Until the game Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic, I didn’t expect hidden object games to be that tough. My eldest daughter used to have several hidden object books lying around which she used a magnifying glass to hunt for hidden objects. Her younger sister uses these books now, and occasionally interrupts me when I’m working from home to ask for help in hunting those hidden objects.
Created by Rogueside, Hidden Through Time 2 features beautiful hand-drawn animated graphics with a Campaign mode spread out across four different eras, including 1001 Nights, Greek Mythology, The Middle Ages and The Magical 80s. Each map starts off with a voiceover giving some context to the map, and more often than not, the map would pay homage to characters or trends in that particular era.
Each map has a list of objects that you’ll need to look for, and those objects only show up depending on the weather conditions which you can trigger to change (dubbed Reality Shift) in each map. The objects themselves come with some tips on where to find them. Some parts of the map can be further revealed, for example, to unveil the different floors in a multi-story building or opening the engine bay of a car. You’ll need to take advantage of this, as well as the Reality Shift function to look for all of the objects in the list.
Each map is richly animated. You can click on almost anything and can expect a secondary animation which can be fun to watch. Remember I used the word tough to describe the game? Check out my playthrough video below as I had to take some time to look for some of the objects.
The best part of Hidden Through Time 2 though, IMHO, would be the Architect mode where you can actually create maps of your own with a comprehensive set of tools. You can then be upload the maps which can then be enjoyed by other players of the game throughout the world.
You can access the maps created by other players via the Online Maps mode; the game provides the ability to search by map name with additional filters.
Hidden Through Time 2 provides players with a fun and entertaining experience by supercharging what would normally be a static, one-way “feel” normally associated with hidden picture books. It also rewards players who are willing to exercise their creativity by providing the tools to create and share their very own hidden-picture experience through the Architect and Online Maps mode.
Nineoverten.com rates Hidden Through Time 2 at a perfect 5/5 for being an excellent casual timesink and more. The game is available on the PC as well as the Nintendo Switch, PS5 and the Xbox Series X|S.
A review code was provided to Nineoverten.com by Rogueside for the purpose of this review.
