Supermassive Announces ‘Hidden Agenda,’ A New Game That Can Be Played With Friends

Supermassive Games, the developer behind “Until Dawn,” has announced a new game called “Hidden Agenda” during Sony’s E3 2017 press conference. The game is a crime thriller that’s exclusive for the PlayStation 4 and features similar game mechanics as “Until Dawn.”

The story of “Hidden Agenda” focuses on a homicide detective and a district attorney trying to hunt down a serial killer called The Trapper. The Trapper is known for setting up traps on dead bodies in order to kill first responders on scenes of the crimes.

Like “Until Dawn,” the story of “Hidden Agenda” unfolds depending on the player’s decisions. Each choice has a corresponding consequence and could result in all the characters in the game to die.

What sets “Hidden Agenda” apart from Supermassive’s 2015 hit title is that the game features a social element in gameplay. “Hidden Agenda” is one of the new games that supports Sony’s newly announced PlayLink feature for the PlayStation 4.

PlayLink is a smartphone app for iOS and Android that allows a player’s group of friends to join the game. In “Hidden Agenda,” a group of players will be able to influence how the story unfolds by voting on what decisions to make.

“We saw how people played ‘Until Dawn.’ Although it was a single-player experience, on the internet we saw loads and loads of people streaming it together as a group and all shouting out the answers to different decisions. We thought we could make something with that,” game director Will Doyle said.

Friends who are part of the game through the PlayLink app are given a set of secret objectives — which explains the title “Hidden Agenda” —that they would have to complete by influencing the player’s decisions. Players on the PlayLink app are also given other information about the game’s story and its characters that other players may not be aware of.

The decisions that players will have to make will range from deciding to rescue your partner, splitting up or deciding to question someone, according to Eurogamer. The trailer for “Hidden Agenda” suggests that the game can be played with up to five people through the PlayLink app.

Although Supermassive Games is pushing for “Hidden Agenda” to be played by a group of people, the game can still be played alone. “We think that we’ve got a great game for encouraging social play. Although you can play it single player, you’re gonna want to play this game as a group,” Doyle said.

Supermassive was also able to improve its visuals from “Until Dawn,” giving “Hidden Agenda” that same cinematic feel with better graphics. Overall, it seems like Supermassive carried over everything that was good from “Until Dawn,” carried it over to “Hidden Agenda” and introduced an expanded style of gameplay by adding a social element.

The upcoming game will be exclusive to the PlayStation 4 and will arrive sometime this year. Supermassive hasn’t given an exact release date for “Hidden Agenda” just yet.