The first Hello Neighbor earned a cult fan following upon its release in the year 2017. In the years since, it has produced numerous sequels, each of which tackles different scenarios for gameplay, like the multiplayer-oriented secret neighbor. After five years, and a number of games, a fully-fledged sequel is now available in the form of Hello Neighbor 2. Despite the hype tinyBuild’s the developer tinyBuild has come through with the goods however, it failed to make a lasting impression when the credits begin to roll.
JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY
The first moments in Hello Neighbor 2 will see you wandering around your dark neighborhood, before you come across The villain of the story, The Neighbor. After a brief introduction cutscene in which you try for escape, you fall into a nearby farm and begin a short instructional which introduces you to its mechanics. You’ll spend the majority of your time solving puzzles while trying to avoid the inhabitants of the neighborhood you live in.
It’s a straightforward concept which combines point-and click adventure games with elements of stealth. This time you’ll have for yourself a whole street with four homes that you must enter to search for clues and piece together the pieces of the puzzle. The main objective is to locate the child missing who you suspect is held in the local museum and each chapter will have you roaming through homes looking for keys that will open more of the museum in the evening hours.
The Metroidvania aspects that are present in Hello Neighbor 2 is where the game shines as you solve each house like a game box. The museum’s return and finding more of its exhibits over an evening will give you a more feeling of progression, indicating an enjoyable gameplay experience. However, even though the tasks and puzzles you participate in are enjoyable, they’re weighed in a plethora of sloppy baggage.
THESE ARE NOT THE DROIDS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR
Of everything in Hello Neighbor 2 The biggest disappointment is the awful AI. Since the game is focused on avoiding these threats and tinyBuild saying that they can learn from players’ actions, the game appears to be terribly scripted. In the game, enemies repeat the same actions until you are able to progress with challenges, and then you relocate to a different location and take a completely new however, repetitive, path within the area.
It gets worse when you’re being snatched up. There’s no tension when you are able to easily leave your home and watch the AI pursues you before going back inside or even being captured and forfeit the things you only found in that home. In the course of the adventure there’s not a feeling of danger and the AI that is easily exploitable is more of an inconvenience rather as opposed to a terrifying menace. The tension goes out the window when you head out down the street only to find the AI not able to move out of the home.
Thankfully, the games themselves are fun enough, since you’ll need to accomplish goals like finding safe codes with children’s construction blocks or working out the right keys on a piano in order to advance. There are no answers that are clear, but they’re not so complicated as to be frustrating. The storytelling in the environment is one of the highlights for the game. Neighbor 2 since it cleverly guides you in the right direction with visual clues. It’s a shame that the AI doesn’t compliment it with a more realistic threat.
WE’VE BEEN BUGGED
In actual fact, Hello Neighbor 2 is full of glitches and bugs that continuously make it difficult to enjoy the game. There were numerous instances in which the AI would sit in your face, and unaware about your existence. If you were to stand in front of the AI’s gaze in certain areas you can easily avoid their attention and sit and wait for them to move on.
In all the glitches The most sour experience was one that occurred just prior to the end of the game. It shouldn’t have been that an issue however the game was unable to save any time and all the progress we had made in single session game the game Hello Neighbor 2 was lost which forced us to restart the game from scratch. If you’re eager to play the game it could be worthwhile to wait for a patch to correct this issue, and then jump back in.
AN EXPENSIVE ADVENTURE
The whole thing is sour even more because of Then there’s Hello Neighbor 2‘s excessive price. At the time of its release the game is priced at PS33.49 (or $39.99 and that isn’t enough to justify the game’s experience. Even with all issues with bugs or AI problems, Hello Neighbor 2 is a 3.5-hour game that offers very limited replayability. The puzzles are solved in a specific way and there’s not much incentive to try different ways within the game.
To add salt to the injury, two more level are locking behind pay DLC that have a cost of PS11.24 or $13.49. In the context of Hello Neighbor 2 already being quite thin, it’s like an insult for those who are attempting to download the game to find that another 50 percent of the game’s levels locked to a second amount of money. It’s almost like a rip-off and an attempt to recover costs by allowing it to join Xbox Game Pass on day one. With files weighing approximately 10MB It’s evident that these files are already included in the game, and are hidden behind an unaffordable paywall.
GOODBYE NEIGHBOR
Although the game’s original version gained many fans, it seems like there’s been no improvement on the previous game, instead focusing on the majority of time making the world seem bigger than it did before. Although that’s not necessarily good however, it seems that more time could have been invested in making things more exciting in addition to constructing the game to create tension for the player.
In the midst of technical problems and price points that make a bad impression on our mouths. It’s difficult to endorse “Hello Neighbor 2 even with the game’s release through Xbox Game Pass. There’s not much suspense, no narrative, and there’s nothing to go back to after having completed your credits if you succeed in getting this far without losing your progress. If you’re looking for a scary experience this Christmas season, you should go elsewhere.
