Hello Neighbor Demo

Stealth games rely on good gameplay mechanics to provide the players with an enjoyable experience, because there’s usually not a lot of direct action involved. Somehow, sneaking around enemies instead of brutally murdering them is even more suspenseful, at least if the game is done right. There are many great stealth series out there, but new ideas can always change things around a little bit.

Hello Neighbor is a very interesting upcoming game that puts you in the role of character trying to go inside his neighbor’s house in order to uncover what he is hiding in his basement. The entire goal of the gameplay is to get past the neighbor unnoticed, but there are many variables to take into account, so the action does not get boring or repetitive as quickly as you might imagine.

To begin with, the AI learns from your moves, so it’s important to change things around if you fail the first couple of times. Going through the back window might be good solution at first, but the neighbor will set traps there if he discovers you. He also chases you down after he uncovers you, so a quick escape route is mandatory as well, at least if you want to keep on trying.

There are some horror elements in there as well, but don’t expect childish jump scares or anything of the sort. Instead, it’s more about the suspense than actual fear, since you are always looking over your shoulder to see if you have been spotted. There’s the basement itself that keeps you on edge, since there’s no knowing what might be hidden down there.

As far as the graphics are concerned, they are actually very refined and detailed, especially in terms of object quality and the multitude of environmental items that decorate the neighborhood. Since this is Unreal Engine 4, you can expect great lighting effects and a lot of gorgeous post-processing, but you can tell that the designers have put some soul into the actual textures as well.

In the end, Hello Neighbor proves once more that a simple little idea is all that it takes to cause a lot of anticipation, especially if it’s done right. Hence, we can only hope that the full version is going to be just as exciting as the demo at hand.