The Hidden Ones: Capturing the Essence of Beloved Anime Fighting Games
The game is so reminiscent of the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series, a quality that recent anime games haven't been able to capture.
The last time I played an anime game was Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. Those games were the only ones that really captured how we felt when watching the actual anime. Seeing how Naruto turned into the Nine Tail Fox, fighting Pain, the insane battles with Sasuke all throughout his years as a ninja, and the same with Goku facing Frieza, cell, and saving his entire world.
CyberConnect2 is the developer of those specific games and is at the forefront of creating incredible experiences to relive those moments and even have fun with online play and other modes with your friends. Though CyberConnect2 did have fumbles, their games like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles felt like a cash grab in a way without the same quality as their previous games. There were also other games like My Hero One’s Justice from other developers that tried to reach the same quality as Naruto, DBZ, or Asura’s Wrath. Still, at some point, it always falls flat.
Discovering The Hidden Ones Pre-Alpha
Now, here comes a brand new game - The Hidden Ones. I never knew of the Hidden Ones until it was shown several times last year. The Hidden Ones was first an anime series, the same as Naruto, Bleach, and Dragon Ball Z. I saw online that people were mentioning how much of a hidden gem it was, so I definitely have to check it out - mainly because I got access to the pre-alpha! I thought the game I saw was an anime remake, but it was the actual gameplay I was seeing! The game looks gorgeous just from watching it in general - then I found out it was a mobile game, and I couldn’t believe how much mobile games have evolved over the last few years. It felt unreal. So when I saw a pre-alpha test about to begin, I jumped right into signing up!
The pre-alpha started on February 27th and ended on March 8th. Thankfully, I received access to play it on PC because I cannot play mobile games - my hand will be all cramped up. Let me tell y’all right now - this “pre-alpha” has more content than some games released currently. It’s insane how much work they put into this so far, and from what I have played, I have a small number of cons about this game! When installing the game, you have to install the launcher first, then the game - it seems a bit redundant, but it may change when it releases on Steam.
What caught me off guard a bit was making sure the game is bound to your PC. For the pre-alpha, it mentioned only 1 mobile device and 1 computer can be connected to your account, and that’s it. It can be an issue if you use another computer or phone! I’m assuming they’ll remove that for the game’s release, but if that’ll always be there - that would be annoying. Once you open the game, it has this calm intro showcasing the world of the game and the different characters vital to it. They’re doing their errands and walking around. It feels serene but eerie with what’s to come.
Diving into the Gameplay
When you start playing, you get thrown into the game somewhere in the middle of the story, specifically a chapter called Same River Twice. You will experience multiple stories throughout this game by playing different characters in the story, which is cool. They have their own plans and want to succeed, which can cause a lot of exciting fights in this game. At some point, they all end up being in similar spaces, having you fight multiple bosses simultaneously. I am still trying to figure out what’s happening in the story, so I can’t fully explain it in detail, but they went all out with the action sequences in this game.
The game at heart is an anime fighting game. This one, though, is more unique, as it focuses on Martial Arts. Some characters use weapons like knives in combat, and you can do amazing combos. I compare the combat to be fast like Naruto but with a steady focus on your attacks, similar to Sifu. You can counterattack when people use their skills, defend against attacks, grab your opponent, and cancel attacks. Canceling is my favorite because you can escape attacks if caught in a crazy combo. When someone is blocking, attacking them can make you grab them. It can seriously help if you’re trying to be on the offense. Every character is great to play with because of their unique powers and skills.
My favorite characters to play so far are Wang Ye and Zhang Chulan. Wang Ye is a full-on Martial Artist, and he really got me feeling like the Avatar! He has the power to do a boulder attack or a flame attack and move like Neji from Naruto, enhancing his attacks for a short period. What I really enjoy is that you can use those skills to combo and juggle your opponent; there’s so much you can do. One of my favorite things about the combat is the Doppelganger skills. You create another version of yourself or other characters that can come out and support you with a particular attack. They can also come out to buff you up, like letting you move faster when jolting you with electricity. My favorite Doppelganger is Rolling Gale, which comes out literally swinging, and you can combo that so much.
Exploring Story Mode and Other Game Modes
Not only do we fight regular enemies and bosses during the story, but there are traversal sequences, sneaking to tail enemies, and intense, quick-time events. Interacting with the cutscenes was one of my favorite things in games like Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm. It keeps you on your toes, and it is so damn fire. One of my favorite sequences so far was running away from this family clan trying to attack you. They are throwing fire attacks at you that you must dodge, counter another person trying to dive and punch/kick you, and stop your way to your destination. Playing through this sequence felt so fun and riveting, which I missed so much from these games!
Remember I mentioned how this game had a lot of content? Well, let me guide you through it. Not only that, they have the story mode with multiple chapters we can play through specifically for the pre-alpha, but there are also Boss Trials and Duels.
Boss Trials is where you can face certain bosses from the story with three different Outcasts (the story’s main characters). We have access to the Abyss of Tao trial, which has 4 bosses we can go up against. They are all named differently: Trial of Will, Spirit, Mind, and Vision. Each trial aims to earn a better rating for each character. The ratings allow you to unlock rewards and also move forward to the rest of the bosses that we have to fight.
The bosses were all unique to face; they were scary in their own right and had crazy abilities. The objectives were challenging; I had to restart multiple times to complete one or two. One of them is to avoid their dart attacks, which are difficult to dodge unless you get the timing right and slow down on how fast you attack. These bosses have difficulties, from 1 to Infernal (the 4th and last difficulty).
Duel is the next mode we have available. It is a mode you can play online with other players! It’s my favorite mode so far. You can create Lineups, which are loadouts with the specific characters you want and doppelgangers that fit your needs. If you wish to choose whoever without doing that - you can do so. Playing online has been so fun, seeing the new characters people have unlocked and finding out new combos. Each round is the number of characters y’all have, so the max can be 5 rounds if you both are losing back and forth. There are 12 characters in this game so far. You start with 4, but you can unlock other characters by doing daily missions to unlock the rewards.
I have unlocked two characters, which cost around the same amount. There is a shop where you can buy characters with the currency (there are two different ones that you earn, one faster than the other). Y’all know I don’t like microtransactions, but with how easy and smooth it has been unlocking characters, I don’t mind it. Mainly because this was built first as a mobile game. There’s a season in this game where you can unlock those currencies the more you complete missions and level up so things work out.
The missions don’t only work for the Duel mode; there are rewards for everything you do in Story Mode and Boss Trials. As long you are doing the objectives, you will be able to level up pretty quickly, and for me, it has been happening unknowingly. You unlock silver ethereal coins that are easy to gain with the missions. Then, another currency is more challenging to obtain. You can use one or the other to unlock characters or doppelganger skills. The missions you complete go into the phases tracker. Each phase has its own missions for them, so when you complete the missions, you get the rewards and unlock the next phase. It also seems like this pre-alpha test moves the story along once the phase is completed. So, it creates a good replay value to have you play differently to know more about your characters.
Final Thoughts and Hopes for the Full Release
So that is it for now! I was so surprised to see how much we have to access this pre-alpha, and knowing there is more to come makes me very excited! I cannot wait to start this from the story’s beginning and experience the most incredible interactive visual tale yet. When I was young, playing Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm, I locked in with the story and played versus mode with my brother and friends. The game felt really polished despite some things here and there like me hiding behind the wall, but I clearly wasn’t hiding behind anything. Those things will be fixed once the full game comes out, and it will showcase years of dedication. I am very excited about this, and I hope they focus on creating a great game and not on full-fledged microtransactions - I want this game to win and follow its path as well!