Hidden Folks is a hidden-object search game of hand-drawn, interactive landscapes from Adriaan de Jongh and Sylvain Tegroeg. Every area was completed across the full playthrough, from jungle and campground to laboratory and factory, with the closing credits confirming all finds.
The man-made sound effects are a signature touch, with every noise performed by a person and lending the scenes a creative, lively feel. The flavour-text hints attached to every object are a charm, and the game is full of witty reference jokes from Mad Max to Titanic.
The interactive levels are a highlight, with watering crops to grow wheat, moving cars and boxes, and a factory riddle that spells out the game’s name. The hint system is a lifesaver, since hunting without it would be near impossible across the monochrome art.
The variety is excellent, with small levels giving way to enormous ones and keeping the search from settling into routine. The colour modes, from black-and-white to sepia, and the noisy but charming cacophony add to the personality.
The monochrome presentation makes this the hardest hidden-object game played, since black-and-white art blends together and tiny objects like the golf ball, spider, truffle and banana are brutal to spot. The desert is the toughest area, so massive that even zoomed out it cannot be covered.
The big-city and festival maps are overwhelming, with huge crowds and endless sprawl. Two technical hiccups, a freeze at the pirate battle and lag when zooming out on the factory, are minor and not the game’s fault.
Overall, the man-made sound effects, the interactive scenes and the witty writing make this a very neat game. It is the hardest of the hidden-object genre thanks to the monochrome art, but still an easy recommendation.