Hello Neighbor 2

Game review by Chad Sapieha, Common Sense Media
Hello Neighbor box art.

Common Sense says

age 10+

Short family friendly mystery/puzzle game has mild scares.

Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Windows 2022
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Parents say

age 12+

Based on 1 review

Kids say

age 8+

Based on 3 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this game.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Hello Neighbor 2 is a stealth puzzle game for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs. It's a sequel to 2017's Hello Neighbor. After seeing a kid being pulled into a house by a dodgy looking fellow, a reporter (the player's character) snoops around a neighborhood full of suspicious people in an attempt to uncover any secrets they may be hiding. Play involves exploration, stealth, and puzzle solving. The reporter may be chased by neighborhood residents, who use items like a cartoonish blunderbus and a shovel to try to knock him out. No one dies or is seriously injured, and the screen simply fades to black if the reporter is caught. There's no profanity, no use of drugs or alcohol, and no sexual content. Most of the main characters are middle-aged white men, plus a white woman and a Black man are shown in the neighborhood.

Community Reviews

ronald R.
ronald R. Adult
December 26, 2022
age 12+

For a $40 game, this could have done better

I played this game and I hoped it would not be as glitchy and broken as Hello Neighbor 1. I was wrong. So many glitches, the game is short, and it is not worth $40. For the sake of your money, spend it on something else, not this horrible game.

This title has:

Easy to play/use
Too much violence
Too much consumerism
See all 1 parent review

What’s It About?

HELLO NEIGHBOR 2 drops players into the shoes of Quentin, a gumshoe reporter who witnesses a suspicious looking fellow dragging a scared kid into a house. After narrowly escaping, the reporter wants to find out more. He begins snooping around the neighborhood only to discover that there's more than one dubious character living there, and they all have secrets of their own that might help further his investigation. Players need to be observant, looking for anything in the environment with which they might be able to interact, such as a glass display case that could be smashed with something heavy or a secret wall that you can slide sideways to reveal a hidden compartment. Individual puzzles are essentially mini-mysteries that take players a step closer to solving bigger riddles by rewarding them with tools, keys, and codes. As you prowl about, you'll need to be sneaky in order to avoid being spotted and nabbed by one of the neighborhood's dodgy folks. As the game progresses, your adversaries will adjust their behavior in an attempt to keep you from getting away with the same tricks.

Is It Any Good?

There's probably a fun little game somewhere here, but it's hard to find under the clutter of bugs. Hello Neighbor 2's distinctive visual design gives it the feel of an interactive CGI cartoon, complete with stylized characters with physical attributes that help define their personalities. This graphical flare extends to the environment, which is filled with interesting objects and details that will catch your attention -- handy, since it helps players discover key items integral to solving puzzles. And the puzzles, while generally pretty simple, are nonetheless fun to figure out, mostly because the solutions tend to involve both observing stuff around you and logically working out how that stuff might be manipulated to your advantage.

It's when the neighbors show up that things start to go sideways. Their movements aren't just hard to predict, they're often downright nonsensical. They unrealistically linger where no one would, get into strange looping behaviors, and generally don't seem to act like real people. Indeed, players could be forgiven for thinking that the real root of the game's mystery is that everyone in this neighborhood is an alien or a robot. Making matters worse, you can expect to encounter a variety of more familiar bugs, from glitchy gamepad controls to getting trapped in a room and being forced to reload from your most recent autosave. Hello Neighbor 2 could have been moderately entertaining had it spent a little more time in the oven, but it needs some hefty patching in order to earn a proper recommendation.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about screen time. Hello Neighbor 2 isn't a very long game, but if games were shorter, would you play less or replay the same games more?

  • What precautions do you take when playing outside? What's an example of something you might see that would make you suspicious and more careful?

Game Details

Our Editors Recommend

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