I'm not blaming you specifically for this, just so we're clear. But abandoning ship because, at this point in the story, it just happens to be more convenient, is lazy and insulting. Spielberg is Spielberg and Lynch is Lynch. Second, there's a viscerally annoying sense of smug self-satisfaction about resorting to "surrealism" as a cop-out because the implicit defense is that it's too clever for you, that wanting resolution in a story is for dumb babies, and those mouth-breathing troglodytes need everything spoon-fed to them. This is like if the final season of Game of Thrones ignored the invasion of the White Walkers in favor of a dream sequence and patted itself on the back for how "bold" and "daring" it was. But there's a difference between the mysteries of, say, Silent Hill 2, which would be ruined with a clear-cut ending, and abruptly ramming it into an otherwise conventional narrative because you don't feel like writing an ending. Ambiguity is fine when it's earned and is organically woven into the story. First, it's very, very blatant pandering to the clickbait Game Theory cottage industry of 40 minute videos dedicated to "uncovering the mysteries" of where the plot went. It's sloppy, lazy, incomplete writing that lacks the confidence to commit to a single answer for its ultimate mystery, so it tosses out this cop-out "I dunno, what do YOU think it means?" This is a game whose central narrative hook is a simple, straightforward question-What is the neighbor hiding?-and the answer is a confused, meandering mess of obtuse symobolism that makes zero effort to commit to a serious resolution. Forget moving out of the neighborhood, I’d suggest moving to the next county over.I think people are getting fed up with game developers lazily using ambiguity and "surrealism" as a crutch to not have to put in the effort of telling an actual story. ![]() ![]() If the levels and puzzles were more focused and honed-in, there could be a logical and interesting foundation for an experiential dread and tension. ![]() Hello Neighbor: Hide and Seek is a one-trick pony that had a game built around the premise of drawing a reaction out of the player via jump scares, which it does very well. Unable to escape, the child jumps at the screen and makes a noise in a jump scare attempt that succeeded in shocking me each time even with knowing it was coming, to the point where I started just letting him catch me and look away if I knew he was coming. As the child chases you, if you look back, their walk is a skittering motion that is surprisingly unnerving. If you’re seen, a tinny sounding ominous music with a quickening tempo begins, and you begin getting chased. The tension from trying to avoid the other child is the diamond in the rough. No context clues or instruction on how items connect or interact with each other is present. Left with open spaces littered with items I had no idea what to do, my experience broke down into a rote trial-and-error of using objects to see what would make things work, and praying I wouldn’t get caught by the kid looking for me. ![]() You can choose help options, but it only produces oversized white arrows from the sky giving you a general direction of what to interact with. The level themes are varied, but unfocused in how abstract the puzzles are. Movement is akin to old first-person games that feel sluggish in movement with delayed actions. Short vignettes weave a loose narrative that is mostly there just to tie each level together.įrankly, Hello Neighbor is an exercise in frustration. Levels are broken into different abstract versions of their home, as if playing in an imagination version of the setting, which is actually a clever way to create diverse environments and not be constrained to one drab setting. The loose premise - as one of two children playing hide and seek, explore and collect items that’ll allow you to solve puzzles that let you complete the level while avoiding the other child who will chase you down and catch you if caught, forcing a restart. After some research, I found it’s actually an abstract prequel to a crowd-funded survival horror experience that blew up mainly from Lets Plays and streamers coupled with its seemingly kid-friendly look. The cover depicts two young precocious looking children morbidly recreating a crime scene with a doll and ketchup while presumably the father whose corduroys, sweater vest, big moustache, and baggy eyes give the vibe of being the foil of their exploits. You’d be forgiven if you assumed like me that Hello Neighbor: Hide and Seek was based on a cartoon.
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