It’s not the narrative and artistic masterpiece one might expect.
The Hidden and Unknown, a text-based mystery, has become Steam’s most expensive game. The indie title is selling for a whopping $1,999.90.
Developed and published by ProX, The Hidden and Unknown is a single-player game that “aims to widen the perception of its audience in the areas of psychology and philosophy,” according to its Steam page. Tagged as a visual novel, The Hidden and Unknown presents a cryptic narrative along with simple backgrounds, such as a soccer field, bedroom, and classroom. ProX describes The Hidden and Unknown with abstract language, revealing little about the actual gameplay and calling on players to learn lessons about the nature of life and reality through the game.
Priced at $1,999.90, The Hidden and Unknown has the highest price of any product offered on Steam. The new mystery game beats out the Kagura Bundle, priced at $1,692.98. The Kagura Bundle includes more than one hundred indie role-playing games with anime-style illustrations and sexual content from publisher Kagura Games. ProX gives no justification for the lofty cost of The Hidden Unknown, only including a warning in the game’s description: “If you are often getting offended instead of reacting rationally, avoiding this game would be a wise action.”
The Hidden and Unknown is the first game from ProX. The developer’s website links several social media platforms, such as Youtube, Twitch, and Instagram, that give no indication of the developer’s identity. A three-minute long video on ProX’s YouTube channel, titled What is ProX?, features a narration from the developer about the Industrial Revolution as a cause for depression and the developer’s guiding principle of learn, understand, adapt, and grow, or “L.U.A.G.” The video description claims that ProX is a small team of individuals united by the “L.U.A.G.” principle.
Currently, The Hidden and Unknown has three Customer Reviews on its Steam page, with two positive and one negative. The two reviews recommending the indie game are comically short and offer little insight: “Would buy again. 10/10” and “Worth every penny.” Community members clearly recognize this and aren’t taking the comments in earnest, as the majority of reactions to the reviews call them “Funny” rather than “Helpful.”
Calling out the previous reviews as jokes, the most recent review by user TheRealMW shares the opposite opinion, dubbing The Hidden and Unknown as “the worst game ever made” and a “glorified wallpaper simulator.” TheRealMW criticizes the indie title’s poor writing and art, identifying the high price point as a “marketing gimmick.” Concluding their review, the user urges viewers to seek out free games of higher quality instead.
