Title: Hello Neighbor
Developer: Dynamic Pixels
Publisher: tinyBuild
Released: December 8, 2017
Platforms Available: PC Game, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, iOS Game, Android Game
Platform Reviewed: PlayStation 4
Article Reading Time: 8 minutes
After Little Nightmares, I rethought my opinion about horror hopping and puzzle games in which the main character escapes from psychopathic enemies. In this genre, the game has to be flawlessly crafted and have a dense atmosphere. Otherwise, by its very nature, it has nothing to offer. Hello Neighbor’s graphical styling is so attractive that it could be another excellent addition to the genre’s roster.
First Steps into Hello Neighbor
It starts innocently enough. The protagonist is a little boy who trips over a ball to his neighbors on a crowded street. All this while strange noises emanate from the Neighbor’s house. Curiosity gets the better of him, so he tries to peek inside. Something is going on, and all roads clearly lead to the basement. That’s when the mustachioed Neighbor shows up and kicks you off the property. The three-act game of trespassing begins.
The Whimsy and Woes of Visuals and Sound
Hello Neighbor’s graphics and sound design attempt to set a whimsical yet eerie tone reminiscent of a child’s distorted nightmare. The game leverages a bright, cartoonish art style that contrasts sharply with the sinister undertones of the gameplay. This visual approach, combined with the ambient sounds and sudden audio cues, is meant to amplify the tension. However, the effectiveness of these elements varies, with some players finding them immersive and others feeling they detract from the overall experience.
From Playful Puzzles to Frustrating Failures
It’s pretty amusing that the authors decided to split the already relatively small game into three even smaller units, which are still about the same thing: getting into the cellar. Starting from the first act, which still seems somewhat believable, the play falls into a powerful abstraction and unremitting frustration in the following ones. The Neighbor’s house is growing, complicating the player’s path to the basement. Since there is nothing in the game to navigate by in any substantial way (other than one’s own memory), the biggest problem becomes returning to where you came from after solving the (not very) logical puzzles.
Intelligent Antagonism or Erratic Engagement?
One significant challenge in Hello Neighbor is the erratic behavior of the AI. While the developers boast about the Neighbor’s intelligence, which is capable of setting traps based on your previous actions, this often results in gameplay that could be more manageable. Players have reported that the Neighbor’s AI can be overly aggressive and oddly oblivious, leading to inconsistent and sometimes frustrating encounters. This inconsistency, combined with the game’s technical issues like bugs and unresponsive controls, can make the gameplay experience feel more like a chore than a thrilling challenge.
I found the paths to the end of the act unintuitive, to say the least, and even resorted to internet help to preserve the rest of my sanity as the time spent on the mind-numbingly stupid puzzles became unbearable. I say this not just because of my own ineptitude but also because of the bugginess. When you have an aggressive neighbor breathing down your neck, and you can’t pull a lever or turn a tap despite frantic pounding on the remote, it’s infuriating.
Neighbor Triggered on Higher Difficulties
Yet escaping from your Neighbor is the most crucial thing in this horror game. The creators have boasted about how intelligent the Neighbor is and how he can react to your behavior with traps and snares to complicate your path to your desired destination. Only part of this is true. The Neighbor likes to be actively involved in the action on higher difficulties. While the player can’t develop any meaningful insight into how the Neighbor operates, he is fine in your case. The chances of mapping his movements are thus close to zero, and you’ll probably get caught out when trying to stage how he moves. If this happens, the Neighbor will learn from his mistakes and your behavior and adapt. There’s nothing worse than a bear trap that foils an otherwise flawless plan. The game returns to the beginning of the level the moment the poor kid is captured by the Neighbor, and you’re off again.
Unfortunately, The silly thing is that the Neighbor often creates stalemates by actively engaging in the game. In fact, if he’s going to bypass your respawn point, and the player won’t even be able to get further into the level, this is an absolutely fundamental design flaw, in my opinion. It’s frustrating and, more importantly, makes it impossible to play. Another interesting feature is the strange interludes that can occur when starting a new act or when the game restarts after an unfortunate capture by a neighbor. The interludes look like normal levels, only smaller. While they again feel original, they are just as absurd as the rest of the game.
The Neighbor behaves completely erratically throughout the game. While cupboards are scattered around the premises to hide in and wait out the hot moments ahead of time, they’re rarely of any real help. Yet it would take so little to make Hello Neighbor a fun game that rewards players for patience, skill, and planning.
The Promise and Pitfalls of Hello Neighbor
Whenever I write a review of a not-so-good game, I feel terrible for doing the developers wrong. They went into trouble to make something nice. Even with repeated playthroughs and gleaned knowledge, I can’t find an overriding positive about the game. That is, aside from the rather nice stylization, which invited a much more expansive game in a sufficiently varied environment. Like Little Nightmares, it would have benefited from smarter level design, even at the cost of the absence of puzzles, the solutions to which are sometimes almost silly. In fact, if we had just taken the original concept and put it into a scripted world where a little boy is trying to uncover the big secret, it might have turned out a lot better. It’s not for nothing that they say there’s power in simplicity.
So my verdict is that in an appealing package with an interesting concept of the whole work, there is, unfortunately, just a good dose of frustration and a poorly made game. Unfortunately, for a good horror adventure game, you have to look further. Or do developers fix the problems in the sequel Hello Neighbor 2?
Where to Buy Hello Neighbor Game
- Steam (PC): Available on Steam for $29.99. The game on Steam offers features like single-player mode, Steam Achievements, and Steam Trading Cards. You can find more details and purchase the game here on Steam.
- Epic Games Store (PC): Also priced at $29.99 on the Epic Games Store, where you can earn rewards and potentially get a refund if you’re not satisfied. Explore purchasing options on the Epic Games Store.
- Xbox: “Hello Neighbor” costs $29.99 on the Xbox platform and features 4K Ultra HD and Xbox Play Anywhere. Check it out here on Xbox.
- PlayStation Store (PS4): It also retails for $29.99 on PlayStation, with a bundle version available at a higher price. Visit the PlayStation Store to purchase or learn more.
