2D sci-fi horror Hidden Deep pits you against cave-dwelling monsters

NEWS Sacha Loric - Jan 6, 2022, 3:00 PM

After months in beta, Hidden Deep is finally entering early access on January 24, 2022. A 2D sci-fi horror game by Cogwheel Software, Hidden Deep draws inspiration from movies and games such as Aliens, The Thing, and Half-Life. Check out the announcement trailer now:

The story follows you and your squad of marines after you've been sent to investigate a mining and research facility located one mile below the ocean floor. The research team stationed in the facility has gone missing after 681 days of continuous contact, so it's on you to find out what happened to them.

What awaits you is an abandoned complex riddled with enormous caverns honeycombed by tight passageways, and something else—an ancient containment system that predates the mining complex itself. You learn too late that the system was used to contain horrific flesh-eating alien life forms, and it's not long before your entire squad turns from hunter to prey.

Hidden Deep's premise pays tribute to 80s and 90s sci-fi movies, complete with alien eggs, worms, flying insectoids, and tentacle-like creatures that resemble Half-Life's barnacles. The cave system and its hideous denizens inspire feelings of claustrophobia and paranoia, as even your soldiers could start turning on you under the wrong circumstances.

Hidden Deep heavily focuses on exploration. Your rescue team can make use of several tools such as the grappling hook to negotiate trenches, drones that can map out caves, demolition charges to open up passageways, and heavy machinery to dig holes and bridge gorges.

From the trailer, you may notice Hidden Deep's highly-detailed ragdoll physics and fluid character movement. This is because the developers used motion-capture for the human characters despite the game being in 2D.

Hidden Deep will also feature local and online co-op, though the latter will be added during the Early Access period instead of at launch.

Hidden Deep enters early access on January 24, 2022. Pick up a Hidden Deep PC code at the best price today.