Parents' Guide to Hello Neighbor

This stealth action game proves that a clever concept isn't nearly enough to provide engaging or immersive play. The fact that there isn't a whole lot going on isn't necessarily an outright dismissal of its gameplay. The main problem with Hello Neighbor is it feels primarily designed for YouTube streamers than for an average player: The controls stick, the neighbor's sneakiness is meant to provoke outlandish streamer reactions for people to comment about online, and even "losing" doesn't matter. That is, in a game hinging entirely on your trying to get into your neighbor's basement, even when your neighbor finds you, all that really happens is a few additional traps are laid. That's it. You get to keep everything in your inventory and you get to try again, immediately. Although the game boasts a formidable artificial intelligence, all this seems to really mean is the neighbor will hang out where he last found you. In other words, you can intentionally be caught somewhere far away from where you intend to enter next time, and get on your merry way.

But doing that isn't exactly desirable. There's only a basic tutorial, so you're thrown in with little sense of how to even make progress at all. It's plausible that impatient players will get no further than the front door and never see confusing and amusing parts of the house like its rollercoaster and water-filled room. But the game is remarkably vague about what its puzzles are, how the controls work, and even the story itself. It feels like a game designed to garner traffic online, one for people to complain and commiserate about -- something that seems absurd, but if your kids like to watch streamers, this will make sense. It might be fun to watch someone else play, but for you to play yourself? Not so much.