When I was first approached to see if I was interested in doing a review for Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic, I was initially pretty hesitant. Going by listings on the eShop and a quick Google search, it looked like the game basically just amounted to a glorified hidden object game, albeit one with a pleasant enough art style and a bit more interactivity in the environment. And, truthfully, that is the entirety of the game’s campaign mode: four themed worlds (1,001 Nights, Greek Mythology, The Middle Ages, and, uh, The Magical 80s) consisting of eight levels each, all with varying degrees of items to find, Where’s Waldo style.
The game does employ some neat tricks that could only be accomplished in an interactive medium, like each stage having an alternate time of day or weather effect that you can flip between back and forth, as well as certain objects like caves, houses, or chests being openable to allow you to see inside of them (as well as being tricky hiding spots that the developers often utilise to this end). Each stage even has a fully voiced opening narration to set the tone and update you on the progress of each era’s story, as it were, to further sell you on the idea that this is a children’s book come to life. The game also sports an art style reminiscent of Scribblenauts, making it very child-friendly as well as chunky and easy to see, even on a Switch screen.
These are all genuinely slick additions to an extremely well-worn formula, and even as an ashen-hearted 34-year-old sad man, the game did manage to delight me here and there with all of its references to mythology (and, uh, the 80s), and opening up the side of a house to see an entire scene inside that was previously hidden never got old, despite the simple concept. I’d be remiss not to mention that there are technical issues here and there, particularly with loading times, and the user interface is very pointedly made for PC first and was converted to a controller here, but for a game that’s demanding nothing of the player in terms of input and button gymnastics, it’s pretty easy to forgive here. Weirdly, there’s no touch screen options, which is incredibly odd in a game like this, especially as the tactile feedback of a screen meeting your fingers would’ve done a decent job of emulating poring over a book while keeping your eyes peeled for a very specific duck, but maybe that’s something the developers are looking to add down the road.
Far more intriguing than the campaign, and the mode I’ve spent more hours in than I’d care to admit, is Architect. Advertised in the trailers, though not emphasised nearly as much as it should have been, this is a fully featured level creation mode in which you can upload your creations online to be played by other players, as well as check out other user-made levels on your own. The number of objects, options, and tools available to the player is absolutely staggering, to the point of being intimidating, and I’m convinced that these must be the actual level and character creation tools the developers of the game used to populate the campaign mode.
As far as I’m aware, any and every item and combination showcased in campaign mode is fully accessible for the user-made levels, as well as most of the tools, including the aforementioned ability to hide objects and scenes in interior environments. It’s truly impressive, and much like contemporary level editing masterpiece Super Mario Maker, the user created levels are fun to pop into just to see what people were able to accomplish. I wasn’t expecting the very first level I stumbled upon to be a lovingly crafted reference to the Caelid region of Elden Ring, but here we are.
The level editor does buckle under the weight of its own ambitions at times, though, at least on Switch; the user interface is beyond confusing, especially when making custom characters, as your invisible “cursor” replacing a mouse seems to randomly get stuck, and it’s not always clear how to get in or out of specific menus; I accidentally deleted objects FAR too many times with an accidental press on the d-pad when coming out of a menu; lag spikes happen often here, preventing objects from being selected; your cursor movement is far, far too slow, even when doing minute adjustments on the micro scale; and my previous comments about everything being easily readable even on a Switch screen absolutely do not apply to Architect mode, where I found myself squinting more often than not to see basically any object I wanted to add to my level while playing in handheld mode. All of these problems, I have to imagine, were nonexistent in the game’s original PC version thanks to mouse and keyboard controls. There are touchscreen controls on offer here, but due to how small the icons and objects are coupled with lag spikes, even selecting the correct object with the touch-screen controls feels like trying to design a stage by controlling the game with a banana.
Having said all of that, despite the laundry list of issues, I still spent an entire afternoon recreating the first campsite in Baldur’s Gate 3 and had an absolute blast doing so, especially figuring out how to represent certain characters as accurately as I could. I think it turned out pretty great, but you be the judge.
As an additional note, as of the time of this writing, I have been unable to upload my level to the game’s servers, but I have been able to download other user’s creations.
Unfortunately, I can’t give Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic, or at least the Switch port of it, an unconditional recommendation. There are just too many tech, interface, and control issues with this version of the game, especially considering that its intended audience is seemingly younger kids. What I can say is this: if that level creation mode looks or sounds appealing to you, especially if you like the idea of creating dollhouse-esque dioramas, this is one of the most open and flexible level editors I’ve seen in a game, and it’s genuinely worth a look just for the ability to sink your teeth into that side of the game.
I don’t want to dismiss the campaign mode, either. Too often, when it comes to video game hobbyists, especially those of a certain age, people are only able to look at something like this through the lens of a jaded adult. I was guilty of it myself a bit, based on the opening sentences of this review. My wife often talks about a search-and-find picture she had hanging on the wall next to her bed in lieu of a TV when she was a child and how she’d fall asleep looking at it every night. It set her imagination on fire, just thinking of all the characters and objects moving and interacting with one another.
I thought about that story of hers a lot while playing this game, and in truth, it was even the reason I agreed to give this game a shot in the first place. And I’m glad I did, because for as simple a concept as it is on paper, a lot of work and love was clearly put into marrying the idea of a hidden object book with a modern video game design ethos, to make no mention of a fully featured level creation suite and online sharing tools to boot. It doesn’t hurt that the Baldur’s Gate 3 campsite was so much fun to make, either.
Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic
Release Date: Out Now on PC, arriving on consoles on January 25, 2024
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5 & Xbox Series S/X
Price: £10.89
About Matt Murray
Matt is the host of the podcast “Critical Diversions.” A solo podcast on the latest gaming news and recent games he’s been playing. He also runs a game club through the podcast Discord.