tinyBuild’s stealth survival horror Hello Neighbor has been a hot commodity ever since it debuted on Steam Early Access late last year. Originally it looked like the game would only be getting a digital release, but tinyBuild and Gearbox Publishing recently announced that it would be coming to retail shelves as well.
Hello Neighbor’s premise is a simple, but an interesting one. Find out what your mischievous neighbor is hiding in his cellar. The catch is that while solving puzzles in the Neighbor’s house, players must proactively avoid getting caught by the owner as well.
Players are given four inventory slots as a means of collecting items to aid them, whether they distract the Neighbor or serve a purpose in a puzzle. Your adversary has plenty of toys of his own to keep you from his secrets, from video cameras to doors blocking doorways.
But these traps and tricks won’t be the same every time, instead they will adapt based on how you play. All of that is thanks to the game’s artificial intelligence, a feature that will modify the neighbor’s behavior based on the player’s past actions, such as setting traps along paths the player followed in a previous attempt.
Since it’s Pre-Alpha release last year, Hello Neighbor has featured a number of different iterations and updates, each giving a glimpse into what’s to come later this year. The five Alphas and one Beta introduced more floors to the Neighbor’s house, weapons to stun him, and plenty of unique puzzles. Each one ends with getting caught right before finding out what is in the basement.
There is no telling how the game will be structured when it releases on PC and Xbox One December 8th, 2017, but logic dictates that Hello Neighbor have unique levels, similar to how the Alphas and Beta had unique changes.
Be sure to check back to the site for our official review later this Winter season.
