As you know, 2025 is a year that will allow several Chinese games to win on the international scene, and among them, Phantom Blade Zero, Lost Soul Aside and Tides of Annihilation are among the most promising and far the most awaited by the Western public. Other titles are also planned, I am thinking in particular of Where Winds Meet, The Perceiver, Ballad of Antara, and Wuchang Fallen Feathers who are supposed to arrive this year too. All share the same thing in common: being big action games with Souls-Like tendency, which sometimes tends to tire the Western public a bit that dreams of something else from China. That’s good, today, I’m going to tell you about another game that belongs to another genre; No, it is not a question of Mecha Break who swept audience records on Steam last month with a peak of 317,522 players during his demo, but of The Hidden Ones. It is a mixture between Beat’em All and Arena Fighter, but it is above all the adaptation of a webcomic and a Chinese anime that responds to the name of Hitori no Shita the Outcast. A game that wants to pay tribute to the Chinese martial arts, but above all to the philosophy of Bruce Lee. I was able to play it a few weeks ago in parallel with the pre-alpha test and I only have one thing to say: be water my friend…
Since it was announced at the end of 2023, The Hidden Ones has been a game that I monitor very closely, and I remember that when American media and videographers had the opportunity to play in December 2024, I was a little jealous of not being able to take it in my side. It will therefore have been necessary to wait for the pre-alpha test sessions, which took place from February 27 to March 10, so that I could finally feel of this hidden ones, except that at this period, I was also in the midst of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Big piece Lawis. I prioritized Ubisoft’s game you understood and that is why this preview of The Hidden Ones only arrives today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMYN1D0EZSG
First thing to know if you are not familiar with The Hidden Ones, it is that it is the adaptation of a webcomic released in China in 2015 created by Dong Man Tang and which will be adapted in animated the following year, in July 2016, under the name of Hitori No Shita the Outcast. Yes, the name is Japanese, but probably because the animated series was produced in collaboration between China and Japan via the company Pandanium X Namu Animation. There are 12 episodes of this anime and in France, it is available on Crunchyroll. Besides, if you ever love fighting, beautiful choreographies and well -gauled animation, I advise you to look because it has a lot of mouth. Regarding the video game, it is developed by the Chinese studio Morefun which belongs to the giant Tencent and which is therefore aimed at adapting the webcomic and the animated series with the same quality of finish and animations. And if there is one thing that comes out of the game The Hidden Ones, it is indeed the quality of its animations, which gives the feeling of having a real animated in front of you. Everything is fluid, performs perfectly and above all, we are entitled to a quantity of movements and attacks that make the fights very stylish. Besides, the developers did not hesitate to go and draw from the side of the Kung-Fu, D Tai-Chi and the Jeet Kune Do of Bruce Lee to offer choreographies worthy of the most beautiful that can be found in the cinema of Hong Kong, especially at his golden age.
Be Water My Friend
In its structure, The Hidden Ones is an Arena Fighter that the Ninja Storm Ninja Stormate series popularized and in line with the latter, the handling of The Hidden One is quite simple, especially if you are a regular at VS Fighting. However, there are a lot of subtleties with the title of Morefun Studio since the game takes into account dodge, parade and a rupture mechanics. Basically, when you launch your basic attacks, it is very easy to make combos, but each time the combo is finished, the opponent is then pushed by a few meters. It is however possible to cancel its combo during the second or third basic attack to dodge with the RB touch, which thus allows to extend the sequence of blows and this, without repelling the enemy. It is rather practical, except that calling on the rupture button, it consumes part of the endurance, which is a good way to stop spam. On the other hand, parry and block do not consume endurance and, if you make a perfect parry, you then get an opening to attack just behind. A yellow bar will appear just below the middle of the screen, indicating the small window when you can retaliate.
Conversely, some attacks cannot be adorned or even blocked, and it is indicated by a red light that appears, which means that only dodge is possible not to take damage. On the other hand, if you dodge at the right time, you will have another opportunity to retaliate thanks to a slight slow motion, always very stylized. As for blue light, it means that the attack is less powerful than red and above all, it is possible to protect itself from it. Of course, like any self -respecting fighting game, there are also big furies to trigger and of course, depending on the character in their hands, the ultimate vary. Very quickly, we realize that the combat system of The Hidden Ones is based on timing and good management of endurance, which breathes a certain rhythm into the game.
Tai-Chi Master
If the pre-alpha test has made it possible to make pretty fights against other players, The Hidden Ones is distinguished especially for its history mode, well worked well and which obviously takes up the events of the Webcomic but also that of the series. The developers of Morefun Studios also said that some characters, quite insignificant in the series, took consistency in the game; And that other surprises await fans of the animated series. Personally, I was bluffed by the quality of the story mode, which is never the strong point of classic fighting games, and which are content to chain fights in arena with some cutscenes to coat the entourloupe. In The Hidden Ones, there is a real reflection on this story mode, and especially the desire to do well. The game is also part of a very modern beat’em in this history mode, with in addition a few dazzling, such as these chase and chase missions, where Qte and some manipulations of Wall-Jumps mix. Fighting is not the only interest in Story mode, since boss battles are found, furtive missions, or downright puzzles to solve. There are also many moments when you can walk and talk to NPCs nearby. It is not a story mode in open world, but linearity allows the intrigue to progress in a fluid way, and you never have the impression of wasting time.
Note that The Hidden Ones will offer two other game modes, other than history mode. There is also the duel mode which allows you to play with the complete list of characters, each offering their own identity, their own techniques and powers to be triggered. As for the test mode, it is a boss rush which allows to face all the bosses that we have encountered in the story mode. And among them, there was downright an evil and wild version of Sun Wukong, in natural attire and which replaced its magic stick with a stone pillar. There too, it puts pressure of 10 tonnes as Laurely Birba would say … For the time being, no precise release date for The Hidden Ones, but the developers are targeting an outing for the third quarter of 2025. The game has been developing for a while and it could in turn upset the way of doing Arena Fighters, a genre that has not changed much for the past 20 years …
