Hide and Shriek from developer Funcom is an interesting little title that pits two players against each other in an attempt to scare the living crap out of each other. It’s a simple concept that works surprisingly well, but as with so many games out there that rely on a single gimmick the whole thing wears out it’s welcome pretty quickly.
At the end of the day Hide and Shriek isn’t a bad game, there just isn’t enough meat of those bones to make it anything other than a novelty.
Don’t get me wrong, what we do have works delightfully well, but it’s not quite enough to really warrant a full game. Hide and Shriek pairs you with a friend or random stranger via the online multiplayer. You each get dropped into a section of a school during Halloween and are tasked with scaring each other –TO DEATH!!
As you play you can set traps around the few rooms on the shared map with the games runes. When you pick them up you can use them to lay all sorts of traps, or even fuse a couple together for something new that isn’t listed. It’s fun to see what you can come up with using these runes, but just remember that if you set a trap, you can get stuck in it as well. The problem is that once you set a trap it vanishes and neither player will be able to see where it is. Doesn’t seem like a big deal, but you’ll be running into your own traps quite a bit, especially with only four main doors leading to the connecting hallway.
These runes can ruin your opponents day, but they are more annoyances than anything. The real magic comes from trying to scare each other while running about the single stage. You build up a scare meter that when full allows you to unleash your ultimate scare. This is harder than it seems because both players are invisible on the map. You can’t see each other, so you are going to be listening for footsteps and doors being opened or them tripping a trap you set. But the best way to catch someone is by looking for their floating orb.
While scaring someone three times will win you the game, you can also win by points using the red and blue orbs floating around the level. The problem is that you can see when your partner is carrying one of these and that makes them an easy scare target. I like that you have other options for winning, but these orbs also really kill the game for me.
You see, there is single alter that you must put your orb on, but this can be exploited very easily. I found that I could just close the two doors leading to any room, place a trap on one of the doors and then post myself up near my enemies alter. Then all you have to do is wait for the kill shot. You see, they are going to have to come into the room you are hiding in to pace their orb on their alter. As you can see their orb floating it makes them an easy target. It doesn’t matter if they get the points from placing the orb as three scares win you the game. Sure, it’s a cheap way to win (and piss of my other writer I was playing with), but it’s in the game.
Each match only lasts for 10-minutes, so if your partner catches on they could decide to hunt you down, but as so many matches are going to be played online against strangers, my move will net you wins over and over again. Online is also an issue at the moment as playing online with others is a bit buggy, but that’s to be expected for launch. This is online only, so unfortunatly Hide and Shriek is going to live and die by its community. I played in a private match with another writer and while we had a good time, we were pretty much done with the game after and hour or so.
Where the game can help keep things fresh is in the mask system it uses. As you play and earn points you’ll unlock new masks and cosmetic options for them. These are important because when you scare your opponent they will be seeing the mask you created. Some of these are truly creepy and because getting scared comes out of nowhere, odds are you’ll get quite the scare from time to time. I don’t fall for the jump scare thing, but I did enjoy unlocking new masks and items. Hell, there isn’t much that is scarier than seeing a Hillary or Trump mask jump out at you. Spooky!
Hide and Shriek is a cute little diversion that serves up some fun for Halloween. But outside of Halloween the game doesn’t really have enough to keep you coming back. The 1-vs-1 mechanic also really limits the game and keeps it from being a fun party style game. At the end of the day Hide and Shriek isn’t a bad game, there just isn’t enough meat of those bones to make it anything other than a novelty. But for under $5 you could do worse, so if you are one of those scare cam Let’s Player’s that cry over their own shadow you may get a few videos out of this one.
“At the end of the day Hide and Shriek isn’t a bad game, there just isn’t enough meat of those bones to make it anything other than a novelty”
2.5/5
“Meh”
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