When Adriaan de Jongh launched Hidden Folks on the market in 2017, the so-called hidden object genre had already existed for a long time, that is, titles in which the objective is to look for elements camouflaged in the setting. It actually existed before video games, as many classic puzzle publications (e.g. La Settimana Enigmistica) even had specific contests, spread over several issues, that challenged readers to identify some objects hidden within full-page images. (sometimes even double page). full of details.
The fundamental innovations introduced by De Jongh were, on the one hand, stylistic, that is, the adoption of an extremely peculiar and captivating visual style, reminiscent of the classic illustrations of the genre, and, on the other hand, with the typical mechanics of the sufficiently revised genre. to free him from the casual band. Thus, while the players' goal was always to find well-camouflaged objects in the environments, the playing space had expanded enormously, to the point that they could not concentrate on a single screen. In addition, it was possible to zoom in and out of the images to reveal barely visible details and enjoy the excellent construction work of the scenes adopted by the author, which were (and still are) very alive.
Hidden Folks has set a precedent, with excellent sales and very positive reactions from players. As is often the case, many have adopted the formula slavishly, simply trying to follow in the wake of De Jongh's success, while others have attempted to add deeper elements of diversification, to make the experience of searching for objects somehow more personal and interesting, as for example done by Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective or, as we will see in the review, Crime o'clock of the Spanish Bad Seed.
Research over time
The timestream is threatened by some artificial intelligence especially aggressive, with initially unclear purposes, which are causing numerous accidents to try to alter the history of humanity. Guided by another artificial intelligence, with which we will talk throughout the game, we will have to stop them by solving cases as they arise. Each case cannot be solved in a single moment, but must be reconstructed by moving between the past and the future to reveal the dynamics of what happened and try to fix it, so to speak. Thus, for example, we will have to prevent a man from writing an angry letter to his wife causing her to commit suicide, reconstructing the most notable events of her days and intervening as far as possible to avoid the triggering cause of the marital crisis. Or we will have to prevent a gladiator from using a lethal weapon, discovering the path that caused it to end up in his hands.
The Crime O'Clock news revolves around the concept of investigation precisely around Hidden Folks and clones. He game It is always composed of the search for hidden objects within large hand-drawn scenarios (five in total), but with the player who is somehow called upon to carry out real investigations, with the search for hidden details that always follows a coherent narrative thread. , underlined. by the interface itself, which highlights what is discovered from time to time.
Some simple people think about increasing participation Minigames that from time to time we will be called upon to solve and that simulate some analysis functions of allied artificial intelligence. Thus, for example, to perform a chemical analysis we will have to rearrange elements inside vials by moving them in the correct order; To obtain someone's identity we will have to reconstruct their face by aligning the details; or to track a signal we will have to follow it by clicking on the connection nodes as quickly as possible.
Notice
Reading the game's credits we discovered that Simone Tagliaferri, who wrote this review, added her special thanks. We would like to point out that she is not affiliated in any way with Bad Seed Games and has not collaborated in any way in the creation of the game. The inclusion is probably related to the fact that she followed the game with some attention, devoting space to it in the pages of Holygamerz.com on several occasions, even writing a preview article. However, it is correct to warn readers about this detail, as a matter of transparency.
Hidden Objects
As we said, the core of the experience continues to be the search for objects in the five large settings, each with a different setting, starting from modern-day Milan. We won't reveal what the others are, but let's say that four of us will act practically immediately, while the fifth will be accessible only after halfway through the adventure, with the variety guaranteeing that some will be unlocked. capacity, such as seeing the inside of some containers, or being able to visualize the inside of some buildings, which expand interactions gradually and intelligently, always giving the player the perception of having something new to do and try, as well as having to deal with more complex problems. Also consider that the scenarios change depending on the moment in which they are observed, that is, depending on the so-called time tick established by the AI (during the campaign it is not possible to manually select the ticks to be displayed) with the characters. present all after their day, making the scenes extremely lively and dynamic, despite the static nature of the individual ticks.
Relax
Crime O'Clock is arelaxing experience. The game involves you with investigations and its mini-games, but avoids in every way generating performance anxiety, giving you advice on where to look and, if necessary, helping you with an optional system of progressive revelation of the solution, which avoids getting stuck. Even the mini-games, although they become more difficult in the advanced stages of the adventure, never try to slow down the player, but are presented as tools to diversify the investigations, where however everything always remains very guided and, in some way, intuitive. . From this point of view, the user experience seems very refined and clarifies the development studio's desire to make the game truly for everyone, that is, to never oppress the player, who is always given a way to get ahead and move forward, creating coherent games. narratives in which the different steps always have a logical thread, which must be followed to reach the solution.
However, once the stages are unlocked, one is activated. extra mode allowing you to play them in a more traditional way, without any help, in which you must search for characters hidden among the different time ticks, without related investigations or not, to significantly extend the life of the game. and to see it, pay more attention to the different drawings, which are discovered full of jewels and quotes, such as the presence of two Rick and Morty emulators in Milan. In short, Crime O'Clock seems to be a well-finished title that fully achieves what it sets out to do. Which is no small thing these days.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Vapor, Nintendo eShop Price 19,99 € Holygamerz.com 8.5 Readers (4) 7.7 your voteCrime O'Clock is undoubtedly a very successful game, which relaxes during the approximately ten hours that it lasts and entertains with well-tested mechanics, mixed with innovations that make its formula more peculiar. It will certainly appeal to fans of hidden object games and those looking for a relaxing and well-constructed experience, with a very strong narrative side.
PRO
- The Hidden Folks formula has been nicely tweaked.
- It involves you in your investigations.
- Designs rich in details.
AGAINST
- Some dialog off
