Hello Neighbor

Hello Neighbor is one of the most famous survival games of the 2010s. Released by tinyBuild, it’s become popular even before the original release, as its early versions promised a long, irrational quest with the strangest logic. You can now download Hello Neighbor along with its addon Secret Neighbor and sequel Hide and Seek, but the origin remains the most thrilling.

Storyline

In Hello Neighbor, you start playing as a little boy who suddenly sees something strange and terrible going on in the neighbor’s house from the outside. Since that, he tries to get inside, spying and tracking the neighbor.

To discover the mystery, you need to get inside, complete a set of quests, and avoid getting caught. There are places to hide when the neighbor approaches, but they are rare. Instead, the house places multiple items you need to use as tools. You have four slots in your inventory, and this should be enough.

There is an AI in the game that learns from its mistakes. Each time you try a way in, the AI encounters it at the next launch, so you should expect traps if you follow the same path. Luckily, the neighbor’s traps aren’t infinite.

The developers’ fantasy is unchained. There is a tragic background to the neighbor’s story, and investigating it is just as thrilling as the gameplay itself. It inspires many players’ theories, fan art, and even fanfiction.

Graphics and Sound

Probably that’s the weakest thing about the game. The designers tried to make it all looked like a kid’s nightmare, through the eye of the young protagonists. So the drawing is intendedly rough, though accurate when it comes to details that matter, like key objects. Even the buttons are not round, like in most games, but irregular-shaped. There is no obsession with realism: the neighbor is grotesque even before he… Oops, almost spoiled.

Maybe that’s the reason why critics aren’t as fond of the game as players are. To enjoy the game, one has to look behind the visuals and see how it reflects the irreal nightmare in the kid’s head when everything is big, unfamiliar, and terrifying yet exciting. Isn’t it the feeling many players reminisced while playing first?

Controls

Hello Neighbor is a first-person view game, with the default set of controls. A virtual joystick under the left thumb is something we have used a thousand times, as well as virtual buttons and camera moving area. After all, the game is released under most current platforms, and controls should be as unified as possible.

Android users have had lots of compatible controllers for a long time, even before Xiaomi Black Shark and Asus ROG. As for iOS users, they can enjoy their Xbox One or PS4 controllers with iOS 13 or tvOS 13. This makes the mobile experience even closer to console feel if you appreciate that.