Bring a Nade on a Camping Trip

In the vanilla settings for The Hidden, the rules for voice and text chatter are quite strict. You can't talk with the hidden, and if you die, you get cut off and can't speak to anyone but other dead guys. If an agent of Team IRIS is killed by The Hidden, there is no kill report. His team may hear the kill, but they probably won't. There isn't a great song and dance on that particular player's monitor, either – the second their health drops below zero, they're staring out of a surveillance camera.

The two chumps I killed in last Friday's Quest Log Updated are probably watching in impotent horror as I close in on their remaining buddies. I'm taking it slow, using the aura view to pick them up, and they're still clinging to one another in a very tight shape. I round a corner into the foyer, and bingo: they're in the elevator.

This is essentially a tiny room. It's pretty inspired of the developer to put a room like this on the map, because it encourages wrong thinking from Team IRIS. Aha! A tiny room! Perfect – with one entrance, we'll see the Hidden from a mile away.

There's something I didn't mention about the Hidden. He has grenades. On this server, you get one grenade. The grenades do light damage, actually, and mainly serve to deafen and concuss your foe. Now, technically, this means they won't hear your approach, but they're likely to guess anyway, seeing as you used your only grenade to deafen and blind them.

I line up the shot. I've never thrown a grenade in the Hidden before, I just remember getting hit with it a lot in the early days. It could be too high, and it'd do nothing but alert them. It could be perfect. I decide to throw it, and follow it pretty closely with my pounce, so I land right after the explosion. The danger is that I get lacerated by the panic firing, but a more relevant danger is that they recover their wits and I lose the element of surprise (and my only advantage).

(apart from being invisible)


It looks like bottled water, doesn't it? Don't drink it, though, it asplodes.

I throw it. It lands in there, doesn't bounce much. I pounce. They're crammed in there, but they're firing – I take damage. I use my instant killer, then slash another to death, then retreat, hopping up the main stair to lean over the glass railing and peer through the lush lobby flora. One remains.

My health is low. I'll die if he hits me, essentially. I use my aura view, and note something strange – instead of the usual black smudge indicating his location, he's bright red. Could this mean he's close to death, too? Did my grenade blow up right in his face? It must have. I've got a real chance of winning this, one versus six. Five of them can see everything, and say nothing – they're probably watching the survivor point his gun wildly, back right up against the back of the elevator, reload nervously. I'm watching a muted scuffling from within the elevator, from my high perch.

He's damaged. I'm damaged. I need to get in there, stab him, and avoid being shot. I need to do it; there's nothing I can employ to force him out, and he knows I've no grenades left, so every second I wait is just strengthening his resolve.

I pounce.

I hold right-mouse.

The knife draws back, the growl starts.

He starts firing.

I land.

He clips me.

I run at him.

The knife jabs forward.


"Hidden Wins."