2019-06-01_PC_Gamer

T

heWildWestisahardplace.An

unnamedboy,onlycalledElHijo,hasto

learnthislessonatjustnineyearsold

whenbanditsdestroyhishomeandhis

mother‘sfarm.Leftwithnowaytocareforher

son,thewomanleaveshimatamonastery.

happily hang as art on my wall. The careful

play between light and shadow doesn’t

just look incredibly good, it’s also vital to

you getting around undetected. As long as

you stick to the shadows and don’t get too

close to an adult, they can look right in

your direction but won’t see you.

True Kid

The setting isn’t arbitrary. El Hijo’s

developer Jiannis Sotiropoulos was

inspired by El Topo, a 1970 acid western in

which a young boy named Hijo gets left

behind by his father in a similar fashion.

Despite what games may often suggest,

harsh conditions don’t immediately turn

children into adults – in El Hijo, the boy

gets to be a boy for a little while longer,

including all the puddle splashing and

sweet pinching that entails. This isn’t a

childish game – it’s stealth mechanics are

on par with any other title of the genre –

but it carries the spirit of a good time

thanks to environments bathed in sunlight

and knobbly cowboys and monks that

don’t appear half as threatening to me as

they do to El Hijo.

El Hijo is completely non-violent. You

can hide behind large objects, in vases, in

laundry baskets, behind curtains, you

name it. In the demo I played, there was

always a nice little ‘aha’ effect as I

discovered how to make use of new hiding

spots. You can take different paths or

sometimes avoid hiding altogether if

you’re quick enough. When things get

particularly crowded, there’s also the

option to throw a previously collected

stone or even a toy. Thanks to plenty of

save points, getting caught never

becomes unduly punishing. Wanting to

explore a new environment or part of the

level just to see what it will look like and

what obstacles wait for you is a major

driving factor that made my time with El

Hijo pass very quickly.

Malindy Hetfeld

it’s stealth

mechanics are on

par with any other

title of the genre

played

it

The longest game of

hide and seek ever

EL HIJO

Of course El Hijo objects to being left like

that, and promptly plots his escape. The

task is seemingly simple – get out of this

strange place and back with your mother.

However, a monastery in the middle of

nowhere seems huge to a child, and this

one is also particularly well-staffed. The

only way is the quiet one.

El Hijo takes place in three

environments: the monastery, a saloon

and the desert between them. It’s a

seemingly short journey, but each of these

settings is divided into ten levels. The

longer I look around in each, the more

there is to see. The levels look like toy

boxes, self-contained wonderlands I would

ElHijo

PREVIEW

RELEASE

TBA

DEVELoPER

Honig Studios

PubLIShER

Handygames

LINK

http://www.elhijogame.com

need to know

You can sneak away while the

adults shoot each other.