Surreal games - entertainment is not for many. Not for many developers. Creators need an intuitive vision of the border, behind which aesthetically valuable absurdism turns into stupid imitation with meaningless mystifications. The Franz Kafka Videogame , Virginia - the creations are not perfect, but they do not brag about what is called "cheap".
But from the crafts of the domestic company Dynamic Pixels Hello Neighbor blows. And how.
A neighbor from hell
The story begins very cheerfully and prospectively: our hero becomes a witness of some kind of bad act, to which his neighbor is involved. If you omit (and this is recommended for half of the works of modern culture), the logic "Why not call the police?", The sequel is quite intriguing: the guy makes his way into someone else's house in order to find out what the potential criminal is hiding in his cellar.
But then the plot turns into a surreal knot, unravel it - a separate fun for visitors to thematic forums. Each new level represents the penetration of the hero into the improved abode of the neighbor. When and how he managed to fence himself off from the world with a tall wall or build a branchy railroad network for a trolley around his castle - a big question. Why time after time we sneak into these architectural creations, what are we looking for and what did our mustachioed scoundrel do after all? All these are excellent reasons for speculation.
And do not expect that the ending will put everything in its place. It, first, comes too unexpectedly (the passage will take four hours), and secondly, only deepens the misunderstanding. Immediately and do not believe that this faded episode is the end of an intricate detective story. It is possible that the writers have a clear vision of the plot and they can explain every strange detail of the narrative. But I, as an average user, did not want to go through Hello Neighbor again for a second , in order to get into the secrets of her story, having already had certain information. For some reason, they seem to have no clues to mystification.
Intellectual hardcore
After all, with the gameplay the same problem as the story. First, you sneak into the neighbor's house stealth-stealing, looking for the necessary items, diverting his attention, solving logical puzzles. But the further, the worse. Mechanics remain the same throughout the game: the hero can take things, throw them, and also use some of them. Freely wandering around the house a neighbor dilutes the routine with short races. Much here resembles modern horror like Alien: Isolation . Distract the attention of the "creature" can be thrown by an object, and hide and seek in the closet and under the bed are accompanied by frightening screen shivers. Only here from the shelter we see not an eerie monster, but a funny mustachioed uncle who, catching us, will not take to bite his head or tear off limbs - you just wait for the level reset.
So the whole game and we move around the locations, choosing non-irritating ways and solving puzzles. In the latter, in fact, is the gameplay value of Hello Neighbor . The value is doubtful, because the logic to which riddles are subordinated is completely opaque and few people will master Hello Neighbor without looking at YouTube.
For example, four lightbulbs flash in a random sequence over the grid. When all light up, the path opens. In another room, we find guns firing tennis balls on four levers. Communication has been established, and now it is only necessary to somehow make these machines "silent". It would be logical to just take over and overthrow them, to break, but the solution that the game offers is much less trivial. In order to fix the levers, it is necessary to erect an obstacle between them and guns. But how to do that? Of course, by growing a few trees right on the floor! And how to achieve this? Obviously - you need to sneak a phonograph from another part of the house and turn it on in this room. Under the magic music before our eyes spread a wonderful garden ...
Hello Neighbor- The thing is very strange. In all aspects: in the plot, mechanics, visual design. The style of the game is fun and enjoyable: strenuous sound effects and typical horror elements curiously resonate with colorful graphics. Many locations are well-made, there are interiors that pleases the eye.
However, the surrealistic claims of the authors seem to have played a cruel joke, for many sections of the levels are made through sleeves. A lot of rooms do not have furniture, the objects of the environment themselves are constantly repeated, the interiors do not tell the story. They seem to be put together without any logic and meaning - in the hope that more creative users will see in themselves this story. It seems that the creators were inspired by The Beginner's Guide , they decided to do the same, but the talent was not enough. If in the latter, the emptiness and lack of locality of locations is conceptually justified, then here it is felt like a hack.
Hello Bugs
In regards to Hello Neighbor , unfortunately, I'd like to talk more about technical implementation than about any gameplay features. The game process is full of different roughnesses, angularities and imperfections. The crazy physics created by Dynamic Pixels is simply unacceptable: the ball put on the ground rolls to the edge of the level, then the character suddenly "pushes" off the ground with a hanger and makes a ten-meter jump. The chairs are stuck in the walls, the plates are in the balls, the neighbor is in anything.
The spatial juxtaposition of two material objects is accompanied by a nasty rattling. In the game there may be a sound disappeared, a crash may happen or some unexpected event may occur, which could be called cheerful if we did not have the final version before us.
"Beta" has detected multiple bugs. And even their developers did not bother to fix it. The "right" sequence of solving puzzles is easily handled in many places: for example, a hero can get an object from behind a lattice, using a clumsy physical model, or in certain places to go through the wall.
The artificial intelligence of the only opponent in the game is made well, but no more. Yes, our neighbor is capable of much: puts traps under the windows, takes care of the work of electricity, reacts to the sources of noise. Seeing us, will begin a chase, during which he will throw in us the protagonist slowing down the objects.
However, to deceive a scoundrel is worthless. And there is no need to use the developers' designed options like gatherings in cabinets. Adapted, you can forget about all this stealth with goose walking and imperceptible penetration - our opponent often chooses far from ideal trajectories, overcome some obstacles, he is basically not capable, and the frequent "jams" of a fool in textures in general can deprive the passage of the level of any danger .
Hello Neighbor - the fruit of a rather strange idea is to create a surreal stealth horror. By itself, it is difficult to call successful. The solution of puzzles that do not have obvious logical connections, will please only representatives of a very rare intellectual subculture. It's a game for an amateur lover to study every pixel level, to solve riddles inaccessible to the human mind and to enjoy unexpected program code tricks.
Pros: nice visual style; sometimes races with a neighbor cause emotions.
Cons: a mysterious, philosophical plot; short campaign; stingy gameplay, copying stamps of modern horror; an abundance of "quests" from the series "Look what you need to do on YouTube"; sea of bugs.
I never played this game but I saw so many game-plays of it on YouTube. It looks like a decent game.