An adaptive AI-driven stealth game!
Hello Neighbor, a popular stealth puzzle game, uses an AI-driven approach to change backgrounds, choices, and approach as per your gameplay style. While playing the game, the ‘enemy’ learns your strategy to make the gameplay more difficult. Based on your habits and actions, it evolves to keep you engaged and interested.
Learns, adapts, and makes gameplay interesting!
A good game with some scope for improvement.
Hello Neighbor is played from a first-person perspective. It lets you walk in the shoes of a little boy for most part of the game. The journey starts from your character witnessing the neighbor locking something suspiciously in the basement.
The objective of the game is to enter the house and solve the mystery. The iPhone version comes with several puzzles and tricks. In order to avoid detection, you can run or hide to get out of the house safely. The interface is clean, and you’re not restricted by the screen size.
An engaging gameplay to keep you interested
While there are several stealth games on the App Store, Hello Neighbor’s original concept sets it apart. The gameplay is engaging, and does a good job of building suspense. Since the game uses an AI-driven adaptive approach, you’ll never know when the neighbor gets on your trail.
If you’re caught, you have a couple of seconds to get away. There are plenty of areas to hide and run, leaving you with numerous interesting strategies to win the game. Overall, you’ll encounter several tense and nail-biting moments, encouraging you to keep playing day after day.
The game has many good parts, such as the forgiving checkpoint system, which doesn’t put a lot of pressure on players. However, there’s still scope for improvement, as Hello Neighbor could do without occasional bugs and lags.
One of the biggest complaints about Hello Neighbor has been the exclusion of tutorials. The game doesn’t really tell anything about expectations regarding gameplay. Once you start playing, you’re left on your own, with little support from prompts and controls. Simply put, you have to figure out everything on your own.
Shoddy graphics could have been improved
With cartoon art-inspired gameplay, Hello Neighbor looks unique and interesting. Unfortunately, the graphics are shoddy and don’t appeal to new-generation gamers. With options like PubG, Fortnite, Can You Escape, and The Room for smartphones, Hello Neighbor finds it difficult to attract millenials.
While a game’s art style is a subjective call, this one could have been better without the gimmicky look and over-the-top characterization. Although the neighbor’s character is good, the protagonist and objects in the home often look pixelated.
In the few moments that Hello Neighbor shows your character, it looks corny and cartoony, making you seriously annoyed. With that being said, the overall animated art could do with some improvements in future updates. Not really a big ask! The developers will be definitely looking into it.
Adaptive AI challenges you throughout
The colorful and cheerful neighborhood setting of the game makes for the perfect environment. Among stealth horror games on the App Store, this one takes the lead with adaptive capabilities. Once the game starts, you instantly realize that nothing’s well in the house down the street.
Trying to solve the mystery requires you to match wits with an adaptive AI-driven gameplay. The ‘neighbor’ learns and evolves with your choices. At every step of the game, new strategies are introduced to catch your character. Fortunately, the house has several objects and areas to help you confuse the ‘neighbor’. However, the poorly optimized controls cause the occasional frustration.
While searching your neighbor’s house, you’ll find several tools and clues to achieve your objective. Nail-biting moments, impulsive choices, and scary moments drive the gameplay. If you’ve been a fan of stealth, puzzle-solving games, it would be great to check out Hello Neighbor. With brooding menace and an ambience of tension, it’s a charming game to pass the time.
Where can you run this program?
Hello Neighbor for iOS is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and several other Apple devices. For iPhone, it requires version 10.0 and above.
Is there a better alternative?
Whilst this is a good choice, you can’t overlook the availability of options on the App Store. Can You Escape is one such alternative. The interesting gameplay and easy-to-use controls let you solve complex puzzles and find hidden objects. However, beginners need a good amount of time to get a grasp of the tough gameplay. The Room is another game that’s getting popular in this genre. It presents the perfect combination of adventure and horror. While the game offers an amazing 3D puzzle experience, the gameplay gets boring after a while.
Last but not the least, you could try Spotlight: Room Escape. It allows you to focus on hidden object gameplay while taking the role of a hero in a strange setting. The game has many exciting puzzles to solve, which require logical and strategic thinking. Gather clues, find objects, and solve puzzles to escape the rooms. The only drawback is that the gameplay feels quite lengthy after some time.
Our take
For an iPhone game, Hello Neighbor has a lot going for it. The game has quirky graphics, original concept, several chapters, and interesting gameplay. While graphics and controls could be improved and optimized, Hello Neighbor doesn’t disappoint, and in fact turns out to be a great stealth horror offering.
Should you download it?
Yes, definitely! It’s a good game with several interesting choices and engaging gameplay. With this game, you can have a lot of fun. But you need to adapt to poorly optimized controls. While it takes some time, it’s not very hard to achieve. Stealth horror games have been getting quite popular on iPhones, and Hello Neighbor is an excellent choice to start playing one.
