Hello Neighbor
New
- Genre Puzzle games
- Players 1
- Session 9 min
- Price Free
- Updated
A stealth puzzle game about breaking into one house, and its distinguishing feature is that the occupant learns. Use the same window twice and he will have boarded it; take the same route through the ground floor and he will be waiting near it — so the game is a negotiation with an opponent who is building a model of your behaviour. That makes repetition part of the design rather than a consequence of failure. Each attempt teaches you the house and teaches him your habits, and the correct approach is to vary deliberately rather than to optimise a single route. The puzzle chain towards the basement is genuinely obtuse in places, which is the most divisive thing about it, but the adaptive pursuit is a real idea executed properly and there is very little else in this genre that does it. The house itself is the other half of the design. It is far larger than it looks from outside, full of routes that connect in non-obvious ways, and learning its geography is what eventually lets you stop relying on any single plan.
| WASD | Move |
|---|---|
| Mouse | Look and interact |
| E | Pick up and use |
| Shift | Run |
| Space | Jump |
| Q | Throw a held object |
How to play Hello Neighbor
- Vary your entry route deliberately; reusing one is how he catches you.
- Watch his patrol from outside before entering.
- Throw objects to create noise elsewhere rather than sneaking past him directly.
- Note what he boards up, because it tells you what he thinks you will do.
- Treat each ejection as information about both the house and his model of you.
Tips
- Being predictable is more dangerous than being slow.
- The puzzle chain is obtuse; experimenting with objects is expected rather than optional.
- Upper floors are safer to explore while he is patrolling the ground floor, which he does at predictable times early on.
Questions about Hello Neighbor
Does the opponent really learn?
Yes, he adapts to routes you reuse and sets traps accordingly.
Is it horror?
Tense stealth rather than scare-driven horror.
What is the goal?
Reaching the basement and finding out what is there.
Is the puzzle chain difficult?
Yes, and deliberately obscure in places.
Does it need a keyboard?
Yes.
Does it need installing?
No, it runs in the browser.
Is repetition expected?
Yes, it is part of the design.
Is the house large?
Considerably larger than it appears, with routes that connect unexpectedly.
