I'm a incredibly patient guy, and I am very understanding and open to new kinds of gameplay. But in my opinion every kind of gameplay needs two important things: consistency and logic. You can't just randomly decide that this mountain you can walk under just because you decide it to. There's nothing clever about it, there's no satisfaction with finding it because there's nothing to piece it together to make a "aha!" moment that should come with these types of quests. A Tribute to Yeto's Quest was great because there was consistency and logic behind it. Every mountain you could walk under even if there was no puzzle to be solved. It favoured consistency then just changing things for the sake of a cryptic solution nobody would guess their first time for the sake of people not guessing for the first time.

It doesn't stop with mountains, the rafting just felt unfun and just mashing buttons until I find progress. Also rafting in the dark... why? Not to mention it just feels weird landing and walking on water for the raft to work. The raft is too finicky of an item for what you're trying to do here.

Past that, this quest seems to be unpolished, I got stuck here and there and the layers sometimes didn't feel properly set up. I confess I didn't finish this, so my rating will be more fairer which is more precisely a 2.50/5. Your quest does have some neat ideas, and I see potential in this... "Yeto" genre, but I think Tribute quest was the only time it felt utilized properly (with some issues here and there). I think a lot of people including myself do "get" this genre despite what some may think, but I don't agree with the execution. Just because you have a invisible wall or bombable wall unmarked doesn't mean your quest is full of good secrets. In my opinion Z1 set the bar of how cryptic a quest should get, it seems people want to go beyond that point by making ridiculous secrets instead of clever ones. There's logic behind good secrets, you just need to look carefully at the bigger picture to see it.

Don't give up, I think Island of Yeto was on the right track with this being above Yeto's Quest. I think you need to properly look into the Tribute Quest to see what I mean about the consistency and logic. How the mountains are set up in Tribute Quest is a perfect example of what I mean, try walking under every mountain. It does not change how it works for the sake of a solution. Your small compact quests would be perfect for this type of gameplay.

If you love the obtuse, confusing gameplay of the original Yeto's quest or Island of Yeto, Hide and Seek is very much in the same spirit.

H&S has a number of improvements over the other two Yeto quests and is undoubtedly more refined than the first, but significantly smaller than the second. The quest description is correct to say that this quest does not hold the player's hand and gives little-no indication of what one is supposed to do at any given instant. In that fashion, the quest is indeed very open-ended and there are a number of ways to advance, find items to make things easier, or find ways to make the quest legitimately more difficult. Difficulty is pretty moderate in terms of combat, but of course, the real challenge of H&S is how to navigate, go anywhere from the starting screens, and advance further in the first place.

In terms of just figuring out what to do, H&S is moderately difficult and definitely not for the impatient or easily frustrated. Even if you are patient and thorough, progress can be very elusive at times. You must think out of the box and be prepared to try unusual things on every screen. Often times you will need to try things you might never think of: like bombing walls that have no cracks, finding a way to access isolated rooms from adjacent floors, or traveling through false walls that have little-no indication of being false walls. If you have played any of the other Yeto quests, or even the Tribute to Yeto's Quest, these dynamics and strategies should be familiar.

A little spoiler:

This is a great adventurous quest to be a mini quest. I have the hookshot, ladder and raft but no flippers to swim. I'm assuming I need the big candle to get any further. I'm having issues getting that candle without the flippers. It's taking me more than 5 hours to figure this quest out.