Review: Hide The Corpse
One thing VR does is allows developers get crazy, and Hide The Corpse looked like the team at Realcast was certainly going down that route. Well some might call it crazy, some might call it genius. I have now been hiding Gus’s corpse, which one is it?
Release Date: May 17th 2024
Developer: Realcast
Publisher: Realcast
Price: £15.99
Reviewed On: Meta Quest 3
* Access Provided For Review *
The Cops Are On Their Way
Hide The Corpse has a simple premise that is mixed a hint of dark humor, that has you as the player in a predicament of having to hide the body of Gus – who you have presumably murdered. The issue is that you have four-minutes to hide the body, any evidence Gus was ever there and make sure your fingerprints are all cleaned off objects if you want S-Grade score. You will find yourself having to hide his body across a number of different locations from a living space, a garage to a museum – all of which have multiple different places to hide Gus.
Where this might sound simple they do offer a good degree of challenge as well. As mentioned they keep the pressure on you by giving you a four-minute time limit to hide the Gus’s body, which keeps the pressure on you and leads to making some quick decisions on what to do. Where some of the six hiding places offered on each level are easy to find, some need some thought and exploration to find those extra spaces – be it stuffing Gus into a Sofa or even a nuclear reactor on a spaceship. Then as mentioned if you want that S-Grade result at the end, you will also have to find any evidence of Gus being there and hide that too and clean up your fingerprints. Which means looking for his belongings like his ID, sunglasses and comb to name a few and then locating the sponge and cleaning all the prints you have left behind – giving you even less of that vital four-minutes to hide the body.
Not only will the time limit hinder your efforts to hide him, Gus adds to this with his rag-doll physics and his weight. Meaning you can only really push and pull him, and hold him up until he drops. Depending on what body parts you grab and what mix you go for it will decide how easy Gus is to move – this means you soon learn the best way to handle the body to save you time. As if the physics and weight aren’t enough Gus being rag-doll means he will flop in odd positions as you load his body into hiding spots. Making you fold him into some very odd positions and trying to keep him hidden without his arm/leg flopping out of the hiding spot. All of these things coming together is where the degree of challenge comes into the game.
With all these elements it does make you start to think outside the box and how to save time. I found myself walking around my hands in the air when just exploring or looking for items, this was to try and limit the amount of fingerprints I left behind to clean up – meaning more time for the important body hiding.
The Groovy Seventies
Hide The Corpse captures that camp seventies aesthetic perfectly, with each levels settings managing to include some bright garish colors and patterns. Add this with the Gus’s base outfit being reminiscent with the era, and his huge bushy mustache finishing off the look. You will unlock other costumes by getting those S-Grade ratings, but they aren’t as garish as the base outfit. The cartoon style with the color palette is perfect for the crazy idea of the gameplay, and allows you to feel immersed in the world while using a mobile chip.
This look is mixed with funky and cheesy music that feels right at home in the seventies, and then they use sound effects to finish of the camp feeling set by the visuals. They have also added some police chatter playing out, which can make you feel the urgency of hiding the body, as they talk about closing in on the location – which works perfectly when you can’t see the timer, and sends you into a blind panic at times.
Comfort
The Verdict
Hide The Corpse is a perfect example of how creative developers can be with Virtual Reality, it mixes humor with the dark undertone of hiding the body of someone you have potentially murdered perfectly. This leads to a bit of stupid fun and also sometimes includes a degree of a challenge, to make sure you are entertained. You would never think that hiding a dead body could have you folded with laughter but, Hide The Corpse does just that. As you panic when time is winding down and you are trying to fold Gus up like a pretzel inside a sofa.