REVIEW: ‘Hello Neighbor 2’ Is Extremely Unpolished (PS5)

Hello Neighbor was released in 2017 and received a reasonably good response from players mainly due to the AI, which learns the player’s habits. Nevertheless, the game was fraught with bugs, wonky physics, and sometimes nonsensical puzzles. Unfortunately, Hello Neighbor 2 follows in its predecessor’s footsteps.

Published by tinyBuild and developed by Eerie Guest and tinyBuild, Hello Neighbor 2 is a stealth horror game that brings players back to Raven Brooks but, this time, you’re an investigative journalist looking to uncover the secrets of this town and the missing people. To do so, you’ll break into each of your neighbor’s homes and look for secrets by solving puzzles and avoiding their grasp.

Hello Neighbor 2 has an interesting premise—a journalist looking into the events surrounding the first game. And the levels have a lot of potential. Instead of just one house to explore, you get five. The puzzles are varied and much more approachable than the first game. However, they’re a bit too straightforward, not really requiring much thinking outside the box. The most challenging puzzle may be finding where the puzzles begin.

Hello Neighbor 2 has a very basic tutorial system that teaches you what buttons to push to interact with things and how to jump and crouch. But outside of that, it doesn’t teach you much about the AI. What will attract attention? What makes noise? How do they respond to certain stimuli? It’s a lot of trial and error, but it’s completely manageable without more hand-holding than what the game already offers.

In theory, the stealth aspect of the game is well-done. You’ll want to sneak around your neighbors because if you enter their line of sight, they’ll rush after you. If they catch you, they’ll not only kick you out of their house, but if you’re holding any critical items needed for puzzle-solving, those will reset, and you’ll have to grab them again. There are a few places to hide if you need to—dressers or under tables. And you’ll want to watch where you step because environmental hazards like broken glass or creaky floorboards will alert your neighbors when stepped on. Unfortunately, while all this sounds like the makings of a well-working stealth game, Hello Neighbor 2 will let you down.

I found the AI to be much more obtuse than expected. All the mechanics are there, but nothing stops you from just sprinting full tilt through the hallways and around the AI. You’re faster than your neighbors, and they lose sight of you fairly easily, especially if you jump on top of something. There’s been one too many times that the AI had me cornered but did nothing; it just waited for me to start running again. There were also plenty of times when the AI became bugged, and I could just meander around without harassment.

And the character movement can be fairly frustrating. Estimating the distance for jumps and what objects will allow you to grapple onto is difficult. And since there are quite a few jumping puzzles, these sections quickly became infuriating. The physics of objects is pretty non-existent. Items bounce around the room, objects clip through each other, and the player can see through walls and doors.

The storyline is fairly nonsensical. Going into it, the premise was alluring. But how it played out ended up being incredibly confusing. The reveal of what your neighbors are up to felt either anticlimactic or struggled to fit into the overall tale. With the ending being loose-ended, the game made me feel like I wasted a lot of time because there was no reward.

There are also three DLCs available currently. First, the “Hello-copter” allows players to use a remote-controlled flying drone equipped with a grappling hook and camera. While this addition is definitely fun and a spin on the classic gameplay, it isn’t particularly useful when the game is already as easy as it is.

The last two DLCs, “Late Fees” and “Back to School,” are new areas to explore—a library and a school. These levels are visually interesting and have some puzzles I particularly enjoyed. But they are possibly more unpolished than the base game with visual bugs, no save points, and even less direction than the base game. What are you doing in a library or school? I couldn’t tell you, and neither can these DLCs. The lack of save points is even more damming because if the game crashes, you have to start over from square one. And I guarantee the game will crash on you.

I could see the vision of Hello Neighbor 2. The premise was promising, and the puzzles offered some fun, but the game is very unpolished. Between the frequent crashes, visual and AI bugs, and no reason to sneak around whatsoever, I really can’t recommend this game as it currently stands, even if you are a fan of this series.

Hello Neighbor 2 is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.