The hit indie stealth game, Hello Neighbor is getting a sequel! A brand new announcement trailer for Hello Neighbor 2 was recently unveiled at the Xbox Games Showcase pre-show. The new trailer throws us into some interesting game play where we see a hint of the new and improved AI.
Hello Neighbor 2 sees you stalked by a mysterious raven-like creature as you try to track down Mr Peterson – The Neighbor from the original game. This takes place immediately after the events of the first game where Mr Peterson disappeared.
You take on the role of Quinten, a journalist investigating the disappearance of several people in the town of Raven Brooks. Your investigation takes you to the same house from the first game but while you are investigating, you are stalked by a dangerous raven-like creature.
Nail-Biting Tension from a Self-Learning AI
The main change we see in this sequel is an improvement to the AI. The first game used manually placed AI waypoints to help the neighbor react to and stalk the player. But the sequel goes one further. The sequel uses fully dynamic AI which will watch the player’s behavior and learn their habits to respond accordingly. This adds a new and exciting element that’s sure to drive the tension even higher.
We see a couple of examples of this in the trailer. As the raven creature chases after Quinten, the player throws objects to slow it down and the raven responds to obstacles around it. Quinten decides to lock himself in a room with metal bars on the door. The raven sees this and picks up a saw to cut through the bars. You’ll have to think fast to escape situations like this, even if it means jumping out of the window as Quinten does in the trailer.
Explore and Investigate the Open World
Another thing this game introduces is an open-world element which lets players explore the town and gather important items in their investigation. You’ll investigate a mysterious flock of ravens which has descended on the town and see how this ties into the disappearances of the townspeople including Mr Peterson.
Will we find out Mr Peterson’s role in all of this? Is he another victim of the raven creature? Or is he the one responsible for the other disappearances?
Players will have their own stories and the narrative will be determined by your actions. You’ll be able to find new and creative solutions to solve the puzzle by combining different items. There are also terrain features and platforming skills to play around with. These add a sandbox element to the game too.
Release Date
Hello Neighbor 2 is due for release next year. However, there is an Alpha 1 currently available for free on Steam if you’re interested in trying it out before then.
Hello Neighbor 2 will be coming to PC, Xbox Series X and Xbox One. Will you be picking up a copy or trying out the alpha version? Let us know in the comments.