INTRUDERS: HIDE AND SEEK Review

redandbluedave

Jun 2

Info

Developed By: Tessera Studios.

Published By: Daedalic Entertainment.

Platforms Available On: Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Reviewed on Xbox Series X, a code was very kindly supplied for the purpose of this review.

Overview

Intruders: Hide and Seek is a first-person stealth game, an intense thriller combining intense psychological terror from the point of view of a defenseless boy.

In this new tense experience you become Ben, the eldest of the Richter family children. While on vacation at a country house, you're the witness to three dangerous intruders slipping into the house and taking your parents hostage.

With your parents restrained and your sister hiding, you're stuck in the house with the intruders. You'll have to find a way to save your family while you figure out who the three assailants are and what they want.

You cannot run away or confront them. Your only option is... to hide.

Overview taken from the official game description on the Xbox marketplace store page.

Review

I normally find horror games fun to play and psychological horrors especially interesting to play but with Intruders: Hide and Seek it didn't really get going for me, the gameplay didn't capture me and the graphic style just looked dated and not in a good way.

Now I'm not going to slate the game for not being a AAA title as I enjoy playing indie and lower level as you can find some genuine hidden gems, but Intruders just didn't tick the boxes, in terms of gameplay it takes a while to get going you spend a while going around the house getting used to what does what this feels a little like a tutorial which I guess does help. The game stalls with the horror aspect as you start off playing hide and seek with your sister which teaches you the basics of the hiding stealth side of the game.

The theme of the game feels like it should work but I felt the implementation just didn't flow, the story is you wake up finding your sister trapped in the family's panic room and there are 3 invaders in the house and your only means of attack is escape. The gameplay felt disjointed and the story just didn't get off the ground. The voice acting didn't help the story telling as you just wanted to skip the cutscenes and just get on. When you are in the game it is quite easy to get lost in what you are meant to do, when you are on the right track the whole thing just feels a bit "meh".

The idea of having to hide from murderous invaders is a good basis for a game and it should work but unfortunately the game just doesn't hit that mark. The potential jump scares just weren't there for me which I found really disappointing, overall I just felt like a wanted more from the game that never materialised.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics and sounds of the game are probably the worst part, the graphics look dated but not in a retro inspired good way, the characters are stiff and robotic and the movement is rigid, the game world looks pretty good to be fair but it's let down by the character design.

The soundtrack of the game is ok, the in game sound effects kind of matched the character design it feels robotic and doesn't help the story flow, cutscenes are slow and just made the game feel long.

Summary

Time now then to put my thoughts into a summary, overall I found the game disappointing, a good idea but poor implementation. The game looked and felt dared and the story never really took off. I can't say I'd recommend the game there are probably better horror titles to choose from but if you want to make your own mind up then give it a try if you can pick it up cheap somewhere.