I’m picky when it comes to the genre of games I play. My step daughter is turning out just the same as me in that regard. She used to love every video game I threw at her previously, but now she grows bored over most child’s play. She was recently given twenty bucks to choose a game on her Nintendo Switch, and knowing that she’s maturing I chose Hello Neighbor. It’s a survival horror game with a unique concept, but not one that would be completely inappropriate for someone her age to play. Maybe I’m just trying to keep the hobby pertinent as she grows up. Either way, I got the game too, and today I’m here to tell you about our experiences with it.
The premise of Hello Neighbor really hits some notes to anyone who grew up in a suburban neighborhood. You play as a nameless child who rolls his ball just a little too far down the street and witnesses what seems like a murder happening in a neighborhood home. This introduces us to the character known as ‘the neighbor.’ Your initial goal is to gain access to the basement to find out just what is happening down there. Unfortunately our moustache’d antagonist isn’t going to make things so easy for you. Whenever you approach his home he will chase you down relentlessly. You can only escape by running off of his property. At this point he’ll return to what he was doing. One thing’s for sure; he really doesn’t want you to find out what’s going on behind his closed doors.
If there’s one aspect of the game that absolutely succeeds it’s the lore. We’re never given a definitive answer for what is going on with the ever looming antagonist that I’ll just refer to as ‘the neighbor.’ Upon being caught we’re sometimes given short seemingly unrelated sequences that hint to his past. There are also subtle clues strewn about his house. The basement area in particular has a lot to say without outright spelling things out for the player. It wasn’t until the next game was released that we were given significant insight. This is disappointing because I loved the mystery associated with the story here. The lore is absolutely on point and establishes an atmosphere few other games have.
Hello Neighbor is played from a first person perspective. You can see your hands while you’re running. Look down and you’ll see your character’s feet. The controls are pretty traditional with the left digital pad moving your character and the right is used to look or change directions. Your abilities are pretty limited. You can pick up items (many of these have specialized functions) and throw them. Additionally you can open/close doors and jump. That’s about it besides walking and running. The controls are a little clunky and aiming felt like a chore from start to finish. No matter how I adjusted the sensitivity I always was stuck trying to get the cursor just right when trying to interact with an item. I’m not sure if this is an issue with the game on other platforms but here it is.
Just minutes in and one of Hello Neighbor’s biggest faults immediately rears it’s head. It’s just way too vague. There’s nothing nudging you in the direction that you need to go. There’s the house, and that’s it. You know you’re supposed to find something inside of it, because that’s the whole premise behind the game. What that is isn’t properly explained, and unless you’re following a written or video guide it’s gonna be endless trial and error. Without prior knowledge there’s no way you could know to place items in such a way that you can climb into the second floor window, grab a key to unlock the car parked out front, grab the magnet from inside and use that to pull a metallic item through the basement window. It’s crazy just how vague this game is.
Add to this the fact that parkour is a big part of the game. Well, it’s not officially referenced as such nor is it a very good example but that’s what I’m calling it. You’re frequently required to jump gaps on the roof as well as jump out onto exterior pipes and manipulate your way carefully across them. The level of precision required is too much. You’ll have to jump a lot to small ledges. You can’t change your momentum after making a leap. Every jump is a commitment and can undo several minutes of progress. Maybe even more if you get caught by the neighbor because every time that you are you’re sent back to the start of whichever act you’re on. Sure everything is as you left it, but it’s more than a little annoying when it happens after you’ve done some careful platforming.
Avoiding the neighbor is tense and often requires some planning. Our friendly neighborhood antagonist learns from how you play. This was an aspect of the game that was highly advertised upon release. If you enter the house from specific points on a frequent basis he will install cameras and traps. The former alerts you to his presence and he’ll immediately seek you out at this point while the latter merely slows your progress. This system of learning was promised to be highly advanced, but I didn’t think it was. It’s pretty basic honestly, and annoying overall. Thankfully you can destroy the cameras he sets up but it sure makes an already frustrating game moreso.
Hello Neighbor is divided into four different chapters. These are best considered ‘levels’ in the traditional sense. The landscape changes between them in some pretty drastic ways, and they each have different objectives. This adds a sense of progression to the game and basically resets everything. I won’t spoil too much but the game takes place entirely in the same neighborhood. It’s changes to the neighbor’s home that drive the gameplay and narrative. What’s cool is that there are often multiple ways to complete a stage. It’s all about collecting items, and you’ve given some options here. They’re all vague though so you’ll have to read about the game to complete them.
The graphics are a bit of a mixed bag in my opinion. The child-like style the game uses fits the whole ‘kid in a neighborhood’ theme but it feels too much like something Dreamworks would have designed. In other words, it’s unique but not in a good way. The characters look goofy and it can be a little tough to be scared of the neighbor because of his appearance. Items can also be very hard to see if you don’t know what you’re looking for. With that said that game runs pretty well on the Nintendo Switch. There are few hiccups in motion and I really like the pastel look of the environments. The soundtrack is few and far between. There just isn’t a lot of it. A frantic jingle will play when the neighbor is in pursuit, and there are a few old timey tracks that have bizarre notes.
Hello Neighbor had an excellent premise behind it but the developers were perhaps a little clueless as far as designing a game goes. Everything is far too vague, and when you finally figure out what to do Hello Neighbor is marred with imprecise controls. It’s truly an exercise in frustration. This is unfortunate because I absolutely love the atmosphere and lore of this game. It’s not however enough to save the experience. This is one of the few games I recommend using a guide to complete.
