''The Hidden'' is a

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

total conversion mod for the popular '' Half-Life 2'' computer game. The

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pl ...

revolves around the retrieval of an escaped research subject where the subject is highly agile, incredibly strong, and nearly invisible. The first beta version was released on June 13, 2005 and its latest release was September 8, 2007.

Gameplay

''The Hidden'' is played by rounds. Each player selects one of the nine IRIS characters; each character is visually distinct, but does not have differing abilities that affect gameplay. A player may choose to play as two classes: Assault and Support. The main difference between Assault and Support is that Support can replenish teammates' ammo. The player also chooses a main weapon, a side arm, and an item. Each round, a player is selected automatically to be the Hidden, usually based on how much damage they dealt to the Hidden in previous rounds. All the other players play as the IRIS, whose goal is to work as a team to hunt down the Hidden and contain it. After the time limit hits, or either side kills the other, the round will end, and a new Hidden may be selected depending on a number of variables including who won the previous round, who dealt the most damage, etc.

The Hidden

As the Hidden, the player is given several extra abilities not available to the IRIS; The Hidden is nearly invisible, with only a little distortion of the background indicating his presence, sticking to walls, and the ability to detect enemies' auras from a distance. Other abilities include pouncing and cannibalizing corpses of slain enemies to replenish health.

Reception

Mod DB Mod DB is a website that focuses on general video game modding. It was founded in 2002 by Scott "INtense!" Reismanis. As of September 2015, the Mod DB site has received over 604 million views, has more than 12,500 modifications registered, and ...

's "Mod of 2005" competition, ''The Hidden'' won the Editor's Choice award for the best multiplayer, and in 2006 it won "Best Ambience" in the same competition. In 2006, the game took part in the

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

, where it got to the finals of the "Best Half-Life 2 Mod" category, but lost to ''

Dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

''. ''The Hiddens asymmetrical gameplay was described by '' bit-tech.net'' as having influenced the 2015 game '' Evolve''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hidden, The 2005 video games First-person shooters Source (game engine) mods Multiplayer online games Windows games Windows-only games