The Hidden Ones hands-on preview — Spellbinding sparring

When it comes to games that are released on mobile, I can’t help but be skeptical. So often do these games look incredible in the trailers, only to fall flat in the gameplay department when they actually release. So when I saw the trailer for The Hidden Ones, I had a lot of skepticism about how it would feel when I got my hands on it. Thankfully after attending an in-person preview event with Tencent and Morefun Studios, I can say that this one actually lives up to the hype.

The Hidden Ones is a 3D action fighter that expands on the martial arts franchise Hitori no Shita: The Outcast. The game has a realistic manga art style that matches in line with the anime and is focused on fast-paced combat utilizing spells and hand-to-hand battles. During the preview event, I had the opportunity to explore all three game modes: story mode, trial mode and dual mode.

I began by getting my feet wet with the story mode, which gave me a chance to learn the controls and become familiar with the game. If you’re familiar with 3D fighters, you’ll probably feel right at home here, but even for the uninitiated, this is an easy one to get into. Fighting enemies is simple but flashy, with a mixture of basic attacks, guards, skills, parries and counters. There are also special techniques like guard-breaking grabs or break-aways maneuvers that let you get out of enemy combos or end your skills early, meaning once you master the basics you can really sink your teeth into deeper mechanics which I really enjoyed discovering.

Dropping into chapter three, I took control of Wang Ye, who has flexible skills that offer multiple choices during combat. His adaptive move set meant I could easily manage crowds while still crushing single targets with devastating attacks. While I only got to experience a small slice of the narrative, I was surprised to see the level of depth they were going for. Fully animated cutscenes, voice acting, and world-building through written notes and discoverables made it easy to become immersed. While this game is based on the previously mentioned Chinese martial arts animation, your experience won’t be lessened if you aren’t familiar with the source material as this is more of an expansion on existing canon. Another plus is that the game just looks incredible, and while I did play on PC, I imagine that the mobile version should be at least comparable. Characters and their motions are smooth and clean, and the environments are equally appealing to take in as I brawled my way through the streets.

After spending some time in the story mode, I switched over to duel mode to battle other players in a more traditional arena fighter setting. Here I was able to select three characters to build a line up, which would go against my opponent. Each time a character would lose, you would swap over to the next character in the line-up and start a new round. This encouraged me to learn multiple characters and helped ease me into the roster on offer, as each character has their own moveset and playstyle. It’s a much different experience when you’re playing against real people, and battles often feel much more fast-paced. If you’ve got a competitive spirit, you’ll find a lot to love in this game mode.

I finished off my preview session by challenging some bosses in the trial mode. Here you can select various bosses to fight against and change up their difficulty as well to your liking. These foes are much deadlier than normal enemies you might encounter in the story mode, and will really test your ability to block and dodge incoming attacks while staying on the offensive when you can. I can certainly see this mode being expanded on as bosses come into the game, and cranking up the difficulty will certainly pose a deadly challenge.

For being in a pre-alpha state, I was very impressed by the quality and fun-factor that Tencent and Morefun Studios have already nailed with The Hidden Ones. The combat is so fluid and flashy, and the art style just looks downright gorgeous. Whether you’re looking forward to playing the game on mobile or PC, this is definitely one to watch out for when the game fully launches. If you’re looking to get involved early, The Hidden Ones is launching a pre-alpha test on January 7, 2025, that you can register for on their website. 

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