Hello Neighbor: The ABSOLUTE WORST of Mascot Horror

[@OrdinarilyAverage]

With all that talk of a bad mascot horror game, at least there was some positive things about this video That Phisnom collab and the new intro & backdrop

[@squiddothekiddo]

I thought the intro was the same

[@yeethittter1285]

Yes yes yes yes I love the backgrounds. Especially how they all get a unique one based on their sona/design. Plus Pastra's art style scratches my brain

[@creativecutieprincessd]

I thought Phill joining in was another good plus. His section and Lackmenn showing up got a good laugh out of me

[@OrdinarilyAverage]

@@creativecutieprincessd you’re right. Adding that on

[@TheMazarineIsReal]

the intro was just taken out of the vids for a bit

[@MrLC-cd8ms]

Hello Neighbour is a psychological horror for all the wrong reasons

[@tiktok-mc2nq]

Exactly

[@caramelsan5403]

😭😭😭

[@Shenorai]

Pretty much. I mean, yes, the ending is a dream, but I think it's trying to explore prior traumas the character is still dealing with. Not that the execution was any good at that, but I think that was the intention.

[@migolo1415]

I would call it more of a psychological torture than horror, for obvious reasons

[@anonymousoldcat]

Damn right, m8. My brother was pretty much dead after act 3.

[@finn_underwood]

The fact that one of the earliest pre-alphas is vastly superior to the finished game is fascinating to me. I have never seen that before.

[@tylerhorn3712]

A young child in my family got hooked. Mostly about the DLC as I see it. It was sold by act on his device, with the first one being free. They put the most work into the first act, and the rest were dlc. They hoped the customer would get the first one and keep thirsting for that level of quality.

[@klpliper]

cube world moment

[@huguesdepayens807]

Duke Nukem forever.

[@TheRenofox]

Indeed. When I saw a more recent version of the game, I thought it was a different game made by a different group of people.

[@MegaManlet]

@@klpliperMan, don’t remind me.

[@Monomiknose]

The worst part about the mystery being revealed in the first act is that it could be insanely interesting to do it that way but they just... don't do anything with it. Like imagine if it was a Monster House scenario, where the house itself is alive and attempting to lure kids in to investigate the basement, which the man is trying to prevent by setting traps and scaring kids away. Just imagine all the marketing depicting the basement as such an alluring mystery being flipped on it's head as it's revealed that's the house itself trying to lure you in, and you actually fell for it, as you spend the rest of the game attempting to escape.

[@lelduck6388]

Sounds so cool

[@bingusbabe]

u just described monster house the movie

[@based980]

that sounds so cool

[@mackenziewoloschuk7375]

When the fans do a better version of the game than the devs:

[@Jiffles]

@@bingusbabe I think, that might be the reason they put, and I quote, "Monster house scenario" in there.

[@christianwhalen9263]

“Hello Neighbor” is the ultimate example of selling a mystery that just doesn’t exist. “Theory bait” is a great term and I appreciate Pastra for using it because it’s become a big problem with the over-saturated horror genre especially since Hello Neighbor

[@LSJasonVKTV]

Tinybuild’s CEO lives in Ukraine which is being invaded by literally the largest country so the CEO is constantly endangered and busy because of the conflict. He is trying to do his best and he wants more attention so they get more money to make better games. So it makes sense why they are asking for more attention than making quality games

[@octonine6212]

@@LSJasonVKTV Hello Neighbor is a 2017 game... this has nothing to do with the current Russia/Ukraine war... also tinyBuild is just the publisher, the game was developed by Dynamic Pixels, a Russian game company.

[@romancatholicgameing]

​@@LSJasonVKTV But TinyBuild is only the publisher of Hello Neighbor. They publish a lot of games. Dynamic Pixels, which does make Hello Neighbor, is, ironically, a Russian company. Which doesn't make them in danger because Russia is the one invading. Besides, the game was already trash and looking for attention before Putin even ever had the idea of invading Ukraine.

[@LSJasonVKTV]

@thelegendaryarceus5618 people still hated Hello Neighbor 2 though

[@LSJasonVKTV]

@thelegendaryarceus5618 the first Hello Neighbor games were made a Russian company called Dynamic Pixels and published by Tinybuild. Dynamic Pixels stopped making games in 2020 and some members moved to Eerie Guest Studios. Tinybuild only published the game and not develop it so they weren’t experienced at making Hello Neighbor, they also make so many other different games making them even busier. I think the main reason why people hated Hello Neighbor 2 is because it was so buggy and was also made when Dynamic Pixels was abandoned. Tinybuild was most likely too busy and needed more help to actually make the game good and all the games after that. So the Russian and Ukrainian conflict wasn’t as relevant as the points I just mentioned

[@EricIsntSmart]

The hello neighbour devs begging matpat to talk about them will always be hilarious to me

[@derekrequiem4359]

I👀believe👀Matpat👀will👀enjoy👀making👀a👀video👀about👀the👀Hello👀Neighbor👀Lore👀👀👀👀👀

[@goldeneyekiller101]

Thats how I knew this game was a shill. They were looking for him to be their free marketing

[@MisterManGav]

​@@derekrequiem4359👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

[@Firestar4041]

I get the sense its one big scam at that point Making no effort into finishing a half baked concept, Lying about what they will update in future versions, Shilling out into anything and everything they can get, and begging youtubers or other content creators to give them a spotlight

[@valodia1]

here is a line from the show btw: "he kidnapped his own son!"

[@TheGoldenDragonDev]

Hello Neighbor feels like the kind of game that was initially made to be a good game on its own, but during production the devs thought that it would be a good idea to switch gears and make a theory bait game and build its popularity off of theorists rather than off of it being a good game, if that makes sense

[@mrreyes5004]

That just might be the most insulting part of this whole endeavor. If Hello Neighbor never had any potential as a game, then at least everyone would've seen the signs in the early prototype/alpha days. At least then, nobody would've really gotten their hopes up. But no, the project actually DID have some potential to be a great game with good puzzles, a memorable antagonist and a whimsical setting with explorable areas. So the fact that the game ended up crashing and burning with the devs' wild change in plans just makes it suck even more.

[@bleakds]

That's 100% correct - Game Theory made a video on the effect theorising has on games, and Hello Neighbour was an example shown in the video of how discussion about the game made the developers change focus from gameplay into lore, which in turn made the game very disappointing to say the least.

[@ezentsy3329]

agreed, you don't need lore for a good game, look at cod. Look at doors. Or even, make a story that doesn't require lore, just your character piecing together the story throughout the chapters that comes together in the end. Plus the physics are just awful paired with the art design. Honestly I'd love to see this without any lore, less saturation, art design to be somewhat like doors, where in the end your character turns out to be the antagonist.

[@Mike14264]

Nah, yeah, sounds about right. I'd take a really good game with a simple premise over a series of books and merch with a large sprawling lore... for a game that's an absolute mess. I'm not gonna buy your shit dudes, much less if the game isn't good to begin with.

[@Horvath_Gabor]

WickedWiz did a retrospective on the first Hello Neighbor game, and went through all the alphas. With each new iteration, you can watch the game lose the initial promise it held and slowly devolve into a style-over-substance lore-baiting mess. Part of the reason was hubris; the AI they wrote worked really well for the initial small house that, you know, looked like and *actual* house, but then as they added new floors, interactions, and "quirky" architecture, the AI couldn't keep up. The second part was the streamer- and theory-crafter boom giving them so much exposure, they realized they could ride the wave without having to actually fix the game, and so they did just that. However, if you ask me what the most disheartening thing about this whole ordeal was, it's that they somehow managed to spin this half-finished, incoherent game into a franchise, complete with spinoffs, brand products, and even a bloody cartoon. All, because MatPat and Twitch streamers gave them some limelight. It's absolutely mental.

[@vivid_bluez]

I would’ve liked if the twist of the game was that there was actually NOTHING in the neighbor’s basement. The neighbor was a completely normal, albeit eccentric and reclusive, guy. The horror comes from how the protagonist (and the player) became so convinced of wrong doing that they terrorized an innocent man and broke into his house for no reason. The game ends with the protagonist realizing this and hearing police sirens getting closer and closer…

[@magicrainbowkitties1023]

If only

[@thatswhatsgood24]

That's actually a good idea, maybe you got the groundwork for a good story for a game

[@wyster14]

Careful, you might offend the game devs with basic decent writing

[@alexandramcginnis8872]

If written carefully with clues showing the protagonist’s mental state, it could be great! Although if not done right, it could be extremely underwhelming instead

[@tieardragon4919]

The introvert life

[@shannonhoward4792]

Old Hello Neighbor: Small house, learning AI, punishing mistakes, huge stealth involvement, go! Act IV: Holding a susaphone, a Mary Poppins umbrella, a shovel, and a credit card while standing on train tracks that float high in the sky while wondering "Where am I?"

[@Nyesol]

Don't forget the big tabl of water that should make the act 3 house collapse

[@Monamiinx]

​@@Nyesol and a partridge in a pear tree

[@grandinquisitor8335]

Markiplier was incredibly smart when deciding to drop this game, he hadn’t even touched the full release, but by the final alpha, he knew this game was gonna be bad, and lo and behold.

[@mellonwatermellon4282]

This game peak was the alpha. Slap a 10$ price tag and anyone would buy and play it. My problem is that the game got too popular for the creator, and their ego kinda grew as shown at 5:58 and they didn't actually do more to help the game. this game was my first look at AI Learning the player movement and using it against them and for a while in alpha it was great, but now it feels like it is still stuck within the alpha version. it doesn't learn or anything to hinder the player, just lay traps to annoy the players. A good version of an AI learning the player Behavior was a game called ECHO, where if you stealth around or sprint around alot, the enemies would attempt to do the same as you, and it preform this unique dynamic. but the Hello Neighbor AI seems to be stuck in alpha.

[@pallete9988]

You know your game is so bad that Markiplier has to quit playing the game because he KNOWS its gonna end up terrible

[@Val17282]

@@pallete9988 and the fact that he finished Security breach at launch is a testament to how buggy this game was

[@impossiblehanley2732]

@@Val17282 unlike hello neighbor, fnaf is a part of mark's life, he wouldn't have dropped it regardless (and trust me, security breach is thrice as buggy as hello neighbor)

[@billcipher8645]

@@impossiblehanley2732 except, despite how messy SB is in its lore and story, it at least TRIED to be something entertaining. It's clear it had passion and soul, either if it was from the developers, character designers, animators, whatever. Hello Neighbour had soul only in the alphas as they didn't expect anything and tried to make a game just because. Once they gained such great popularity so quickly, money became the highest and only priority and it all went downhill. I'm saying that as a person who followed Hello Neighbour's development since the very first pre-alpha, I saw it fall apart in real time and it hurt even more

[@duckyinthejar7793]

Originally, the game’s main selling point was the neighbor’s AI. Originally, the neighbor had some of the best AI seen in a game ever. He would do different things to get around obstacles, and had different ways of cutting you off. He could use the environment and objects around him, and that also got completely forgotten about and was never truly used in the games. Sucks to suck ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@TheZombieKing87]

Which is a shame considering the best AI to maybe compare the old version of the neighbor was Nemesis. Years before the AI for the original few builds of HN was thought. Gonna stop before my brain goes into hatred mode for this game.

[@OrigamiAhsoka]

The way he’d lay the traps based on where you’d go too, like gosh it was so cool why didn’t they expand on it 😭

[@evangingerson1271]

Yep only the house part is good in my opinion later its just a maze and parkour level and it makes no sense

[@drawnwithlove3499]

there was also a bunch of stuff in older builds that made it so much more interesting and makes you question what this house truly was. There was a shooting duck game, classrooms, a dungeon and it makes you wonder wtf is even going on? Why did the Neighbor need all these rooms? It had an almost House Of Leaves feel to it with the game constantly changing both in-game and in real throughout the multiple alpha builds that drastically changed the house. If they focused solely on how confusing the house is and how mind-twisting its layout is (a la House of Leaves style), then it would've made for an infinitely cooler game

[@Anonymous-73]

@@TheZombieKing87S.T.A.R.S

[@synth_cities]

hello neighbor has tried their best to NOT redeem themselves over the years. its been quite hilarious to watch from afar.

[@kevinherms1642]

They did what they could to churn out as much crap as they could to see if they could get away with it, and I think they managed it.

[@brunopagnoncelli975]

@@kevinherms1642 i kinda hate that, i hope they get what they deserve some day

[@motivatedman9730]

Man the worst part is that hello neighbor 2 was on a good path with the alphas but then the lead director (Nikita Kolesnikov) got replaced by alexus who deleted most of the things from the alphas and lied to the community and then proceeded to go on vacation 2 weeks before the game launched

[@ujiarchive]

I agree. Alexus pretty much changed everything.

[@mikehawk486]

@@motivatedman9730 kolesnikov? Maybe he should quit being a game dev and make an assault rifle

[@voldrik1364]

I think the phrase "theory fodder for the sake of it" perfectly sums up the entirety of Hello Neighbor, and honestly most mascot horror games.

[@itrashcant7947]

I read a comment on another video that rewrote the ending: It kept the “it was a dream” thing but the mc is actually still a kid trapped in the neighbor’s basement. He dreamt that his “older self” saved him to cope. That would’ve been more interesting than whatever really happened.

[@Makingajessinmypants]

Holy shit that seems so obvious why didn’t they do that

[@ForeverFallingCrescent]

I agree

[@mothlight9661]

Where can I find that video?? That sounds awesome, I wanna read

[@error-try-again-later]

That ending would have been such an effective gut punch.

[@itrashcant7947]

@@mothlight9661 WickedWhizz made a video and pandazzz5282 made the comment

[@trucetruce335]

I feel like there’s two good ideas that could have come from this game: 1. a surrealist puzzle platform that devolves into a Dalí-style dream fervor. Psychedelic horror, if it was horror at all. 2. A claustrophobic stealth game about uncovering childhood trauma. Remaining horror in the way the original alphas were.

[@Mike14264]

Yeah, either one would've been diving into one of the two aspects that made Hello Neighbor notable at first! Would've been cool to see either one of these approaches to it. Like, the way the pre-alpha looks like at night... it sets a phenomenal mood. Hell, they could've divided the gameplay loop into two stages: during the day, you observe the Neighbor, spying through your bedroom window, watching his schedule, what traps he sets that you can see, where each of the keys you needed are; and during the night, where you try to break into his house, and sneak around to try and find a way into the basement, or maybe bug his house, hide some cameras to spy on his creepy doings and habits, and you'd be able to leave before he even saw you, just so you can better learn his schedule the next day. If he caught you, he'd kick you out, reset most of your progress, and actually learn from what you did: if he managed to find any of your cameras, he'd trash them, and be more on the lookout for other hidden ones; whatever entryways you'd find into the house would be blocked or trapped; he'd patrol around more feverishly; and whatever progress you had made into opening the basement door would've been completely unmade, so that getting caught actually feels like something you really want to avoid.

[@dr_rowby.scramble]

a perfect game that does some pf these themes well is Subliminal. a puzzle game that tackles psychology trauma and depression. i truly recommend. its not really horror-horror, but its psychedelic horror is truly terrifying

[@Pastraspec]

I would have absolutely loved this game if it doubled down on either of the concepts honestly, both could have been fantastic! But instead they tried to juggle both, and while both ideas are great on their own, they conflict too much to work when paired together in my opinion.

[@SuperZez]

3: That fucking DIY eldritch abomination of a house. It's every child's ridiculous dream treehouse blueprint brought to life in all its psychotic glory.

[@lil_duck_XD]

@@dr_rowby.scramble subliminal or superliminal?

[@purplehaze2358]

If Markiplier, of all people, gives up on playing your game, I think that says more than any criticism ever could about its quality.

[@tylern6420]

Also why does a house have a train track

[@magicrainbowkitties1023]

@@tylern6420 As with literally everything else, it could've been implemented in an interesting way and added to a surreal horror experience. However it was not.

[@notspoileratall5471]

Markiplier would rather finish getting over it lmao

[@ultraboombean]

Yeah he plays so much crap lol.

[@chocolatemilk7157]

If MatPat, of all people, gives up on decoding your game (and the game creator has to try so humiliatingly hard to get game theory's attention) then I think that also says a lot about the game's quality

[@marawhite-dy9jb]

I DONT know how, but lankman scared the s*** out of me and I FR jumped cause I wasn’t expecting him at all ;-;

[@Archbishopofcheeseburger]

Yeah, he scared me too. Probably because he appears out of nowhere and yells: *"P A S T R A ! ! !"*

[@eliomust_die]

i was doing some embroidery project with this on the background and it made me flinch and almost stab myself lmao

[@redacted3876]

I love the fact that the devs probably sent you the game because of the fact that you are usually very positive when talking about a game and wanted some free publicity only for you to heavily criticize it

[@KirbyChan]

Unfortunately, bad publicity is still publicity 😢

[@zuskull1]

G O D D A M N

[@Mike14264]

Serves them right

[@ChaosAndMayhem]

Pastra actually talked about the email on a stream with Phisnom. Basically they saw their Bendy and The Dark Revival video and decided they’d probably enjoy Hello Neighbor too.

[@Mike14264]

@@ChaosAndMayhem well ain't that hilarious!

[@ItsGemystic]

I feel like, storywise, if they'd really leaned into the "childhood trauma" thing they kinda tried to do with the first two chapters and the ending instead of making it a jumbled vague mess, the plot might've been a bit better. Like, imagine this; you, the main character, move back onto the street you lived on as a child, in a house across the road from a neighbor you used to know. Not long after moving in, you hear a what sounds like a child's scream coming from your neighbor's house, and you discover he's keeping his basement tightly locked. Fearing the worst, you vow to get into that basement and save whoever is trapped down there. You sneak into the house, attempting to dodge your neighbor at every turn, exploring two floors (that's ACTUALLY built like a house), and solve a series of puzzles, eventually uncovering the keys and/or codes to open the basement door. You enter, walk down the steps, and down there, tucked away, huddled in a corner is... yourself. You, as a young child, trapped, scared, alone and shaking, all too similar to a memory you'd long since blocked out. Whether it be something as simple as getting trapped in a basement by accident, or even being kidnapped and held captive, you've never recovered from the event. You were alone back then, but you aren't now. The second half begins, this time the goal being the opposite. You got into the basement, now you need to get both of you out. But the neighbor knows you're down here, and is determined to not let you leave. It follows the same formula, this time with different puzzles and new codes/keys. And once you escape, you can rest easy, in your own home, behind your own locked doors. You wake up the next morning to find your younger self has disappeared completely, and the house across the street, while still there, is much emptier and less imposing than before. Now having faced your own trauma head on, you can finally start to heal. You should probably look into getting a therapist. Bam, just wrote a better plot in thirty minutes than the one they made with 4-6 years.

[@omnisystem6030]

Fr this is how It could have been I was thinking of what if Mr Peterson/The Neighbour tried using some kinda black magic to bring his Family back and the basement was a portal to another world like how the pre alpha made the basement out to be

[@evthespineconfiscator8652]

Honestly this is a fantastic alternative to the mess that is hello neighbors lore

[@Nachtiu2]

You managed to do in half an hour what these morons did with their entire development period. Jeez. But no, seriously, the garbage they ended up shoving out as a "plot" to try to humanize the literal antagonist we've all been thinking is super evil, is just.. Ugh. It frustrates me.

[@stupideronjupiter]

I mean, to be fair to the developers, it's easier to make better stories out of already made stories. But that aside, I (and probably many others) would play the hell out of this. Seriously.

[@TehGrmB33p3r]

Broh... this is fucking amazing.

[@Vivigreeny25]

I legit had no idea Hello Neighbour was a horror game until this video. I always thought it was just (supposed to be) an intense puzzle game with horror like suspense at times. And like… with THAT art style, I feel like this is a very reasonable assumption.

[@Vanillamilkshake_420]

(DON’T) play hello neighbor 2 and you will have a game that has no horror.

[@Broomer52]

I’d label it closer to suspense than actual horror because the game can put you on edge when you’re being hunted or you need to hide but it never actually makes you scared

[@dadude001]

I’ve honestly played gmod maps scarier than this game, and they weren’t even horror maps at all.

[@MonkeyDToniProductions]

@@Broomer52 But horror does not equal scary. Horror is much more than just scaring you

[@Broomer52]

@@MonkeyDToniProductions horror is literally defined as Shock, Fear and Disgust. Horror is fear, what are you talking about?

[@clorbdorb1245]

I think one part of the problem was that the alpha provided people with such a satisfying experience. They felt like they needed to add more to keep the hype.

[@pidgin__]

As a game design student, this game had a GREAT idea in its pre-alpha with machine learning. I think the dev team got too caught up in the success their initial alpha and felt like they had to keep adding content to keep they hype train going.

[@wiquid]

Makes sense

[@user-bk8cl5vy7i]

Its literally Yandere Dev in a different font ngl

[@is.a.bell.a8700]

@@user-bk8cl5vy7i Funnily enough, TinyBuild actually teamed up with YanDev to help him work on YanSim a couple of years ago. That is, until Alex fired them because he couldn't understand the new code lmfao

[@OsnoloVrach]

@@is.a.bell.a8700 yeah lmao wasnt the code for dynamic time a shitton of spaghetti coding?

[@Spicywtrmlon]

@@OsnoloVrach bro yansims characters literally have every single hair loaded on them but they have all but 1 hair invisible, this is for every single character, as in each character individually has every single hairpiece That game was a dumpster fire the second creepy ass put his hands in it

[@Bipolar.Baddie]

I think that the basement being revealed early isn't bad in and of itself. What a smart game developer/ storyteller would do is make the basement a starting point to a mystery or objective that is far more important and compelling that the original premise. They could've made the neighbor a smaller cog in a bigger, more confusing, machine or had him be a victim of something, which would give the player incentive to defeat that larger antagonist.

[@jackthesmoltangerine]

Yee, it could’ve been like the shining or fran bow or the joy of creation, but it was trash

[@satorns1]

i believe they tried to do that with the shadow figure but its just... not done well at all

[@NoxysPlace]

Like JTHM

[@slimeysnail]

Man reading that made me even more disappointed about the game this games trash

[@tamnker8465]

They had a ton of that in earlier builds, but they scrapped it all in favor of a bland, generic, rushed storyline.

[@jimboanimations4041]

Hello Neighbor is the first game to ever break Pastra's positive attitude. Now we get to watch him release his inner, constructively critical demons.

[@kevinherms1642]

Haven't watched the video, but I like the visual idea you gave me.

[@aurawarrior1367]

Pastra: I always try to stay positive about things me and others are passionate about (: Hello neighbor: *exists* Pastra: I’m tired of being nice, I want to go apeshit.

[@nekoking6948]

thats a funny way to put it but TRUE 😹

[@scottcockton]

Wait till he get to too it garbage I hate it took everything that made it good in the first one the mystery was one was ok but 2 garbage and i stand by that it a disgrace to the series and make it worse then the first one

[@weirdyoutubechannels]

look at my banner for alternative option

[@Too.many.fandoms]

The way I would have done the game is, like in the game, the player is a curious kid wondering what is in his neighboor's basement of his normal sized house (not that Frankenstein thing it is in the game). Act one would be the player sneaking around the house, trying to find the keys that unlock the neighboor's basement door, but will get caught before being able to open the door. Then act two would be a quick one, the player attempting to escape the house, running as fast as they can to try and escape or hide, but eventualy, the neighboor catches up to them and is like "you wanted to see what's in my basement? how about you stay there" and then the player will be locked in the neighboor's basement. Act three will be the player, as an adult, attempting to use the plan he made over the years to escape, the neighboor, now old and slow, doesn't catch up to the player this time and they manage to escape. And the final act will be a dream the player is having, a scary one about how being locked up and closed off from society at such a young age impacted them, then the huge Frankenstein will appear, because that's how the player as a kid saw the house, huge and weird with many doors and locks and puzzles, and the neighboor will be that shadow monster that appears in the game, because that's how the player saw the neighboor, a quick blur that hides in the shadows, and you can't see it until it's too late

[@maem7462]

This would’ve actually been a great way to do that and still keep a dream element without all of it actually being a dream

[@doomfox6241]

if it isnt copyright to use this idea then it should be a thing, Id play the hell out of this

[@wisteria7052]

That idea's probably the best one I've seen.

[@claralima1967]

Man, the downfall of Hello Neighbor makes me so sad. The first Alpha was so promising, the premise was interesting, the puzzles were fun and the Neighbor's AI was INCREDIBLE. How do you mess it up just like that? I've seen franchises get worse as sequels are made, but it's the first time I've seen something deteriorate before it even starts

[@OkOkJoJo]

And they somehow did the exact same thing with the sequel the alpha's with really promising until they removed the lead dev and replaced them with someone who lied about what would be in the game at the end of the day both games were ruined by horrible management

[@thehorroranalog2943]

The game was made by people who were too incompetent at even being bothered to make a good if not a amazing horror game.

[@BrightWulph]

Too busy chasing the clout of having people like MatPat theorise about the lore and having gamers like Markipiler and Jackseticeye play the game.

[@pinealdreams1064]

Easily. What worked for a tech demo/alpha becomes unfeasible in the larger game, ends up costing more than expected. Things get cut to save money. Game fall aparts.

[@catscanhavelittleasalami]

GREED

[@NinjaBoy641]

You know a game can't be saved when Markiplier refuses to play the full game

[@derekrequiem4359]

Jacksepticeye too. It's a bad sign when 2 famous KZbinrs who almost always have something good to say about games won't finish the "completed" product. 😁

[@delusion5867]

It has to be truely godawful for markiplier to refuse to even finish it. He gives everything the benefit of the doubt and plays optimistically, but he still only has so many concessions

[@RhineStone46]

This is even more hilarious to think about since he played fucking Banban but he hasn’t even touched Little Nightmares 2

[@Data-Expungeded]

@@delusion5867he called it broken and unfinished in a recent stream. Markiplier said that. Markiplier

[@delusion5867]

@@Data-Expungeded i know???? thats why i said "he still only has so many concessions" edit: or am I misunderstanding your point that it was markiplier of all people

[@SarpSpeaksSometimes]

Fr, markiplier is one of the most positive people I've seen when it comes to judging games. He is so encouraging towards indie developers even with the roughest games if the idea or the foundation is solid, and gives his criticisms with utmost care in order to not come off as aggressive but constructive. The fact that this game tests even his patience is a huge red flag. Edit: I noticed that a lot of people are pointing out his reaction to Welcome to the Game 2 in the replies and yeah I'm gonna be honest that I completely forgot about that game. Although I still think he was mostly patient with that game as well since it was really bullshit and I would've reacted much worse, more like how phil is in this video lol

[@grandinquisitor8335]

Pretty much the exact same thing happened with Jacksepticeye. He mentioned in his first episode on the full release that he was nervous because he remembered the last beta being really awful, but he was willing to give it a chance. By like the second episode he was already done with the game's nonsense, I don't even think he bothered finishing it, and I don't blame him. You could tell he was not having fun at all.

[@Jaxv3r]

@@grandinquisitor8335 yeah that was a pain to watch, I remember that video when it first uploaded, feels bad for Jacksepticeye.

[@rosewater_lake]

All I can think of is his Getting Over It playthrough, I'm sorry.

[@mchsprod]

@@rosewater_lake Getting Over It was intentionally frustrating, and Mark did beat it

[@brunopagnoncelli975]

@@rosewater_lake well Mark beated that game even when it frustrating on purpose, bacause it was good and had passion and heart behind it, even if the intention was to anger people....

[@madsspector]

"Close enough. Welcome back, Matpat." We all say in unison

[@chases9141]

Close enough. Welcome back, Matpat

[@FablesTold]

I see Markiplier getting mentioned, but ManlyBadassHero is also very gentle about his reviews of indie games- although he always shares where he thinks improvements can be made, I can't recall him ever just straight up calling any game he puts up a video of bad. Closest I remember him coming to that was when he was done playing the second Hello Neighbor game, where you could hear in his voice just how done he was with it, especially having talked about in either the demo of the 2nd game or the final version of the first all the KZbin-Lore-Bait pitfalls it was falling into.

[@MarsMakes]

I love manlybadassheros videos sm

[@TehGrmB33p3r]

@@MarsMakes my favorite video is of him playing It Steals. wbu?

[@blightpop]

yes manlybadasshero is a great youtuber!! i enjoy watching his content

[@caroline.c.lucille4551]

@@TehGrmB33p3rall of them

[@katylepetsos7512]

Manly is amazing, he has the perfect story telling voice.

[@Spooky304]

25:24 'as the intruder who broke into my house brought up earlier' As much as I love the Phil cameo, I adore the idea of just a completely random stranger breaking in to steal stuff, seeing the half-written script on Pastra's computer and going 'No, no, hang on. Crime can wait, I need to add my two cents to this.'

[@MarcyTheKindaCoolWizard]

"Money is good but ventibg my absolute unbiased hatred for this video game is far more important" -Phil "Philliam Morggam" Phisnom

[@coolpizzacook]

If I broke into someone's house and saw them shitting on Hello Neighbor you know damn well I would put my two cents in on that. Few things can bring people together as much as hating Hello Neighbor. Maybe hating YIIK.

[@TehGrmB33p3r]

​@@coolpizzacook wuzzat

[@sylvan-the-necromancer]

@@TehGrmB33p3r a pretty bad RPG, due to its poor combat, confusing story, and horribly unlikeable protagonist (I recommend looking up a review of it, they'll explain how unlikeable the main character, Alex is, as well as the various other problems with it far better than I can)

[@TehGrmB33p3r]

@@sylvan-the-necromancer oh ok

[@breadmannington]

You can tell they most likely made the house bigger because they wanted to extend the playtime so people couldn’t refund it. It’s insane because in a house, every room has a purpose, but once you pass the second or third floor, the rooms are just there to be there and nothing else. Even more baffling is that the neighbor can’t even reach the majority of the house which is HIS making me question why he built the house that way in the first place

[@breadmannington]

Honestly I would have loved for Hello Neighbor to have an art style like the way Pastra drew the neighbor in the thumbnail, imagine how creepy that would be

[@sand5305]

He can reach the other levels but only if you get him to chase you up there and if you do it enough he will eventually start going up himself but he will only be able to petrol one room because he doesn't normally walk along the rail way tracks

[@Mr.BucketHatMan]

OH IT’S A DREAMMMMM OMG LOOOOL LOL LOL SO EPIC. I fucking hate that ending

[@sand5305]

@@Mr.BucketHatMan that's not true at all The ending was him escaping the basement the dream was essentially weird PTSD and the main story is essentially wife die and his son push his daughter off roof so they die and then he hides his son in the basement or something like that It's hard to and confusing to understand but the second game is actually really good and makes it more understandable

[@actualperson5443]

His entire house is an OSHA violation

[@MisterSwirlman]

0:17 is so heartwarming to me. It shows how you think that things are subjective and know everyone is different. And how you think about those people.

[@ApexRainbow163]

>Barges into home >Explains why Hello Neighbor is garbage >Elaborates non stop >Leaves only when federal authorities "arrive" Gigachad phisnom

[@lailacook462]

Even if the game NEEDED to show us the basement in the first act, they could've made it so in the third act you hear another kid in the basement to try and save, it would've been an infinitely better incentive then just spawning outside his door

[@Pastraspec]

Even that would have been INFINITLY better because it gives us SOMETHING to drive us. Our incentive doesn't need to be big or complex, it just needs to exist.

[@GabbaGooober]

@@Pastraspec I might learn how to make game and make a "fan"game where I fix everything that's wrong and adding an actual story that doesn't spoil themselves at the beginning

[@samuellillge9319]

@@GabbaGooober "This fangame is dedicated to Dynamic Pixels and Tinybuild, whose ideas inspired me to create and whose execution inspired me to edit."

[@the_opossum_guy]

Agreed, though I think the neighbor could catch you right before you reach the real mystery, the room that holds the child, whatever the secret was. You could be thrown out and have to start over as an adult, finally revisiting that one incident you had as a kid, or as a friend going after the secret or whatever. Kinda like that one early build where the neighbor always caught you before you got fully into the basement.Then it could change the puzzles in the basement up a bit, making it similar to the first time enough that you can sort of rush through them (at this point the puzzles in the basement are not the main attraction) but not enough that its not interesting.

[@CodyBlue1105]

@@the_opossum_guy I mean, to be fair, that first half DOES happen in the actual game. You get right to the end, but the last door is locked and the neighbor catches you, starting Act 2. Act 3's basement definitely should've been handled better tho, it's a literal checklist of the Fear Room abilities one by one and nothing else.

[@sauceman2885]

I remember how eerie and genuinely scary the very first builds were, their choice to abandon the ideas I think made it doomed

[@DeathnoteBB]

I remember the whole point was the AI learns and improves based on what you do. Then as soon as they made the house big they had to scrap that idea. They killed what their whole idea was based around. Traded a genuinely cool AI gimmick for a funhouse…

[@MLH_1231]

@@DeathnoteBB Man, I would honestly rather take a small & cramped house over that giant clown circus any day. It being smaller is what made it scarier imo. Felt like you didn't have anywhere to run if you got caught inside

[@flyingstonemon3564]

This, the dream sequence, the red glow, the portraits in the house having some bits of story, the AI being actually fun to go against, It's crazy how It could have been a small but well made game that would have been beloved and they botched It to copy others when their core ideas were just as good on paper

[@Archbishopofcheeseburger]

That section where Phil rants about the terrible gameplay is probably the best way I could've been introduced to him. "This. *HORROR* game. ISN'T. F*CKING. *SCARY."*

I'm mostly mad they missed the opportunity to call the sequel "Hello again, neighbor"

[@baker_Othman]

Both of you guys’s ideas are SO SICK!!!

[@concept5631]

​@@baker_Othman Fr these are rad

[@catscanhavelittleasalami]

ngl that's a terrible title

[@sideways_chip_eater6420]

That's extremely clever

[@Cookie.Dough_Goat-2350]

Missed opportunities

[@SNoodleJuJu]

Phil and Pastra bounce off each other ridiculously well, we NEED more of these two together.

[@tybirous3417]

Pastra's infinite joy and Phil's bottomless anger is very entertaining to watch. I always get unreasonably excited when pastra just pops into Phisnom's streams, it's just /going/ to be a good time. Pastra just has so much positive energy, and he's so excited to radiate it, and it like both makes Phil really gleeful but also it fuels his anger. It's like watching the old super best friends play, where Matt and Pat actually got along and played off each other really well.

[@suziebelle3738]

Phil has had many streams where Pastra was a cohost, more specifically his BATIM lore stream and his BATDR stream! He also appears in his SB Glitchless run. Look up Phisnom on youtube for the vods

[@Agt_Seven]

While you're at it get uhyeah and make it a trio collab; post-shift 2 with Phil and uhyeah was probably my favorite stream, and while I don't remember exactly where I'm almost certain I've seen some pretty good videos/streams with uhyeah and pastra together

[@aidenmb7932]

I like Lankman as the one roommate who barely comes out of their room but makes it everyone else's problem when he does

[@StarlitNova12]

Just like me!

[@EchoSaintEco]

LMFAO

[@deyahnaugonnetboulais4801]

I mean, he's still in the basement.

[@nicefloweytheoverseer7632]

Loki:

[@owl_enthusiast]

if i ever heard 28:20 start playing in a chase sequence i'd legit just pass away 💀

[@Chaoticee7801]

I like how pastra is relatively chill about everything and then we have phisnom shouting and swearing like a sailor

[@ForkLefts]

Duality of man.

[@Tyranid_HiveMind]

There are 2 types of people

[@Echoline77]

Cause that's their personallities, Pastra is calm and has reason while Phil... is a glorified nutcase. But I think this game pains Phil more because he is a game dev

[@wobblewokgaming655]

The Gentleman Clyde and the Gremlin Phi.

[@concept5631]

​@@Echoline77 Given that Phil is a game dev, what are his thoughts on -Final- Post Shift 2?

[@leiabug4152]

The most disappointing part of Hello neighbor for me personally was the story. As a kid I was so invested in the mystery of what was in the basement and the horrors that laid within...only to be spoiled in the first chapter and having to go through hell for a dumbed down messy and disgustingly vague thing I've ever seen. This game could have been truly terrifying. Even the final game's concept (at least for the first 2 acts) of curiosity truly being what killed the cat. Being a curious kid and sneaking into a complete stranger's house only to be trapped in there with him could have been a terrifying experience. The game could have been purely stealth based having you sneak around the house while the neighbor patrols his home while you have to hide around closets and drawers and having to listen for sound cues and footsteps. Another thing that I hate about this game is how they tried to humanize the neighbor and make the story entirely about him. Completely undermining the sheer trauma the protagonist has to go through until that horrible end boss with the shadow demon. No matter how much of a sympathetic character they try to make the neighbor, he still kidnapped a child. And even with all that "lOrE" the neighbor is still flatter than paper, blander than cardboard, and as scary as a dulled fucking butter knife. A real disappointment for everyone.

[@alexpittheliker9165]

He was scary during the Alpha versions, he is not scary in appearance wise but he is scary because he is intelligent and unpredictable. However, as more versions came out, he becomes very predictable and somehow stupid. They could humanize the neighbor but I think it just took most of the story which just spoils everything about the game. It would have been even scarier if in Act 1, the protagonist would get chased or stalked by the neighbor (don't make it a cutscene, it would be less scary), in Act 2, Imaginary scenarios because the player is stuck in the basement (the "it is all a dream" makes sense because the player is stuck in a room) and in Act 3, they finally escaped this dreaded house once for all. In this storyline, the player could collect evidences so that they could get two endings, the good ending is when the player collects enough evidence that the neighbor is a bad guy to the police and the bad ending where the player doesn't have enough evidence so he forced to live through his life with his trauma and delusional that he is still being stalked by his neighbor.

[@leiabug4152]

@@alexpittheliker9165 You know the game is bad when someone can write a better story than it has in 3 sentences like you just did. Another thing is they could've reveal some hints of the neighbor's past with secret rooms or family photos and documents found in his house, not some stupid dream sequences that make no sense to exist because our character shouldn't be able to read minds and sense people's backstories through dreams because he knows nothing about the neighbor at all other than the fact that the neighbor kidnapped him and traumatized him as a child.

[@IUsedToBeACatWithAMoustahce]

I'm not gonna read all that but I agree or disagree.

[@shenzyreal]

The game we didn't get that you just described is a thing, and it's called Granny.

[@leiabug4152]

@@shenzyreal ...I'm going to be completely honest I forgot about that game

[@stevenmattrell3448]

I love how the developers actively called out Game Theory to analyze their stuff as if they specifically made it so they could get Game Theory to make a video about it.

[@ClammyHorrorShow]

Did they even make a video about it though? I don’t remember, I think tinybuild calling them out to make theory’s is the most petty thing you can do with your franchise, tinybuild is sad and it’s disappointing that they think they need to essentially beg for attention on their products from game theory.

[@matthewwilliams8267]

@@ClammyHorrorShow they made a few beforehand, but after the tweets... nothing.

[@SpringyGirl69]

That was one guy, he was fired

[@ClammyHorrorShow]

@@SpringyGirl69 ahh okay, that makes sense.

[@isoca_yaroslav]

Lmfao sadd Imagine

[@austins9795]

It honestly hurts to see such an ambitious game turn so sour all because they got ahead of themselves and wanted to follow a trend they were not prepared for. And the worst part is, some of these problems could’ve been easily fixed that they adjust thought through it first! They wanted a cryptic story to compel you to finish the game so you know all the secrets, except they left nothing for you to figure out and just left it as a weird destroyed story that went nowhere and ended completely unsatisfying. Take the binding of Isaac, the story was hidden within the items you pick up like Mom’s coin purse filled with pills and the various food items that were like a moldy sandwich or dog food to imply neglect, it wouldn’t have been hard for them to intersperse these items throughout the rooms that you could look at an interact with that could imply a deeper story about the neighbor. Even games that hello neighbor inspired their lower system off of like five nights at Freddy’s had those hidden secrets to theorize a story from, the problem is they took the system without putting thought into how they would do it and it ended miserably. In terms of gameplay, their problem was they wanted bigger and better but didn’t think about how it would affect the neighbor moving around. The bigger the house, the harder it is for the neighbor to navigate and find you. The solution? Have each floor be similar and how cramped and closed off they are and have the neighbor teleport to each floor if you enter it so that he can look for you to maintain the stress and urgency of making it through the house before the neighbor can catch up to you. The concept of the game is not bad by any means, it’s honestly super cool and I wish they had expanded on the horror aspect of it, they just got ahead of themselves and didn’t realize it until it was too late and they were forced to beg MatPat to make a video about them

[@zaodacrusher7498]

You give a ignorant dev team to much credit. If they'd done so much as watch a real game review, they'd of had a chance. And when I say watch, I mean pay attention. Hello neighbor is a solid case for they, the devs, have no business around a game engine. It's sequel doubling down on its poor design, (albeit they didn't go as crazy with the houses) is undeniable proof they don't belong making a game. They obviously have zero understanding of how to design a game. Hello naibor 2, followed the same demake road the original did. The alpha had some awesome interactions in it. Then it released, and low and behold, the parts people praised were stripped. Now, it's basically the first, but with more houses to break into. They learned nothing from there failure. Probably are completely delusional on the fact there games suck harder than a hoover.

[@Andruieeok]

Hello neighbor is pretty much the prime example of what happens if you stray far away from what you intended it to be or at least one of the most prominent

[@Andruieeok]

In favor of being a collage of may things that worked in other people’s work

[@LSJasonVKTV]

There are like four other hello neighbor games that aren’t as bad

[@ComArtUke]

is this lankmann's alt account?

[@Goose190]

I love hello neighbor but after that they made the other ones like hide and seek and 2 I had to force myself to play 2

[@the-carrot8079]

I love how Lankman is now like the unlockable version of the final boss that is nerfed to death

[@audittlivereaction1964]

that's a very good description

[@saif-0_0-]

Oh my God you are right!

[@anusername8350]

Adam Smasher in the anime VS in the game

[@rynemcgriffin1752]

@@anusername8350 Smasher in the Anime: “LOOK OUT! ITS ADAM SMASHER!” Smasher in the game: “Lol it’s Adam Smasher”

[@lucaschannel726]

That would imply lankman is a sh$tty character now. But nope, he is still the same old evil heartless motherf$cker who enjoys torturing pastra and his creations. He just no longer the big bad anymore is more of a recurring villain then a ultimate big bad

[@leodotlol]

i definitely think that wanting convoluted lore so that matpat and other online theorists would talk about it was this game's downfall . if they had stuck with the original vision it would've been so much better

[@somedragonbastard]

Yeah, like people forget it due to how convoluted it is nowadays but the original FNAF lore was just... 5 kids got murdered and put in robots and now they want to kill you. That's what sparked the huge franchise it is now, for better or for worse. I'm so sick of these bs mascot horror games trying to be the next FNAF for a quick buck by making convoluted child murder plots and thinking that the contrast between a childish design and evil intent is enough to make a monster

[@bocahdongo7769]

It's kinda ironic when the game with basically mundane lore but really great horror like Iron Lung is the one that actually make Markiplier very interested to the point that he made the fan film itself

[@SebbyDoesStuff]

I personally like all the lore, and it's the only part of the games which I think are passable.

[@owenparris7490]

​@somedragonbastard I don't mind lore being convoluted as long as it can still fit together. I think FNaF has been able to pull that off so far, but I'm admittedly not caught up that much.

[@born-environment-0002]

Idk why but this is the pastra video I always come back to. It might be because it was my first, but man, the length, music, and everything else just made this an absolute perfect intro for me.

[@DaughterofAlb1on]

I love how phil went from reading a script to speaking out of genuine frustration

[@Reidslefttoe]

Likewise.

[@almightyminataur4000]

Likewise.

[@FiatUno2003]

Wikelise.

[@pianistsbasket]

Wiselike.

[@cyan1dal]

ekilesiw.

[@itselizauwu]

The concept of this game in the alpha was super interesting. Breaking into someone’s house trying to reach the basement and each time you fail and get caught the neighbour will learn from how you play, placing bear traps and locking doors where you managed to gain entry before. It was promising, but the more updates that came the more the game just spiralled out of control and became so convoluted and filled with random puzzles nobody asked for. Such a shame what happened to this game

[@sipsong]

Hello Neighbor essentially made Pastra do their equivalent of snapping. From optimism even in the face of opposing opinions and broken games, gushing about great horror titles, this one game was enough to not merit even a spark of that light. The closest to this I've seen before was when they talked of FNaF:Sister Location's story in UhYeah's video. PS: I just would like to point out that A Hat in Time's Subcon Manor is better horror than this entire game.

[@nicomom9534]

I love that level

[@trialofthefool]

SUBCON MANOR!! that is such a memorable experience. 10/10 will never do it again

[@Helpwhatamidoinghere]

Subcon manor is pretty good

[@Sparkle8205]

Subcon Manor my beloved

[@addison_v_ertisement1678]

Hat Kid: exists Queen Vanessa: "WHO DARES COME INTO MY HOME!?!?!"

[@leonardocoutomaciel4997]

The funniest shit ever are the tweets begging for MatPat's free publicity. Never seen a producer humiliate themselves like that

[@thepixelstash3078]

I absolutely adore the artstyle, aesthetic, and idea of Hello Neighbor. It's such a shame to me they failed to deliver on any of it.

[@misterkillroy2952]

Pokemon Violet and Scarlet, FNAF Security Breach, and Homefront have similar problems, though a few are better than others, and more dev time would have helped.

[@brawler5760]

@@misterkillroy2952 Oh S&V and Homefront: The Revolution… I genuinely like them both, Violet I pretty much adore. It and The Revolution are genuinely good games, one of which can’t be acknowledged because people make the game look more unplayable than it really is.

[@misterkillroy2952]

@@brawler5760 I never played the sequel to Homefront. It had such possibility for success. I actually enjoyed it more than the then recent CoD games in the beta. As for S&V, it's just undercooked. They're good, but with another half a year in development they would have been perfect.

[@brawler5760]

@@misterkillroy2952 I meant to say that people can’t seem to acknowledge that S&V is a genuinely great game because the game is seemingly unplayable, even though I played once and never got any glitches or bugs that totally broke my game.

[@skaithespirit1184]

I find it funny how pretty much EVERY indie horror game that's blown up over the years has found their footing and achieved legitimate quality that allowed them to maintain a fanbase even now (IE: FNaF, Bendy, Baldi, heck even Poppy to a degree simply because at the least Chapter 2 brought new things to the table) ...All of them EXCEPT Hello Neighbor. A game that prided itself on having an AI that "evolves" to counteract the player is the only one to have not evolved at all. In fact it feels like every version of the game and it's subsequent games has gone BACKWARDS in it's development. (Hello Neighbor 2 for instance started as a genuinely interesting spinoff called Hello Guest featuring a genuinely sort of freaky antagonist...only for it to be turned into a carbon copy of the original game but with more houses, day 1 DLC, and the antagonist from Hello Guest *literally not being in the game* )

[@motivatedman9730]

Hey the Guest *is* in Hello Neighbor 2 HE APPEARS FOR 2.56 SECONDS IN THE INTRO CUTSCENE THEY DIDNT EVEN TURN HIM INTO IDK A SIDE CHARACTER HE AINT EVEN A CAMEO THEY REDUCED HIM TO A PLOT DEVICE TO INTRODUCE THE TUTORIAL LIKE EVEN AN EASTER EGG WOULD HAVE BEEN APPRECIATED !!! To just delete him like that and also he was the smartest ai that they had ever made in the hello neighbor franchise,he could throw objects at you,steal items from you,he had like an anger level and he would go batshit crazy if you stole his key he could USE A FUXKING EXTINGUISHER TO PROPEL HIMSELF ON HIGH PLACES WTF

[@ujiarchive]

Hello Neighbor 2 Alpha 1.5 was truly incredible. It had probably the most advanced AI I've ever seen in an indie game. The Guest was essentially a faux player, he had his own inventory, he learned from you and tried different things, and he could fire extinguisher up to you if he couldn't reach you! He felt smart, he felt real.

[@kinggalactix]

@@ujiarchive it was like Hello Neighbour Alpha, but better? And they ruined it again? Oh come on...

[@yeethittter1285]

Omg yes!! As someone into character design I reeeeally love the bird guy in Hello Guest. And he's not even in the game for more than 3 seconds 😭😭😭😭

[@ujiarchive]

It was. The Guest was the most clever AI in an indie horror game out there. He was essentially a player. Then they removed that AI and made the one in the HN2 full release, which uses a different system that causes it to stop in place frequently if your fps is too low. They are releasing patches to improve the game. The one that got released just today is over a gigabyte in size!

[@umbralbushido8636]

What makes the story of hello neighbor so much sadder is that the game was really promising from the first alpha, and they completely threw that opportunity away

[@scottpeltier3977]

I really wanna know what went on in their minds when they gutted their game. Like they saw that they caught lightning in a bottle…did the reality of it dry their brain

[@ujiarchive]

They were experimenting with different artstyles and houses at the time. tinyBuild saw the Tim Burton look as marketable, and they probably rushed Dynamic Pixels to make the game bigger, putting an August 2017 release date. They then delayed it, but an Unreal Engine 4 update screwed over the game fully, so they had to haphazardly fix as much as they could. TLDR: tinyBuld rushed Dynamic Pixels and forced them to release the game for December. The problems with the game lie with tinyBuild.

[@JaxxMCC]

I remember wondering what the final game would look like back in 2017, hoping that the next alpha after the 2nd one would be a huge step-up, combining the scale of the house and the neighbor's chase AI from the pre/1st alpha with the puzzle design (simple, "realistic" puzzles that require tools like the hammer or crowbar which are clearly of importance to breaking into a house) and the neighbour's passive behaviour from the 2nd. No wonder I never even heard about this game's release and forgot about it, thinking it was probably still in development.

[@scottcockton]

I think the first game story was good and saw nothing wrong it after that it goes down hill 2 is literally the definition of crap

[@housewilma4904]

and they do it every single time in the HN2 alpha it AGAIN was far supeiror to the realse with a character with AMAZING ai able to reach you at high places had a adaptiver anger levels had there own inventory just like the player and could use your own items agasint you. then they got rid of it and made HN2 which is the same as one but instead of 5 hosues ontop of each other there actual spaced out into there own houses.

[@Rocketyy]

I love how the neighbor in the thumbnail is 10x scarier than ANYTHING IN THE ACTUAL GAME

[@thealien_lookingthing7116]

15:00 “I was just coming in here to tell you that somebody broke into our house” This sent me, just straight to my grave. The completely honest and dry delivery of the line, then the pause to have the realization. It is absolutely hilarious for me Also I never really thought they shared a House?? It just never passed my mind, but that’s an interesting thing to know, interesting indeed

[@deyahnaugonnetboulais4801]

Lankman live in the basement, he pay rent

[@TehGrmB33p3r]

@@deyahnaugonnetboulais4801 he rent he live with spooky spag boi

[@obscurereference4398]

Imagine a sitcom of the two

[@vlad980]

"Who would wanna subject themselves to doing tha- holy shit he actually did"

[@montgomerymontgomery2681]

I ADORE the way Lankmann says Pastra’s name, like he emphasizes the As and hisses at the S, and just the general vibes he gives off while speaking make him sound so creepy and menacing in a charming way. And then he says “holy shite he did” and it’s completely forgotten for the pure shock and I love it to bits

[@MarcyTheKindaCoolWizard]

My man was in suck disbelief they dropped even the whole scary act

[@TehGrmB33p3r]

How do you, how do you do, Montgomery Montgomery?

[@addyxinwonderland1473]

@@TehGrmB33p3r WOW DID NOT EXPECT TO FIND THIS TODAY hello there fellow asoue reader/watcher

[@TehGrmB33p3r]

@@addyxinwonderland1473 oh cool, u like it too

[@ThatOneShortieHo]

​@@TehGrmB33p3rOF MY GOD A FAN. I NEVER THOUGHT ID SEE AN ASOUE REFERENCE ANYWHERE

[@lordrwbyandnepwatcher1387]

If you look at the earliest beta's for the game, it gets so much worse. Because they HAD a good game in the works, with actual challenge and mystery, they just completely ruined as we saw them "remaster" their game into something unreasonable and unrecognizable

[@Phoebe5448]

I personally think the alpha and beta stuff about the "creepy evil neighbour" was way better than the actual ending of the actual finished game. Not to mention it didn't need 4 chapters when the first two were good enough to build suspense and mystery.

[@ghoulchan7525]

they kept changing stuff to make it fresh for all the people that played the earlier builds. which is partially fair. but if you have to keep reworking stuff each time. it's counter productive because you have to throw out all the carefully crafted puzzles each and every time.

[@Hex_Glitches]

At least we got some bomb a songs from this game. "Leave Me Alone," "What Are You Hiding," "Hello and Goodbye," "No Keepin Secrets" which also reminds me, we also got Secret Neighbor, which was and is still fun to play.

[@OmolonFluidDynamicsEnjoyer]

I love to imagine Lankmann was looking around a corner, staring in horror, mouth gaping, while Phil went on a rant about how bad Hello neighbour's gameplay is. Hearing Lankmann go "Holy ssshit he accctually did" sent me rolling in a way I haven't felt in a while.

[@TheHeadlessCreator]

Can’t get over this game blowing up as big as it did where as Little Nightmares, which I believe was announced around the same time, didn’t get the huge boost it deserved.

[@TheChildoftheDarkness]

Really weird, but overall good comparison.

[@dawnyzero0]

Agreed. Personally, I LOVE Little Nightmares. The monster designs and the atmosphere was just right. Yet it still feels relatively unknown compared to so many other games despite all the details and ambiguity ripe for investigation. Like Hello Neighbour got the stages spotlight just because of how Loud its presentation was, not because of its quality. (idk if that's a good analogy or not. but you get the point)

[@MasterIsabelle]

Didn’t expect little nightmares to get mentioned here, but little nightmares absolutely deserved the early attention Hello neighbour got especially since it’s such a quality over quantity game

[@TheHeadlessCreator]

@@MasterIsabelle and LN3 was just confirmed so I’m pretty hyped about it. Such a great and unique story with actual care to the elements in the game, including characters. Hello Neighbor is literally just trying to make a lore heavy game in order to get popular. I find it’s story lame and for lore it’s pretty amateur.

[@TheHeadlessCreator]

@@dawnyzero0 LN is definitely one of my favorite gaming franchises, not only horror. Atmospheric horror is my favorite and that game knocks it out of the park for a grand slam.

[@JustMe-bx3ty]

The first few alphas were peak for this game. The house was smaller but more interesting and the neighbor felt scary. All of the secrets like the golden apple or the upper house layers were so interesting to try and figure out. I’m top of this, the glitches like going out of bounds showed a lot of stuff that the developers really didn’t have to do but they did.

[@fawnsie3393]

Hey! Bit off topic, but I just found your channel, and may I must say, I love your little mascot! It's so Spindlely and twisty, very cool and the colors are lovely!

[@loonavalentine2848]

You know your horror game is bad when even Pastra can't find anything good to say about it...

[@skelebonez1349]

There’s a movie that does the idea of hello neighbor but really good, it’s called summer of 84 It’s really good

[@toheekang174]

And you know you absolutely failed your horror game when the PRE-ALPHA version is significant much more better than the full version

[@onlinestonedogii]

The bit about hello neighbour’s story that sinks the whole thing is that the core mysteries of the series are not deepened the further you play and always arrive at the most obvious conclusions. I remember how while the game was being developed people would go nuts with the possibilities the basement presented, and it ending up with the most mundane explanation is just boring. Everything that has been solved in the story has resulted in less interesting, less exciting lore, so everyone has stopped bothering.

[@courier6960]

That’s the whole thing about this “basement” mystery, it’s all just unsubstantiated, nonspecified build up of no substance. There’s no answer provided or meaningful background, and even if there was there was an answer, no answer that could be satisfying for how much build up is presented. Even the developers didn’t actually have an answer for what was in the basement at the time of development or release, it’s all just overly complex theory baiting for the KZbinrs and game theory BS made for children. And therein lies my problem with a lot of indie horror (such as FNAF and this game), it’s made overly complicated, continue forever, and have no real answers to build community interactivity to push product: it’s like if you made a mystery a live service product it’s pure and utter nonsense

[@lukeroberson2115]

I would argue that the lore of FNAF 1-3 itself isn't complicated, rather just how you got it. Like, boiling down the lore of the first three is "serial killer kills kids, gets stuck in a suit, then a building burns down and he maybe survives." There were a bunch of hidden stuff you had to do to find it, but the lore itself before FNAF 4 was not that hard to follow.

[@MrHalonoob117]

I will say one thing that I found cool about this game during this video. You’ve probably noticed that a lot of the words are scrambled for the player. The missing signs or the caution signs on the tracks are some of these. These are actually subtle hints that the game is a dream. When we sleep the part of our brain that is responsible for language, reading, writing, etc. is turned off, so we can’t read or write in our dreams.

[@Pastraspec]

Ok, giving the game credit where it's due, that's actually a really neat detail.

[@humantoon]

Wait really?? Cuz I literally had a dream last night where I was looking at my emails and they were all written perfectly normal as far as I remember?

[@daod8286]

@@humantoon hey, you're either one of 1% of population who can read in your dreams, or you only remember that you dreamt checking your emails, not actually seeing the letters.

[@roberthosford1658]

Your wrong

[@sofiashmykova129]

well also it could be some type of dyslexia

[@TailsFan]

Actually, the fact that the place was more coherent before the "dream" portion actually makes sense, because when you dream, things don't always make sense. Especially since it seems like the MC was dealing with some serious trauma from his capture and narrow escape as a child. The shadow person is his trauma that kept him from moving on, most likely, but they should've made it more clear.

[@TheMadcap919]

A little unrelated but… And also, the puzzle being nonsensical because “it’s all a dream” is not a good reason because… Look, I know dreams are supposed to be weird and not make any sense, but I do think that sometimes, you need to sacrifice a little realism in order to make a decent product. Imagine how annoying a game like Minecraft would be if the game forced you to take a few seconds to catch your breath. Also, yeah, what you said about how they needed to communicate that idea better is very true.

[@Cinnayanny]

I remember when this game was the next Big Thing in mascot horror, then it vanished into thin air. You know it's bad when Pastra's also beating it to the curb

[@dhwwiiexpert]

“I’ll kick dat -Kirby- Hello Neighbor to da curb!” - Pastra, probably.

[@DeathnoteBB]

They tried too hard to make it popular

[@placeholderdoe]

I didn’t know it released until like last year

[@LinkiePup]

I think the reason why the Neighbor’s AI failed over time, is because more focus was placed on the house, and stuff, and the level design, but they never updated the map to support the AI, or had any safe guards to make sure that the neighbor couldn’t get stuck on geometry.

[@migolo1415]

yep, they directed all of their focus to add all of the most random bullshit to the house that they forgot their main selling point, the "advanced AI that learns from your mistakes and adapts"

[@raadalsalehy9223]

​@Migolo worst part is that he was actually pretty good at it ik early stages like if you go thru the back door he guards it pretty well but now the second you get to seconds floor and now your safe

[@youtube-kit9450]

@@raadalsalehy9223 "play the alpha" is a meme for this game for a reason.

[@raadalsalehy9223]

@KZbin-Kit94 their was a better ai then alpha It was something like prebeta He would break doors,throw glue AHEAD OF YOU , and he would close the garage door , and jump at you when your close enough and i think he would jump down the stairs to get to you fast Now this may had been an animation but I'm not sure

[@PointsofData]

​​@@raadalsalehy9223people who have played all publicly available versions have all agreed the alpha (alpha 2 I think) has the best AI. Whatever you saw may have been from a trailer for a build that wasn't public OR those specific features were cool but the AI overall wasn't working at its peak.

[@jonswecker6556]

Essentially it boils down to this: "They put mascot first, and horror as a second."

[@mrult28]

and they put the very thing the series was even promoting itself as at the last. I mean, who needs a smart AI that learns from your strategies when we have to create 2 more obscure spin offs, a show full of theory bait, and a million puzzles into our franchise?

[@0verpricedcoffee553]

it shouldnt even classify for mascot horror, right? he isnt the mascot of anything hes just a creepy guy with a funky ass basement

[@enderkatze6129]

Not even, they put empty theorybait first, and the Second and third slots are empty

[@octonine6212]

@@0verpricedcoffee553 mascot horror is defined by marketable mascot (usually antagonist) characters. they don't need to be actual in-universe mascots, as long as they're ostensibly used to represent the franchise.

[@0verpricedcoffee553]

@@octonine6212 Ah, that makes sense, thanks for informing me!

[@mhmyeahtotallynotacowinmen3373]

The fact you’re always trying to look at the positives of a game, even in this video you word things so that they get your point across, but you’re not terribly negative (at least in my opinion) warms my heart, and is the reason I subscribed to you

[@sandjgaez257]

Imagine if the developers double downed on the Neighbor and his AI and made the chases with him the centerpiece of the game. Imagine if every time you were spotted it led to a unique chase where you scrambled through the claustrophobic house, trying to slow him down by blocking doors with chairs and other means to buy time as your brain goes into overdrive trying to figure out some way to outsmart the Neighbor to escape or hide from him. Imagine a world where this is a plausible sequence of events in the game: You’re being chased by the Neighbor and you just barely managed to block the door to the room you just entered with a chair. You’ve bought yourself a moment to think, but you know it’s only a matter of time before the Neighbor uses his knowledge of his own house to find some way into the room that you’ve never even thought of before. To your immense relief, you find that you’re actually in a room you’ve successfully managed to hide in before, so you decide to try to hide the same way you did last time. You grab a box and toss it down the stairs as a distraction as you hide in a closet. The Neighbor has now found his way into the room and begins to run past your hiding place and down the stairs. However, to your utter horror, he stops, turning around and approaching the closet slowly before opening it and catching you. With a focus on the right ideas, Hello Neighbor could’ve truly been a gem that offered horror and intense gameplay like no other.

[@mackenziewoloschuk7375]

That would've been so fucking epic to witness! Like Alien Isolation or Outlast, only with the knowledge that it won't work again *after the first time*

[@Zeeboklown]

Replace the neighbor with someone like Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers, and u got a hit game!

[@unbecominglycomely]

Just one thing: if you ever go to college (or if you haven’t already), MAJOR IN ENGLISH.

[@leroiken9856]

@@unbecominglycomely write 150 50page essays just to graduate and work at starbucks? Go into stem. 😂

[@TehGrmB33p3r]

​@@unbecominglycomelynah fam, imma go and eat cheeeeeeeeeeeeese every. single. day.

[@deadlydingus1138]

Remind me. Why are we supposed to be afraid of someone who looks like an npc that the devs don’t think we’ll look at for more than five seconds?

[@raskr8137]

I think they didn't try to make the neighbour _look_ scary. It's the fear of the chase that they were going for, and I mean-hell-people get scared of a badly-cropped obama nextbot in gmod if it's chasing them fast enough. Too bad the game completely messed up the chase aspect by making the neighbour slower than you and stuck inside a texture half of the time

[@brawler5760]

Because the devs were trying to make the chases themselves scary, sort of like those Nextbots in GMod. They’re funny PNG’s, but when they run faster than the player can sprint in enclosed spaces, it gets terrifying.

[@genericname2747]

The fear is supposed to come from his intelligence, not his looks. Unfortunately, the devs ended up giving him a lobotomy

[@lambda-m1676]

​@@genericname2747I'm pretty sure they just pulled out an anti tank rifle and shot his head off with it, then reconstructed his head perfectly except for his brain, which was utterly destroyed

[@jamiebhoy8]

Seeing Pastra getting greeted upon a stream as soon as he joins shows how far he’s came as a content creator

[@patpat4937]

I stopped playing when i got softlocked, and when i reset all my progress dissappeared

[@sygiliph2495]

I'm sorry, but that "holy shit, he actually did" was just too hilarious. Lankmann, an eldrich being of mass destruction, literally just went from sounding like a villain to genuine confusion. 🤣

[@Mexikirb]

Reminds me of Death from the Castlevania anime.

[@GHOSTYChoco]

Lankmann is such a joy to witness 😂

[@sygiliph2495]

@@Mexikirb "why is it that only human hands can reach into the depths of Hell? Don't you think that's weirdly fucked up? I can't do it."

[@t0nyxaka90]

I think it also comes from the fact that Lankmann, a figure that has huge importance and is simply a villanous figure that speaks like a gentleman is so outright BAFFLED that some explosive ghost not only broke into his and Pastra's house, but was pissed off enough to RECORD A WHOLE FUCKING PART OF THE VIDEO, and just so confused that Lankmann actually SWEARS! OF ALL THE THINGS, SEEING LANKMANN SWEAR IN THE MOST ANTICLIMACTIC AND CASUAL WAY EXPRESSING GENUINE CONFUSION IS THE LAST THING I EXPECTED! But again, we are talking about a game that is so bad that anything can happen in a review of it. So yeah. Conclusion: eldritch villains suddenly swearing is funny to us.

[@sygiliph2495]

@@t0nyxaka90 that's exactly why I find it funny. This... I was gonna say "man" but Lankmann isn't a human so this THING has been this sinister, monsterous gentleman for so long that the moment he realises that the dude made an entire section of the video, he's so dumbfounded that he drops the grandios way of speaking. Reminds me of a scene in God of War: Ragnarok where Mimir, the smartest man alive who is aware of all of the serious moments from Kratos's past and Greece, get's absolutely stumped trying to figure out what an OLIVE is.

[@funnyclown888]

The fact Pastra genuinely apologised for not liking the game really shows that this guy is a true game critic

[@asterling4]

i dunno about that. it's fine that his brand is positivity, but like he said, the goal of his positivity is to make people feel good when they watch his videos - it isn't a factor in how good his critique is. the job of a critic is to be shrewd, honest, knowledgeable in the genre/medium, and a good communicator. you could unapologetically hate most games you play and still be a fantastic critic if you're able to explain exactly what's wrong with them and how to do better.

[@brunopagnoncelli975]

​@@asterling4 it makes me feel bad for him bc I've seen several comments on this vid and on the nemesis video where they hated on him because he was "being negative" and becoming "part of the problem"....it pisses me off in levels I didn't know were possible...

[@asterling4]

@@brunopagnoncelli975 fr lol. toxic positivity does not help anything. it's good to be kind where you can, but not at the expense of honesty! if you're professional and explain your points well, nothing wrong with criticizing a game. "part of the problem" man that's ridiculous. if anything it _benefits_ the industry.

[@brunopagnoncelli975]

@@asterling4 my thought EXACTLY, your comment is PERFECT

[@RedLaundryBasket]

@@asterling4 yeah, people just lump genuinely good constructive criticism with random deconstructive criticism and hate because it’s easier to see things as black and white and ignore the fact that everything in life is a lot more complicated than that.

[@r0cky794]

I love how Phisnom's swearing is censored but Lankman isn't. A nice attention to detail since Lankman technically works with Pastra. Edit: Gosh how did this get so many likes?

[@levievil9220]

Pastra tries to censor lankman but he can’t

[@UselessAccountt]

@@levievil9220 nah Pastras swearing isn’t censored so I don’t think he cares if Lankman swears

[@levievil9220]

@@UselessAccountt then why censor phisnom if he doesn’t mind?

[@fridaykitty]

@@levievil9220 maybe phisnom censored himself? i dunno lol

[@levievil9220]

@@fridaykitty probably who knows

[@MaddMoke]

*SLOWLY SQUINTS EYES AND A GOOFY GRIN SPREADS ON MY FACE* You like Hello Neighbor, don't you Pastra

[@pennystowers6491]

You have to turn off the power to the house to thaw the ice in the fridge? Just unplug the fridge....

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Or remove the ice!

[@Squishyvlogsaandmore]

i suppose, in the games defence, taking the ice out would take time. and you would probably die doing it. but still, there's better way to do it

[@redjirachi1]

Hello Neighbor is one of those series that relied on Mat Pat's theories to have any sort of marketability...and even he lost interest

[@magicrainbowkitties1023]

Their Twitter account basically begging MatPat for a crumb of relevance will never not be funny and lives in my head rent free

[@jirarara669]

@@magicrainbowkitties1023 I feel bad for the poor intern that had to beg MatPat for theories 😂

[@StarChargerStudios]

I think that what they did in alpha 1 was really cool. They still had that simple gameplay loop and stealth mechanics, but they made the art a little more unique without becoming full cartoon nonsense, they made the house bigger, but still small enough for the neighbor to find you fairly easily, and put in a lot of strange things that if you step back and look at, you’ll realize don’t make sense. Like, in the moment, the landing at the top of the stairs being flooded and having a robot shark seems par for the course, but thinking about it later you realize how weird that is. There was also the sane person way to beat the game, being get the crowbar for the boards and a lock pick for the lock, or, if you wanted to, you could dig deeper and go through a strange, convoluted sequence to find the actual key. It doesn’t give you a special ending or anything, but it has a lot of fun little puzzles and weird shit for people to theorize about, without getting in the way of the main game.

[@shewolfcub3]

Honestly the only good versions were back when the game was looking like itd be good, the Pre-Alpha, Alpha 1, and Alpha 2 were amazing and it's depressing what it became

[@notsae66]

@@shewolfcub3 I had almost the exact same experience with Starbound. I liked the prerelease "terraria in space" game they were making, until it got released and suddenly it has undestroyable stuff everyone is unkillable and instead of a sandbox game it's a linear action story. Oof, big oof. Not as big an oof as this game, but still really nasty.

[@shewolfcub3]

@@notsae66 Agreed completely, i was excited for starbound and i felt extremely let down

[@Naokarma]

The problem was the team making the game saw how much theorizing and stuff people were doing, and instead of loosely playing into it while still following their original vision, the went all in, trying to be as tricky and unpredictable as possible, in order to get these "ah ha" moments it hasn't earned. Hello Neighbor was afraid of being figured out, so it lost itself in the process.

[@guts60]

I remember EARLY (like really early) Hello Neighbor. It was really fun, and every indie game KZbinr from Markiplier to 8BitRyan to mfing VanossGaming was playing it and having a great time. As the game updated and changed rapidly, and never lost its wacky charm and the enjoyable gameplay. What bugs existed at the time were hardly noticeable to the casual player, and were usually exploited to see out of bounds to discover lore and stuff. And, of course, we all wanted to know what was going on in the damn basement! The full release of the game is barely even a shadow of what the alpha and early access builds looked like. And it makes me incredibly sad

[@Grizz-Barr]

And you can NOT forget about the greatest of the all of them! Coryxkenshin!

[@redzebrastripes]

The pre-alpha chase music still gives me chills to this day, I’m so disappointed that it was left out of the final.

[@justafan9399]

Do you want to know the real slap in the face? That track is in the game, but it is relegated to _the gramophone that kills the plants._

[@pokaay3163]

@@justafan9399 now thats just insulting

[@cloudshines812]

I remember when Coryxkenshin tried Hello Neighbor 2 out, he edited in the original chase music because he loved just how suspenseful the original game’s old pre-alpha was

[@chaiguy2930]

Of all the horror games you could discuss, Pastra. Nothing is scarier than this monstrosity.

[@DreadclawDragodon]

Even scarier than Sonic 06 and shadow the hedgehog?

[@rosangelamariapessoa5852]

@@DreadclawDragodon at least those games had some passion behind them, this has nothing, it's not a project that someone actually liked to do.

[@ujiarchive]

This game does have passion. These devs tried to make their first PC game memorable, it just didn't come out the right way. I find it wrong to consider the game completely soulless. I find the main problem, like Security Breach, is the overambition.

[@Beowolf-jy5rc]

@@DreadclawDragodon at least people can say 06 had one of the best if not the best non-eggman villin in the main games maybe spreading to the holl franchise in mephilus

[@manboy4720]

the scariest thing of all: greedy cash grabs! AAAAH!

[@savannawritespng3483]

I never thought I'd see the day where Pastra actually dislikes a game, and Lankmann being civil with Pastra. It's a welcoming sight to see!!

[@SulphurMind]

You know it's bad when even the "Bad guy" of the channel agrees that the subject is absolute trash!

[@savannawritespng3483]

@@SulphurMind Right?! And that face when he realized Phisnom actually did the segment 😂

[@SulphurMind]

@@savannawritespng3483 He somewhat scared THE Lankmann, that's definitely a achievement.

[@savannawritespng3483]

@@SulphurMind Something only the bold can achieve!

[@jessenia1386]

I just realized the Lankman background is the scrapped mascots, it’s a clever way of sneaking them in

[@ReNae231]

The thing is, they could of done great with this. Edith Finch uses a giant house with multiple rooms really well and helped add to the story. If they took the time to flesh out the house and actually create puzzles around each room with it’s own theme, i feel like it would have done amazing.

[@LittleLUNE]

Oh if they were able to make this a fraction of what Edith finch was, I think we would have praised it into the ground as it would have actually been a good idea

[@adamgreenspan4988]

And Edith Finch tells a phenomenal, moving story even without a theorist to explain the lore. There’s still plenty of subtext to dive into, but the story is already very engaging at its surface.

[@glennruark5932]

Seeing Pastra upset is like seeing grandma upset. It doesn't happen often, but when it does? *Take cover.*

[@maas1208]

Fun Fact: Pastra is 19 so he's barely an adult.

[@StupidButterfly]

My thoughts pretty much exactly. I was interested in this game at first, but looking at the end result, I don't see the passion to create a fun, engaging game even when looking at the way the franchise is handled in other ways. It feels hollow. Like they got to a point, said 'eh, good enough' and moved on. Sanitary 'horror' games are not something I have a problem with; having gateway stuff more geared toward kids I think is a great way to ease them into an otherwise aggressive genre that their parents might not let them explore until they're older. But things for kids should still have standards, which I feel this game doesn't have. If this game were just an experiment I would be a lot more sympathetic, but if you're going to market something to hell and back (even going as far as to shaft the other games you're publishing to shine a brighter light on this one product) I think that puts it up to much harsher judgement. It feels like it doesn't respect the people who support it. I sure don't feel respected as a consumer.

[@JRexTheKing]

Oh hello Ellie! Glad to see you here!

[@New3DSLuigi364]

@23:25 I Love that Pastra Used that siren to Get Phil out of their ****ing House!!! The House that Lankmann pays Rent for Pastra to allow him to stay at their House!!

[@lukasfuhrmaneck9101]

I have another issue with the art style that I want to bring up. In some of the alphas you can see them starting to experiment with this cartoony style, and it looks good, more cohesive than in the final version. Like it's subtle but noticeable, like you'll notice that the door you go through isn't actually a plain rectangle, its longer on one side than the other. But this still looks natural because the door itself is misshapen to match the doorframe, so even though it looks weird it looks intentional. It's an interesting art style. But in the later alphas and the final version, I feel like they went overboard with this style. Drawers that don't fit or match, wardrobe doors that don't actually close properly or conceal what is inside, and a pair of binoculars with one lens sticking out further than the other. These don't feel like things that could be used by people in this world, let alone look like they are actually being used in this world. So the art style doesn't have cohesion with the world they've created. Sometimes this over the top nature can look good, like in the surreal nightmare sequences that you mentioned, but in the main part of the game, it just looks wrong. (Also I hate most of the character designs, the protagonist just looks ugly to me the Neighbor looks fine, but he's one of the only aspects that does look fine).

[@gabrielchaplin3156]

It's a difficult balance between style and horror. Like on one hand, I think they should've leant more into a "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" look, where everything is silly and hyper stylised, but still functional and believable. I can see a lot of what the game wanted to be in those films. However, that just wouldn't work for a horror game, so it's an odd choice they went for something like that in the first place. Alpha 1 or 2 are probably the scariest, and they only slightly go into that style. It feels like from the beginning they were veering towards a style that worked against the genre. Just another on the list of questionable choices made for this game.

[@pixelsbykris5494]

@@gabrielchaplin3156 Rando here to input her two cents: Honestly, I think a cartoony- or at least very colourful -art style could- and has -work(ed) well with a horror game. Maybe not this specific one, that's up for debate, but there's plenty of horror games that use intense stylisation to enhance the experience. It all depends on having something this game clearly lacked: a cohesive, well-thought-out and *intentional* reason for the stylistic choices. I know that's true of pretty much every video game ever, but I feel it's especially pertinent with regards to horror games. For example, say what you will about Doki Doki Literature Club, when it first came out and nobody knew it was more than just a simple dating sim, the first plot twist hit like a ton of bricks because the art style- among other things -lulled you into a false sense of security. If you went into the game completely blind and managed to stick with it even if Visual Novels aren't your thing, then I like to think the reveal would have been genuinely surprising. With Hello Neighbour, however, I feel like it had less to do with being a conscious choice, and more to do with they wanted uniqueness for the sake of uniqueness. Also, while they're less outright Horror and more Platformers with Horror Elements, I would reccommend playing both Toree 3d games. They're only a dollar each on itch or Nintendo Switch (possibly others but those are the only ones I personally know of, myself) and are also really short. And they have that sweet, sweet faux PSX look as well, since the OG was originally part of the Haunted PS1 Collection. Which collection I don't remember, but they're all pretty great. (And also have some other bright/colourful games as well. ;) )

[@gabrielchaplin3156]

@@pixelsbykris5494 You bring up a good point I hadn't thought of - using the art style as a twist. I think having a hyper stylised, appealing free roam of a neighbourhood release without much buildup, some people play it expecting a fun time, only to discover each of their neighbours is hiding horrible sercrets as you start being hunted would've made a great game. It would play on the sort of subversion that something like Baldi's Basics would, something charming marketed towards kids (an old educational software) actually being a horror game. But had Hello Neighbour done something like that, it sadly still wouldn't have worked as well as it could've, because everyone already knew it was a horror game from the alpha releases. They gave the game away before it was even released. It can't have that Doki Doki! reveal it really needed. I've always felt the way they released the game severely damaged it. Sure, it was great for KZbin and new content every couple months, but it forced them to work in a way that sort of prevented well thought-out, intentional choices, the game constantly changing look and mechanics with each alpha to remain relevant. The art style became "hey look, we've done something new!", not "doesn't this look like such a fun quirky game? lol no murder neighbour and crow man" (I definitely could've put that more elegantly). Sigh, this game is just an example of what not to do when making a game, from pretty much every angle, honestly such a shame. Also thanks for the game recommendations, definitely gonna check them out, I adore when modern games mimic older PS graphics, and would love to see an example of this idea done right :)

[@pixelsbykris5494]

@Gabriel Chaplin I totally agree with you on the release schedule harming Hello Neighbour's development in that way. Pastra kind of touched on it in the video, too, about how the extended development was a detriment, even if it wasn’t the only thing he touched on. Also, I L. O. V. E. modern horror games with a PSX aesthetic. If you still want something more bright like the Toree 3d games, then I'd recommend Night of the Consumers by germfood on itch. it's only $1.93 in USD. The game hasn't been updated since March of 202p, but what IS there is really good. If you want something that's short (an hour at most if you take the time to really stop and look around), slow burn (both literally in that the game is purposefully slow and maybe even meandering at times), and existential horror, then I highly recommend The Space Between by chrstphr on itch. It's a bit pricier at $5.99 USD, and $7.99 USD if you want the extended soundtrack a mobile/computer wallpapers, but I feel like it's VERY much worth the price tag either way. But, if "walking simulators" aren't your thing, then I would, above even what I've mentioned previously, recommend Fatum Batula by Bryce Bucher on itch, Steam, and Switch. Not only does the game have the look of a PSX game, it even has the texture warping. That said, the gameplay is also pretty simple (find items by solving puzzles and/or doing fetch quests) it's got multiple endings, it's got a beautiful and unique look that also lends into the faux ps1 graphics (if I remember correctly it even has a 4:3 aspect ratio) It's well well WELL worth the $5.99 I paid for it (multiple times) and then some.

[@Jupiter_Mayflower]

I love how he still try’s to find positives, and give a legitimate essay. And then phisnom comes in and just rip’s it apart.

[@bojiggleypuffen9928]

Hey Pastra, I just wanted to say that not only are you one of the most consistently great content creators on this platform, but also that I absolutely love the design of your character! It's so instantly recognizable and unique as well as just fun. Thank you for the great content

[@Vanessa-id3de]

I fully agree with this statement 110%

[@wantedbird55srandomchannel28]

Yellow.

[@sadchild9478]

Oooh money

[@bidoof367]

ive never been to this channel before but yeah this guys mascot and the whole vibe is really unique

[@HajudinStar]

27:17 look at those sweet item physics! The person playing looks so so happy about it

[@Brigeb20]

Lankman just being surprised someone did an entire section of a video about a horrible game is honestly hilarious to me

[@jeanremi8384]

That "holy shit he actually did" was hilarious

[@DynoSkrimisher]

The saddest part was The Neighbour's AI was literally as smart as you in terms of adaptability and tenacity. You broke his window to get in? He barricades them. He caught you in the closets and wardrobes? He locks them. Enter his door? He locks it. It's just a shame they focused entirely on platforming and the most of it's lore. But there's such a thing as 'Show, don't Tell.' Plus his AI was put on the sidelines. And stated previously, the main goal being achieved in the beginning just killed it. No child, no secret, nothing. And the real kick in the teeth was the ending. "It was all a dream." Nuff said.

[@ujiarchive]

He does actually barricade windows in the final game, including ones that block off puzzles, but only if you get caught an absurd amount of times. He can actually stop you completing Act 2 with the trampoline puzzle by doing this. He does also occasionally check wardrobes.

[@blazeking5544]

A Nexbot will be better at navigating then this Guy.

[@motivatedman9730]

@@ujiarchive yeah he does barricade windows but like at some point in the game you realise that you can just run into the house by using the front door with no consequences bcus hes probably outside or just in a room lol

[@Nachtiu2]

Fun fact! The AI was downgraded with every update. Whether on purpose or not, the AI continued to get worse over time, although in one update (I believe Alpha 2 or 3) it became incredibly smart and was an actually difficult game for a bit. Wish they would've kept it like that.

[@NiteMarauder]

Lankmann being genuinely shocked and even swearing over Phisnom writing and recording a segment is the funniest thing I’ve seen all day

[@NoiseFlippin]

I'm really sorry for the loss of your sense of humour

[@leiakasta7602]

I agree, that was a good bit

[@darkpinkgirl6684]

@@NoiseFlippin and i'm sorry that you have a stick up your ass. humor is subjective.

[@genericname2747]

@@NoiseFlippin Houston, you have a problem