Intruders: Hide and Seek | PS4 Review

February 28, 2019 Chris Behrensmeyer

Growing up, playing hide-and-seek was always one of my favorite games. So when presented the chance to play a horror version on the PSVR, I jumped at the chance. Intruders: Hide and Seek is an interesting little thriller from Tessera Studios and Daedelic Entertainment. You play as a young boy, whose mother and father are taken hostage by some unknown intruders. During the course of the game a very interesting narrative unfolds, and allows you discover a very dark secret. Do you have what it takes to survive the night and rescue your family from the intruders?

Save Your Family and Survive the Night

The game begins with a small introduction mission that is a cute game of hide and seek with your sister, which teaches you the simple mechanics of the game. You can hide behind objects by crouching, as well as hide in certain cupboards and closets. If you are spotted, whoever is looking for you starts running at you, and once you are caught, the mission is failed. Once the mission is over, there is a short cutscene where you discover your sister is sick. As the story progresses you also discover that your parents have recently had a panic room installed in the house. While you and your sister are exploring the panic room, the intruders break in and take your parents hostage. This is where the game really begins and you have to travel around the house trying to complete tasks to rescue your family.

Through the Eyes of a Child

The gameplay is very simple and you control your character throughout the house avoiding the intruders. What makes this game interesting is there is no combat at all. Luckily the house is very dark and there are a lot of hiding spots to duck behind. Having this game as a VR title definitely takes the gameplay to a new level, allowing you to tilt your head out and peer around corners. When you are hidden and an enemy is near, you have to shake your controller to keep your character calm and hidden. Being the fact that you are a child, you do move slower than the intruders, but it allows you to sneak into small areas. Also the power is out in the house, so the intruders’ vision is limited to seeing quick movements and whatever is in the narrow beam of their flashlights.

Could Use Some Control Work

The game is well laid out and the house has a pretty interesting design. There are not many tight or narrow areas, but there are easy exits from almost every area. Being a PSVR game the controls are fairly decent, but at the same time feel sluggish. The game is also played using a standard Dualshock controller instead of the move controllers. I think if there was a new version of the move controllers with a move stick, games like this would be greatly improved. The game does a very good job of making you feel small and overwhelmed with the intruders being larger than you. The background music also does a great job of setting the mood and ambience for every scene.

A Few Downfalls, But Still Fun

The downfalls for this game are quite a few and do take away from the game. The character’s face rendering seem to be a little haphazard and not quite finished. The controls are sluggish, and when trying to pick-up items you need, the detection box is not as tight as it should be. On a few occasions I did run into a few glitches that forced me to exit the game and restart a chapter. Luckily, the game is broken up into 8 chapters and there are enough checkpoints that, if it happens, getting back to the point you were at is fairly easy. I did, on a few occasions, have to adjust the brightness to notice that there were items on the floor preventing me passing by an object. The game’s biggest fault though is the enemies’ AI. On multiple occasions I was able to walk right up to the intruders and almost touch them, yet they did not see me. While at the same time I could be across a room and hidden, but they would see me and come running to capture me.

Intruders: Hide and Seek Final Verdict

Overall, Intruders: Hide and Seek is a fun game to play and quite an interesting concept. The narrative is quite good, even if it is a little far-fetched at times. Also it has quite a dark and interesting twist, that makes you wonder how far you would go to save your family. I could see there being a DLC for this game placing you in a different house and adding in more intruders to seek you out. I feel that games like this would be a great addition to the VR library and fall into the same realm as a walking simulator.

This review is based on a PSVR copy of the game provided by Sandbox Strategies for coverage purposes.