Hello Neighbor 2

Despite more or less scathing criticism, the humorous puzzle thriller Hello Neighbor managed to sell two million copies since its release in 2017. After all, the unique genre mix was a particular hit with a younger audience on Twitch and YouTube, where loud streamers reacted to the murderous Mr. Peterson - the neighbour referred to in the title - and his madcap pursuit of the player, from Peterson's mansion to his nightmarishly addled brain. Although the developers at Dynamic Pixels were obviously better at coming up with ideas than actually implementing them, you have to give the first game credit for having a peculiar, slightly goofy charm.

For game number two, I now return to the same slumbering residential area - and it feels like I never left. Graphically, sadly, not much has changed since last time, and the cartoony, low-resolution rushed blockiness that overshadowed the previous game's worst, technical shortcomings is also not as easily forgiven this time around. Especially since there's been a generational shift. On the other hand, the pulse-pounding, Mr. Gadget-esque music is as delightful as I remember it. Subtle, jazzy, cozy and a bit eerie rather than full of garish effects.

But alas, not much has changed with Mr. Peterson, either. Initially, I witness another of his murders, and my first mission is to make my way into the crime scene, past the policeman who has surrounded Peterson's house with barricade tape, and down into the basement. What happened between the murder and the arrival of the police remains a matter of interpretation, and I take it that Dynamic Pixels has spun together a bunch of puzzle scenarios that they've failed to tie together into a coherent story. For once I've slipped away from the police - something that soon develops into more annoying trial-and-error than unnervingly comic cat-and-mouse horror - and step by step solved the sometimes hilariously simple, sometimes unimaginably elaborate puzzles, crouched under small wooden tables and gained access to the basement; then I'm just flung further out the front door, away from the scene of the crime.

The reward for challenge number one thus fails to materialise, and I am left snobbishly alone in the driveway of the house with an open residential suburb to explore in search of the next objective. Well, where am I going? Somewhat hesitantly, I feel doorknob upon doorknob of the villas, jumping over hedges and peering in through windows. Hello, I want to call out. What am I supposed to do? When I get tired of no one letting me in, I throw my crowbar at the glass panes but am constantly met with the same scenic "thomp." The seemingly open world is a lie, or an empty hubworld at least.

Subsequent challenges, when I eventually find them, are just loose variations on the first. In the café, the same step-by-step puzzle is repeated, where the object must first be located in the cat food bowl, the key to the cupboard with the cat food must be found, the cat must be fed to divert its attention so that I finally get hold of the object, and the circle is completed. All while one of Mr. Peterson's henchmen - in this case an anonymously named, angry individual - chases me on completely arbitrary premises. Does it make any difference if I sneak on the wooden floor than on the softly woven carpets? I ask myself. And why does the bitch stay right in front of me - again crouching under a table - for just over half a minute, but contents herself with merely staring at the table?

Ahead of Hello Neighbor 2, the developers have been talking up advanced AI, an open world, clearer goal-setting and an exciting story that will delve deeper into Mr. Peterson's character and motivations. All we got was a developer who once again showcased their inability to implement ideas; they also made it all too clear that the ideas themselves have also run out. Make like the kids and check out Hello Neighbor 2 on YouTube or Twitch instead, if you must. Just don't spend money on this.