The Hidden: Source

 Mods for the Source engine exist in hordes throughout the dark corners of the internet, but most are notable merely for their ambitious ideas and not their execution. It is a rare mod indeed that manages to buck this tradition and rise above its contemporaries in quality and an even rarer one which gains any popularity. The Hidden is a free, multiplayer-only, mod for Half-Life 2 which accomplished the former while failing to achieve the latter. It's a unique and thoughtful take on an old gameplay concept, the single powerful enemy pitted against a team of weaker opponents, carefully balanced and polished to a high gloss. 

The story of The Hidden is basically non-existent and delivered through contextual prompts in the game's tutorial and during matches. Essentially it describes the tale of a genetic experiment gone awry; a man, known only as Subject 617, used as a test subject by an immoral corporation gains the power of invisibility and escapes confinement, murdering anyone who impedes him. Infinitium Research (the aforementioned immoral corporation) dispatches their black-ops paramilitary unit, I.R.I.S. to intercept and destroy the escapee and cover up the whole egregious business. Thus is the stage set for a manhunt style fight to the death between 8 well armed I.R.I.S. operatives and a lone, knife wielding superhuman.

Though it initially appears unfair this contest is impressively well balanced and an experienced Hidden player can quickly eliminate his opponents should they fail to co-operate. To achieve this goal he'll need to utilize the various tools available to him and exercise appropriate caution paired with considerable patience.  The primary weapon of the Hidden is a knife which can be steal away a third of an opponent’s life in each hit or alternatively perform a slower, louder one hit kill move which literally explodes the target.  The disadvantage of the more powerful attack, aside from the increased noise and time, is that the destroyed bodies cannot be used to regain health since the Hidden’s main attack allows him to feed on a corpse. Dietary oddness coupled with his ability to carry his kills away and pin them to ceilings means some very eerie sights are likely to greet I.R.I.S. agents searching for fallen comrades.

The Hidden’s next most valuable asset is his speed and lunge ability. Simply clicking the mouse-wheel in will cause him to propel himself forcefully in any direction and keeping it depressed allows him to stick to any surface in the world. Doing so uses up a regenerating stamina bar which can be depleted by multiple lunges or hanging too long on the ceiling. Deadly ambushes can be set using this technique as Hidden players allow the I.R.I.S. to troop by before descending and pouncing on the last one.   A strong arm is also afforded the Hidden allowing him to hurl pipe bombs and debris strewn about the level to distract his opponents and even bludgeon them to death. 

Against the unique talents of the Hidden I.R.I.S. has deployed its finest soldiers who are given their choice of weapons and equipment as well as support or assault roles. Assault soldiers can use any combination of weapons and equipment including a shotgun, assault rifle, submachine gun and the less lethal launcher (a sort of tranquilizer gun crossed with tear gas launcher). Since there is no aiming reticule most players opt to use a laser dot as their equipment, but tripwire-like sonic alarms and night vision goggles are also available. Support soldiers are limited to using either the submachine gun or the launcher, but gain the ability to give out ammo to teammates and automatically receive a sonic alarm. Since reloading a weapon discards the remaining ammo in that magazine support characters are extremely useful in longer games and prime targets for assassination.

Teamwork is the most vital resource of the I.R.I.S. team as an individual has little chance of taking on the Hidden.   Friendly fire is usually on which can be equally dangerous if a paranoid ally gets spooked and starts blazing away at random. Players who wander off will find themselves quickly spotted as the Hidden has an alternate vision mode which lights up his enemies through walls and displays their health as a coloured aura. Matches generally are completed in less than ten minutes as the Hidden picks off stragglers and attempts to separate the remaining foes to be eliminated at his leisure. It’s all incredibly tense for I.R.I.S.  members as they huddle together and fire at vague shapes on the periphery of their vision while the Hidden gleefully hurtles around and whispers creepy threats in their ears.  

The Hidden: Source Mod was released in 2007 and has likely seen its most popular days already, but anyone who owns a Source game can play it and plenty of servers are still up. It’s a unique and often stimulating experience that is tremendous fun with a bunch of friends. At the reasonable price of absolutely nothing it deserves a look.