Hidden Fears

Whenever hotels, resorts or various other such establishments are presented in movies or video games, they are usually very creepy, whether because they are haunted by evil spirits, or because there is some kind of maniac on the loose. Naturally, the subject gets rather boring and repetitive after a while, which is why most writers have moved on a long time ago. Not all of them, though.

Hidden Fears is a point & click adventure game with puzzles and hidden object scenes, in which you witness the story of a couple as they end up in a haunted resort instead of their much-awaited honeymoon. It’s worth pointing out right off the bat that the game is not that polished in regards to the gameplay mechanics, and that’s without mentioning the soulless story.

Speaking of which, the plot starts with a couple that receives an invitation from a mountain resort called Creek Falls in order to spend their honeymoon there. As you might imagine, the couple immediately accepts and heads there, in spite of the fact that the whole thing is pretty creepy from the start. Once there, it turns out that the resort is anything but cozy, given the dark spirits that haunt the place and try to harm them in the process.

The game’s biggest fault lies with the fact that everything moves extremely slow for some reason, including simple actions such as picking up objects or interacting with your inventory. There’s a delay whenever you do something, and the mini-games themselves are far from original or enjoyable for that matter. It’s not all bad, on the other hand, since some of the scenes are quite fun, at least if you manage to push through the solid block of boredom preceding them.

In terms of graphics, the game doesn’t look bad at all, and you can tell that the artists are pretty talented. There are no 3D environments or anything of the sort, but then again this is a tradition of the genre at hand. Again, the interface can be very clunky and annoying, so it’s very difficult to stay excited about the puzzles or the story for too long.

The lazy story might have been easier to ignore if the rest of the game were any better, but Hidden Fears has too many flaws in terms of gameplay and interface to be enjoyable. Thus, there are much better games out there you might want to try before settling on this one.

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