped shirt man, wherever he was around the world. Even without any words, the books would tell numerous stories all at once, most of it by using your imagination to determine what was going on. I got to live that again by playing Hidden Through Time, though this time I was ruining my eyes instead of my neck. There is something mildly addicting to feeling the accomplishment of finding everything on the list of items required to complete the level. Just like in the past, I would want to make sure I found everything before moving on to the next page (or in this case, level). It’s a good that some things you used to enjoy when you were younger are still enjoyable after you grow up.
Layered and Interactive — I’ve always been used to stationary images when looking at hidden item images, but with the game you actually have to interact with objects. There are roofs on houses and buildings that must be clicked on in order to see what’s inside, and treasure chests or boxes that need to be opened. To complicate things a little but more, there is also a weather changer. Some items can be found in any season, but others are specific to the weather conditions (such as snowmen who wouldn’t be in the image when it’s sunny). Almost everything seems to be able to be interacted with, clicking on items and people to make them move or do something. I really enjoyed looking through all of the buildings, thinking there must be something hidden in a corner or amongst the belongings inside.
Creating Your Own Story — The game doesn’t need to end just because you smashed through all of the story levels. Think you can do better? You can try! You get to use all of the same items and people to create your very own hidden item level. After placing your items you can mark them and even add hints. You get full control of how you want to create your own world. After designing your masterpiece, you can upload it to the server so that others can find and play your level. You can also play tons of other creations made by other people, some being extremely easy because they were just going for an achievement, but some made to be a challenge. This mode adds so much more time to spend in the game if you’re having a good time and don’t want to put it down after the main story.
Here’s what I didn’t like:
Loading Times — Being kind of a simple game, you would think the loading times would be much faster than they are. I found myself dreading having to reload a level and choosing the wrong one. You typically are better off just exiting the game and choosing rather than using the “next level” option giving. There is a bit of waiting around that just seems like it could have been optimized for a better experience. If you’re patient, you won’t mind. But in this day and age, no one likes waiting around for anything.
Layouts of Menu and HUD — I found the design of the main screen when you start the game to be a bit just thrown together without much thought. The levels are in a cross form and display the progress within each time period. It does the job, but just doesn’t look very good. While actually in a level, the items you must find are listed at the bottom of the screen and are extremely tiny. Sometimes I had no clue what exactly I was trying to find and had to rely on the hints. While being able to find specific items in different seasons, I also found them to be randomly laid out and not grouped together. So if I switched to a rainy day, I would still have to look at every item on the bottom of the screen without seeing them grouped together to keep in mind numerous items to look for at once. It became a bit of a memory game. Clicking on items within a building were extremely annoying, often times just closing the roof on you. I feel like it should have been a long press of the button to open and close things. At least these types of issues are easy to fix when it comes to patches and updates.
Wrap-up
You get exactly what is advertised, a casual game anyone can pick up and enjoy where you simply find items hidden throughout various levels. With a few shortcomings with the way things are displayed and interacted with, along with bad loading times, the pure joy of taking your time to find items outshines those. You get to sit back and relax, scanning the screen with your eyes and feeling accomplishment when you finally spot what you’re looking for. If you’re someone who likes to create your own levels, the tools you get to make your own will mean you will be playing for a hours after finishing the game. Either because you are busy making your own levels or just like seeing what others have created. This is the first hidden object game I’ve played like this on the console, and now it won’t be my last.
Score: Highly Recommended
Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic was published by and developed by Rogueside. It was released on January 25, 2024, for $12.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.