Hello Neighbor Review (Nintendo Switch)

written by Matthew Wilder

Game Details:

• Release Date: 12/8/17 (Xbox One/PC), 7/26/2018 (PS4, Switch, Mobile)
• Publisher: Tiny Build
• Developer: Dynamic Pixels
• Genre: Survival Horror, Stealth
• Cost: $39.99 (Switch), $29.99 (Xbox One/PS4/PC), $14.99 (Mobile)

   

     When Hello Neighbor entered the alpha phase back in 2016 YouTubers latched on to the unique premise and quirky art style making it a hit among the "Let's Play" crowd.  Fast-forward two years and the game has finally been released on every major platform, including mobile and the Nintendo Switch.  Although the game has a few strong qualities, they fail to redeem the game's unfinished and confusing nature, making Hello Neighbor one of the most disappointing games I have played in recent memory.

Story & Concepts: 6

     Hello Neighbor centers around your character stumbling upon the "Neighbor" and his labyrinthine home, only to find what seem to be morbid secrets hidden within.  Without spoiling the story, which is actually a strong point for the game, your toils with the Neighbor ramp up quite dramatically as you fight to escape his grasp through the three acts and finale.  The narrative is mostly passive in nature and feels tacked on to the central game-play, but ends up evolving into a heartwarming, if not slightly twisted, tale of a man with a past full of skeletons.  Don't expect AAA-level drama, but Hello Neighbor might just surprise you with how heavy handed its overarching themes are.  It's just disappointing that Dynamic Pixels didn't lean into these story elements further.

Gameplay & Controls: 3

     This is unfortunately when the game becomes rather muddy in its execution.  Hello Neighbor advertises itself as a "stealth-horror-puzzle" game and, in the most disappointing of fashions, it mostly fails to succeed in fulfilling this promise.  Your main goal is to infiltrate the Neighbor's home, but after entering, your objective is incredibly vague.  Tracking down exactly what you're supposed to be doing is infuriatingly difficult to the point where you're forced to look up a detailed guide to figure out your arbitrary task.  This is particularly true in Act 3 where, in one instance, you're forced to gain access to a roof by stopping a train car in an annoyingly particular spot.  After stopping the car, you must stack two boxes on top of each other to reach a pipe above your position. Then finally jump  onto the train car to reach the roof and unlock a ladder that will allow easy access to the top of the building.  All of this I figured out by tireless trial-and-error to the point where the game was no longer fun.  The repetitive puzzle-solving is made worse by the horrendous platforming controls.  Between the overly-twitchy thumbsticks to the moon-like physics, it's nearly impossible to accurately jump, drop or balance on any surface.

     The main appeal of the game, The Neighbor himself, is the most disappointing aspect of the game.  Your nameless antagonist throughout Hello Neighbor's campaign is largely relegated to an annoying roadblock rather than a true villain.  While you're trying to figure out the nonsensical puzzles, The Neighbor will patrol the yard and the interior of the house.  He is mostly docile in nature and, at times, fails to notice your character even when in his line of sight.  The only action that seems to draw his immediate attention is the breaking of windows.  If he ends up finding you while you're exploring, a chase will ensue.  While chasing you, The Neighbor will throw tomatoes and glue at your character in order to impede your vision and slow you down.  If you're able to escape The Neighbor by outrunning him, he will simply go back to patrolling or sleeping, acting like the incident never happened.  Shockingly, you can also escape him by simply crossing the street, which results in The Neighbor stopping in his tracks, shaking his head at you, then going back to walking aimlessly around the house.

     If you're unlucky enough to get captured by him, however, you're punished in the most anti-climactic ways possible.  You're merely slapped on the wrist with being teleported to the other side of the street, meaning all of your items in your inventory remain and most, if not all, of your doings within the house will remain the same.  The only drawback, which is incredibly minor, is The Neighbor will set up bear traps, put chairs in front of doors, and board up windows, which can be a nuisance if trying to navigate the house while being pursued.  The traps are usually placed where he found you within the house and The Neighbor will more than likely patrol the same area in an attempt to foil future attempts.  If you do find yourself being overly-annoyed or simply want a more relaxed experience, you can turn on the "Friendly Neighbor" mode.  This dulls The Neighbor's senses and disables him from placing traps throughout the mansion.  It also makes him significantly slower when he is in pursuit, making it easier to escape his clutches if he latches on to your position.

Graphics & Performance: 4

     Having previously dabbled in the Xbox Once and Playstation 4 versions of the game, I went in expecting the performance to be a step down considering the Switch is at a disadvantage in the horsepower department.  What I was greeted with was jagged edges, consistent texture pop-in and a framerate that is anything but consistent.  Any effort that went into making the art style unique and vibrant is wasted due to these flaws.  Whether in handheld mode or docked, Hello Neighbor is not a pretty sight when it comes to appearance.  All of these drawbacks are disappointing to see considering just how unique Hello Neighbor's art style can be.  It's a mix of Dr. Seuss and a Pixar project that can, at times, look rather appealing if you don't look too close at the details.  On a more utilitarian note, the menus and UI operate smooth but are nothing special, offering little-to-no options in the realm of customizing your experience.

     I did, however, encounter several glitches and crashes that impeded my progress significantly.  There were instances where the game simply locked up on a frame and I had to exit the software and restart the game, which was made all the more frustrating when it fell between save points.  Another, more infuriating, scenario I encountered was the disappearance of crucial items from my inventory.  In a particular moment, while escaping The Neighbor who had discovered me, the frame rate fell to single digits and the game hitched.  When the game finally caught up to the action, a key that I was holding at the time of the incident had disappeared from my character's hand.  The HUD showed that the key was in my inventory, but upon trying to use the item with its corresponding lock, it did not register that I was holding the item.  In this case, among many other occurrences, I had to restart the act from the beginning.  There are several other instances I encountered where items became stuck in walls and floors, or being stretched between two surfaces rendering the item unobtainable.  These inconsistencies can really stifle your rhythm when trying to decipher the more difficult puzzles.

     Along with the annoying glitches, Hello Neighbor is simply too dim in the lighting department.  During the daytime cycles, the visuals are great and allow you to see clearly what it is you're doing.  However, when the level begins the nighttime cycle, your vision is unfairly impaired.  This can be alleviated by acquiring a flashlight, but finding it is a challenge in the darkness.  Stumbling around a house with next-to-zero visibility is devoid of fun and challenge, and it feels imbalanced considering you're at a massive disadvantage compared to The Neighbor.  If you do happen to find a flashlight, however, the cone of vision it provides is relatively small.  And if you need to pull out another item from your inventory the game will either turn off your flashlight or mercifully keep it on depending on whether or not the game decides to be nice.  On top of all, there is not a single setting within the game to turn up the brightness or change the visual characteristics of the game.  Turning up the brightness on your Switch console doesn't help either, which leaves you completely helpless to eliminate these issues

Sound, Voice & Score: 3.5

     There isn't much to say about the way Hello Neighbor sounds because the game is mostly silent.  What little I observed from the sparse soundscape is not particularly good either.  Environmental sounds are inconsistent both in tone and whether or not they make a sound at all.  There are times when shattering glass will be completely silent going against all logic.  Other times the simple act of placing a cardboard box on the ground can be deafening in tone.

     In terms of the voice acting, the game is minimalist in the most literal sense of the word.  I can't recall but a single time that an actual word is spoken, as most of the dialogue is grunts, sighs and yelps from The Neighbor.  It must have been tight on the budget as well, as a few later performances are laughably bad, especially in the finale of the game.  It becomes clear over time that it may have been a better choice to omit any sort of voice work altogether.

     The music of Hello Neighbor is hit-or-miss.  On occasion, in the story-driven parts of the game, the guitar-lead melodies are eerily soothing.  Other times it's a mixed bag.  The particular instance that comes to mind is when you're being chased by The Neighbor.  During this sequence, you're fed a three or four note loop that is embarrassingly short, as the musical run will abruptly end a dozen or so moments later, only to restart after a few seconds of silence.  This leads to moments where you think The Neighbor has given up on chasing you, as you're relying on the music to indicate whether or not he's still in pursuit.  Upon turning around you find he's hot on your tail and, in most cases, too close to escape. 

Length & Replay Value: 3

     The length of Hello Neighbor is a hard aspect to quantify.  On one hand, it could be a 5-7 hour experience with searching for clues, escaping The Neighbor and figuring out what your objective is.  On the other hand, if you know what you're doing, Hello Neighbor can be finished in under two hours and you won't feel like you're missing anything.  The reason for this is simple in the fact that there aren't any collectibles or incentives to really take your time exploring within the game.  Your objective is simply to finish the game in the most no-nonsense kind of way.  And since there isn't a "New Game +" option or variations in difficulty, there's no real way for the game to bait you into giving it another play-through.  So with a price tag topping out at $39.99 on the Nintendo Switch, this is a hard sell to those looking for the best bang for your buck.  With no DLC on the way as of this review, it seems as if the developers don't plan to expand the game in any meaningful way either.

Wrap-Up & Final Score:

     This was a tough game to review.  Going in I expected there to be quirks and a few misses, so I wasn't prepared for Hello Neighbor to be a perfect experience considering it started out in early access.  What I didn't expect, however, was to witness a game with such a promising premise and design to fall flat on it's face at nearly every turn.  Not even the somewhat compelling narrative could save the abysmal controls, poor AI and nonsensical puzzles from ruining the experience along the way.  By the time the credits roll on Hello Neighbor, you'll be wondering if it was worth not only the monetary value, but the time you spent nearly tossing your controller because you fell to your death dealing with the physics from a nightmarish world.  If you're set on playing Hello Neighbor, I won't stop you, but you should be warned that the reward of completion is not worth the taxing journey.