hide-and-seek - Games

Hide-and-seek transcends its playground origins to become a foundational game design archetype. In video games, it manifests through stealth mechanics where players evade detection, environmental puzzles requiring hidden object discovery, and narrative-driven suspense where truth is concealed. This concept symbolizes the universal tension between visibility and obscurity, predator and prey, or knowledge and mystery. Designers leverage its psychological appeal—the thrill of evasion and the satisfaction of revelation—to create engaging loops of tension and release across genres from horror to adventure.