Hidden Folks

A nostalgic blast from the past, anyone who ever used to love Where’s Wally and any books of that type will be thrilled by giving Hidden Folks a go. There are no pressures and no limit to speak of, so it really is one of the more relaxing titles around. The sort of game you just want to sit down and play for a couple of chin stroking hours with a piping hot cup of tea.

Hidden Folks is really just a long, connected series of smiles earned through its painstaking attention to detail and consistently lighthearted sense of humor. Although it’s technically a seek and find or hidden object game, it should appeal even to players who’ve never been interested in that genre before.

Hidden Folks may be on the short side, and has its occasional hair-pulling moment, but the hefty amount of charm it has in even the smallest individual, combined with some particularly clever puzzle design, make it worth taking at least one quick spin with. Hopefully we will indeed see a surge of more content to up the replay value in the future, but for now the end result is a solid and cute puzzle game that would do Martin Handford proud. If you can’t afford a classic piece of Waldo literature at the moment, maybe consider hunting down a few cute folks.

The unique style and charm of Hidden Folks is more than enough to recommend this game. It’s hard to tell whether it’s the mouth-made sound effects, nifty clues, or funny characters that are the cutest part of the game, but it’s easy to lose yourself in its strange and captivating world for a couple of hours. Assuming the developers add a few more levels to the game to give it a bit more bang for your buck, there won’t be much left to nitpick about.

Those who run away at the sound of the words "hidden object game" should actually stay put because Hidden Folks is one of the better ones out there, with its tiny-yet-gargantuan worlds and "mouth-sound" audio effects giving it a unique, playful, and almost magical charm, and the gameplay portion seamlessly blends fun, challenge, and some welcome amounts of cooling off.