100 hidden mice

Developer: Anatoliy Loginovskikh, Alexandr Telminov | Publisher: Anatoliy Loginovskikh | Release Date: 2021 | Genre: Casual / Hidden Object / Indie | Website: N/A | Purchase: Steam

Laboratories are usually associated with test tubes, beakers, bubbling chemicals, and the occasional questionable experiment. 100 Hidden Mice takes this setting and fills it with exactly what the title promises: 100 mice hidden throughout a large black-and-white illustration. As with the other entries in Anatoliy Loginovskikh’s “100 hidden” series, the goal is simple enough. Players must scroll through the picture, find all the hidden creatures, and click on them.

100 Hidden Mice features artwork by Alexandr Telminov and is set in a large laboratory filled with wires, pipes, steam, beakers, machines, and all kinds of busy little background details. The Steam page describes the game as difficult and interesting, but this will depend heavily on how sharp your eyes are and how familiar you are with the series. Most of the mice are hiding in plain sight, but the final few can still be surprisingly tricky.

The gameplay is as straightforward as ever. The illustration is about one screen wide but multiple screens tall, so players simply scroll up and down while scanning every corner for mice. Clicking on a mouse fills it with red, making it easy to see which ones have already been found. There are no timers, hints, penalties, mini-games, or extra modes to worry about. Each mouse found also unlocks a Steam achievement, so anyone playing with notifications enabled will see them popping up constantly.

Compared to some of the other entries in the series, 100 Hidden Mice sits somewhere in the middle. It is nowhere near as effortless as 100 Hidden Gnomes, where the targets barely felt hidden at all, but it also does not have the surreal charm of 100 Hidden Snails or the small interactive elements found in 100 Hidden Eternals. The laboratory setting provides plenty of visual clutter, but the mice are usually distinct enough that players can spot most of them quickly.

That said, the difficulty curve is a little odd. We found the vast majority of mice without much trouble, but the final mouse took almost as long to find as all the previous ones combined. This is a familiar frustration in hidden object games, but it is especially noticeable here because the rest of the game moves so quickly. There is no hint system to fall back on either, so players who are missing one last mouse will have to slowly scan the entire image again or resort to a guide.

One thing that feels like a missed opportunity is the lack of interactive elements. The laboratory setting would have been perfect for clicking switches, turning valves, moving wires, or revealing hidden mice inside equipment. Instead, everything is static. There are no animations either, which is a pity given all the pipes, steam, and machinery that could have brought the scene to life. After 100 Hidden Eternals added a few minor puzzles and mouse-over animations, this feels like a small step back.

Visually, 100 Hidden Mice uses the familiar black-and-white hand-drawn cartoon style associated with the series. The linework is clean, and the laboratory theme gives the illustration a decent amount of personality. However, it is not as memorable as the stranger, more surreal entries. Pressing “N” activates night mode, which dims the screen slightly and can make the image a little easier on the eyes, although it does not change the gameplay. As always, pressing “Del” and then “Esc” resets all achievements and progress for players who want to start over from scratch.

The audio is simple but more enjoyable than expected. There is one short looping tune that plays throughout the search, and while repetition is inevitable, the melody is catchy enough that it does not become too annoying during the short time it takes to complete the game. Finding all 100 mice also triggers a brief victory tune, which is a nice little reward after finally tracking down the last stubborn rodent.

Controls are exactly what players would expect from a game like this. Everything is handled with the mouse, from scrolling through the image to clicking on the mice. Since there are no interactive puzzles or additional mechanics, there is very little that can go wrong here.

Overall, 100 Hidden Mice is another very short and inexpensive hidden object game that does exactly what it promises. It offers a large laboratory illustration, 100 mice to find, and 100 achievements to unlock. The setting has more visual personality than 100 Hidden Gnomes, and the mice are better concealed than the gnomes, but the lack of animations or interactive elements keeps it from being one of the stronger entries in the series. It is best suited for players looking for a quick hidden object diversion or an easy way to add another completed game to their library.