El Hijo Review on Xbox

El Hijo is a non-violent isometric stealth game set in the wild west where the protagonist is a 6yr old child on the quest to find his mother. All reviews (unless stated otherwise) are based on the Developer/Publisher providing myself with a review code, which i am grateful for, but does not influence my outcome.

The premise is you play as the 6yr old ‘’El Hijo’’ who has been dropped off at a monastery to keep him safe after bandits burn their family home. However head strong El Hijo isn’t going to stay under the supervision of the monks when his mother is in danger, so as any 6yr old would do, he escapes and starts his quest to find her. 

The game boasts a 29 mission single player Campaign, where you solve puzzles and fundamentally stay hidden as much as possible in order to progress. There are also collectibles and a variety of tools in which to distract, clear out and bemuse, the enemies in your path.  

Gameplay

Stealth games come in a variety of different styles, but often all follow one premise, violence in some form is needed to progress. Here there is no such thing, and focus has been on the playful and mischievous nature of a child, to get ahead. 

The prologue of the game introduces the basic mechanics which are simply enough and as you progress more tools are given to expand the variety of ways to move forward. Your job on each level is to get to the end without being caught, and I say caught and not seen, as there is an important difference. You can be seen but if you hide quickly enough or escape to a hidden area, the enemies will often falter, forget you and move back to their original position.

All enemies all have vision cones which give a clear indication on what and where they are looking. To view this, you release a small white bird which expands and showcases of the enemies in the local area. This is particularly useful in planning your route or spotting collectibles in the form of other children.

Now that may sound weird, but hang on. These abandoned children all need to be ‘’inspired’’ and count as the collectibles. In essence you walk up to them and expands their world a little bit; by teaching them to juggle, how to fold a paper airplane or in some cases play a prank. The last one is particularly useful as it often moves an enemy out of your path later on in the level. Once done the depressed kids sparkle with joy and you are told they have been inspired. 

Tools soon come into play and really allow you to experiment on how you move forward, with some like wind-up toys allowing you to focus an enemies focus and in turn moving them to a different area allowing you safe passage. Other tools like a catapult, fireworks and gas clouds all help in detaining or confusing your enemies allowing you to either reach safe passage of hide before you are caught.  

You may think you only play as ‘’El Hijjo’’, but the game switches often to your mother and her attempts are thwarting the bandits who burnt down their house and in some cases getting revenge. Here the game isn’t just about getting to the end unseen, there is often a side mission you need to accomplish in order to progress. Early on the aim was to blow up their base using dynamite placed around the level. 

The levels themselves are big enough to be challenging but small enough not to be too frustrating and there are multiple ways to get to the end location, which you will need to identify in order to plan your route effectively. Now there will be obstacles in your way, in the form or crates or enemies in general etc. Solutions to these are often easy to spot, as in one instance I was playing as the mother and had to get past a guard, to activate a switch. 

The only was this could be accomplished was releasing a cow that would wander back and forth from its pen to the feeding trough. You did this by shooting the lock off the pen gate. Levels are also well designed with a number of unique hiding places to take advantage of and check points are plentiful, so no matter if you fail and get spotted, you are never far from your original position. 

Control wise I found the game to be pretty smooth but I did find the button to activate the crouching or hiding behind something a bit clunky. It would often falter or take too long to recognize my press and thus lead me into getting spotted. It could be the activation box is abit too small and thus you have to be pin point perfect before it will allow you. Not a hard fix and maybe something the developer could look into. 

Overall the game is fun to play and the non-violent and more childish aspect plays well into a new stealth game. Yes there are the odd issues, but generally this is a nice simple game that doesn’t tax you to much. The hardest part you will find is locating all children in the level and working out the best route to get to them. 

Graphics

The games visual style is its main wow factor and one that caught my eye from the beginning. The fixed isometric visual works well, with the only issue that on some areas, tall buildings in the foreground can obscure your character in the background as there is no see threw aspect. The game almost cartoonish style works incredibly well and is bright, crisp and colourful with each level showcasing that style off to it utmost.  

The simple and blocky aesthetic for each level are perfectly toned to each specific location and despite being set in the wild west, showcase of some lovely areas to view. Dust, shadows and the general aesthetics shine here with an art style that isn’t afraid to use colour as well as darkness to great effect. I saw no framerate issues with game and no pop-in as far as I could tell, though being an isometric stealth, I really wouldn’t expect it to. 

The story itself is told through beautiful cut-scenes which in remind me of early Saturday morning cartoons. Full of style whilst not neglecting a story that in turn can get abit dark regarding child enslavement and abuse of the time. Once completed, I felt I did see a different side of the wild west, and being from a child view, was definitely different. 

 
Sound

The sound in this game is well executed with a blend of background orchestral tunes mixed in with acoustic guitar solos to bring out the wild west flavor. Specific attention has been paid to character sounds and environment sounds, with them being at the forefront in order to ensure you are always aware of the danger close by. 

Your bird is one such area that sings and tweets when allowed to fly and enlarge your viewing zone. There isn’t any voicework in the game, as the story is cut- scene orientated. Instead the characters often make grunts, whistles and humming to bring them to life, and in fairness, this does the job. For me, a good gaming headset worked well on this and would be my general recommendation.

Verdict 
This leads me onto the rating of the game:-
Now I rate games in order of, avoid, on sale, great purchase and must own. My rating for El Hijjo is a "Great Purchase".

This unique take on a wild west stealth game from a child’s perspective is fresh and fun. There are some bugs, but without a doubt this is a fun title to play, though with 30 odd levels,  probably not in one go. It definitely hits it target of being one of the more unique titles, and for that alone, I would give it a try if your into non violent stealth games.   

The game is currently priced on Xbox at £16.74 or approx $20, and depending on skill and patience would give you about 4-6 hours worth of gameplay to potentially clear the story, with at least another 2+ hours in completing the achievements/getting all collectibles. 

The small development team have created something different and new and whilst its not perfect, this is a great introduction to the studios , and for one will be watching closely to see what future titles they can create.