Hello Neighbor

Hello Neighbor is a stealth horror game developed by Dynamic Pixels, and published by TinyBuild Games. The game's concept is to sneak in the neighbor's house and access and see what's inside the basement. However, the neighbor's AI learns from you and blocks off previous entrances and sets up traps. The game consisted multiple alphas and betas to fix bugs and receive feedback. The game was played by popular youtubers including CoryxKenshin, thus the game become a popular game and franchise for a while on YouTube with many youtubers trying to get in the basement. The game also contained spin-offs, such as Hello Neighbor: Hide and Seek, Secret Neighbor, Hello Engineer and an animated series based on the franchise is also upcoming. A sequel is also planned to release in 2021.

Plot
Nicky Roth, the protagonist, was playing in the neighborhood when suddenly, he hears a scream coming from Mr. Peterson's house, (his neighbor's house). He sneakily investigates only to find the paranoid neighbor imprisoning someone in his basement. Curious, the player must obtain other items and use them to unlock doors and achieve the items needed to access the basement. In the basement, the basement is an underground dungeon full of toys and beds but doesn't find the victim. Mr. Peterson then encounters Nicky, and possibly captures Nicky.

Nicky wakes up in the basement and escapes, only to realize that Mr. Peterson was securing his house and added security methods to prevent Nicky from escaping. The player must complete puzzles again to flee the property. Once escaping, Nicky sprints to his house but Mr. Peterson doesn't attempt to capture him once again.

Years after Act 2, Nicky, now grown as a full adult, receives a letter announcing his eviction from his apartment. Nicky packs up and returns to his previous house in the neighborhood. However, Mr. Peterson's house is completely demolished and nothing but a ruin. If the player visits the house, Nicky encounters a dark shadowy-like creature that blurs Nicky's view. Nicky sleeps on his old couch but is later awaken by the similar scream. Nicky wakes up in a nightmare revealing that Mr. Peterson's house is gigantic, extremely tall, and more complex. Again, the player must complete difficult puzzles and obtain different powers to get in the basement. The player also encounters the dark shadowy-like creature from the beginning of the act, the player needs the invincibility power to hide from it. The player also needs the push-back power where if the player gets caught by Mr. Peterson, the player pushes Mr. Peterson, stuns him, and escape.

After encountering Mr. Peterson and escaping, the player goes on to Act 4/Finale. The Finale seems to be a boss fight but with puzzles. We see the giant neighbor with a house on his back. The player must damage and weaken the neighbor to get inside the house. If the player gets in, the player will see his younger self trying to hide from the dark shadowy-like creature. The player must protect the child but gets bigger and bigger every time the dark shadowy-like creature attacks. If the player fails to protect the child, the dark shadowy-like creature will attack the child and the puzzle will restart. After defeating the dark shadowy-like creature, the player is teleported to the white dimension. The house on the giant neighbor's back is now on the ground and the player can look what's inside. In there, Mr. Peterson imprisons the dark shadowy-like creature in another room. The dark-shadowy like creature is seen trapped inside and down. The player can also walk up to the exit door and finish the game. The ending is that Nicky wakes up from the nightmare (Act 3 & 4) and starts transporting in the boxes from his car. The game ends there and the credits roll.

Gameplay
Like said on the Steam Page, the neighbor's AI gets more advanced each time the player is caught. The neighbor uses beartraps, security cameras, locks doors, and implements unique tactics to repel the player from getting in the basement. But, even with a Very Positive rating on Steam, Hello Neighbor contains bugs and glitches. Such as, if the neighbor throws a glue or tomato at the player from a high distance, the player is launched to the sky. The neighbor constantly gets stuck in walls, the physics are weird and quirky, the player can die if he/she runs too fast while on top of boxes or trash cans, and more. If the player dies too often, the player is teleported to what seems to be a flashback from the neighbor. The flashbacks include the neighbor crashing his car with his wife, the neighbor at the hospital after the accident, and the neighbor apparently burying his wife. The player can also hide in closets, throw objects at the neighbor to stun him, set up beartraps to trap him, destroy security cameras, and break windows to distract him. If the player is caught or dies, the player is teleported back to Nicky's house and will attempt to break in the neighbor's house again. If the player struggles to get in the basement, the player can turn on "Friendly Mode". If turned on, the neighbor will from setting traps and less aggressive while chasing. The player has a white dot as a crosshair, and must be pointed to items to interact/grab. The player has 4 inventory slots. No matter the size, the player can grab any item as long as the player's inventory has 1 slot open. The items are also unstackable. The neighbor can also watch TV, take a bath, contemplate about his wife's death, exercise, sleep, checking his house's property, or even stand in the middle of the road. Outside of the map, the player can obtain achievements, find Easter eggs, and explore the city. The player can also get a rifle that shoots toy bullets to either stun the neighbor or break windows. The rifle is obtainable by finding 4 mannequins and 4 slices of cake hidden in the map. The player can also find Easter eggs dedicated to notable youtubers who played all the alphas and betas.

Trivia

 * The third episode of Hello Neighbor was the first video Cory recorded after he hit the 1 million subscribers milestone.


 * The twelfth episode of Hello Neighbor contained the first jump scare of 2018 that scared Cory.