Have you ever ever puzzled what it is perhaps prefer to be an investigative Journalist? With Hiya Neighbour 2 you may get to place your pondering cap on and let the sleuthing start. I keep in mind seeing the unique recreation marketed again in 2017 however by no means having the possibility to play it. Then once I noticed the second instalment within the collection on the PlayStation 5 with all of the DLC I made a decision to make the leap and provides it a attempt. After I learn the sport’s synopsis it appeared like it might be one thing that I’d take pleasure in enjoying as I really like stealth/horror video games (when they’re finished proper) as they’ll make for some memorable gameplay experiences. So, with none extra delay let’s uncover what is really happening in Raven Brooks.
Play as an investigative journalist towards AI-driven characters you’ll try to remedy the thriller surrounding a lacking child. Everybody in Raven Brooks appears to be hiding one thing and it’s as much as you to uncover all these darkish secrets and techniques. Play as Quentin who after witnessing suspicious behaviour from his neighbour Mr Peterson determined to dive deeper into the thriller surrounding this man and to shed some gentle on the goings on in Raven Brooks.
Hiya Neighbour 2 is an open-world sandbox the place you get to make use of your wits to unravel varied puzzles and acquire clues to assist the story unfold. At first, you’ll examine a home the place you noticed Mr Peterson take a child into it earlier than approaching you with a spade and knocking you unconscious. While you come to your discover that the home is now being protected by an AI policeman. You need to infiltrate with warning to try to discover clues that can level you in the appropriate route. These clues could be something from gathering dolls that have to be assembled on a doll home in a sure ordered to opening a secure to gather keys to open locks. There’s a good array of puzzles to assist make the sport stream and never really feel too related. After some time, you sort of get the hold of what you’re looking out for as you don’t actually get spoon feed something in Hiya Neighbour 2, it actually places your investigation skills to the check. When you progress by means of the sport you’re going to get to go to different places in Raven Brooks just like the Mayor’s home, the Hunter’s home and the Bakery to uncover what secrets and techniques they’re making an attempt to cowl up. It does really feel just like the additional into the story you go the more durable the puzzles get. Not going to lie at occasions I did must try to look on-line for some pointers as sure puzzles had been simply troublesome. One in all these is the boar’s heads within the Hunter’s home. You need to find 4 boar heads to open a microwave to get a chunk of a map to present you a code and placement for a secure, however they’re on a timer. So for those who don’t activate all of them inside a sure time you need to begin the puzzle once more. As soon as you discover the boar heads it’s not that tough however looking for them was a nightmare, much more so whenever you had the annoying AI hunter patrolling his home.
You’ll come throughout varied sources that you need to use to help in your investigations, these being scissors, crowbars, and some different gadgets that may assist solves puzzle or entry areas that appear unimaginable to get by means of. Using all these assist with the success of going into AI-protected places. I preferred the concept of the safety digital camera as a result of for those who managed to set it up in the appropriate location it gave you a vantage level on the AI so that you knew the place they had been. Utilizing a crowbar to entry areas that had been blocked off actually helps to traverse among the homes as a result of it provide you with an escape route or an alternate entrance. It’s so satisficing when you’ll be able to put your mind to the check and efficiently remedy a puzzle. It was some of the pleasurable issues I took away from Hiya Neighbour 2.
The sport says that it’s a stealth horror thriller recreation however personally I felt let down by this. At no level did I really feel fearful of the AI or the scenario I used to be in. I used to be extra pissed off and aggravated with the AI as they’d bug out, patrol annoying paths and mainly simply make the gameplay a bore greater than difficult. One of many puzzles I simply ran in the home did it and ran out as making an attempt to do it stealthy simply appeared unimaginable when the AI wouldn’t provide you with a sufficiently big opening to do something. The policeman for me within the first home bugged out massively and simply go caught going out and in the identical door again and again which ruined the expertise for me massively as I may simply work round it with no worry of him coming upstairs or having to cover from him. I’m an enormous fan of AI being an enormous scare think about video games just like the Alien in Alien Isolation however these AI simply felt like lacklustre NPCs that had been a nuisance moderately than a problem that I needed to overcome.
Graphically I just like the cartoon model they’ve gone for, Raven Brooks does look vibrant at occasions and if it wasn’t for the creepy neighbours perhaps I’d contemplate shifting right here. The sport doesn’t actually create a creepy feeling like I used to be anticipating once I noticed that it was marketed as a stealth horror. In comparison with different stealth horror video games this one looks like one thing straight out of a scooby doo episode moderately than a life-or-death scenario. If you happen to received caught in one of many homes you simply get kicked out of it, there isn’t an actual punishment for those who received caught being someplace you shouldn’t be. The audio within the recreation once more feels stress-free greater than tense until you alert one of many AI characters then the tempo steps up. Although it didn’t do a great job personally at making a horror situation or scare issue.
There isn’t a lot replay worth with Hiya Neighbour as upon getting finished the puzzles and accomplished the story the primary time, enjoying it once more isn’t as enjoyable as you know the way all of the puzzles work. Until you wished to go in and get all of the trophies one play-through is sufficient for me in terms of Hiya Neighbour 2. Although it did include the bonus of DLC, which meant I received to play by means of the 2 additional story parts which had been related in gameplay to the primary story however had their very own mysteries for me to unfold. The packs that got here with it had been Late Charges, Again to College, and Hiya-copter DLC. The Hiya-copter spy cam was an attention-grabbing safety digital camera that was in a position to fly round permitting you to survey Raven Brooks from a unique approach. Although it did bug out on me a couple of occasions, and the one manner I may repair it was to reload a earlier save to get it working once more.
Conclusion
There have been shimmers of hope with Hiya Neighbour 2 however the extra I performed the extra I simply received turned off. The world design is nice, and it has some complicated puzzles that I actually loved overcoming and finishing, however whenever you pair it with the AI, bugs, and body price drops it makes this stealth horror a lacklustre expertise and one which I’ll sadly keep in mind for the improper causes. I believed the mechanics and fundamentals had been there to make a unbelievable stealth horror, however I really feel prefer it was simply executed poorly and for me was an enormous disappointment. It is perhaps value testing for those who cherished the primary one or if the sport goes on sale however because it stands, I wouldn’t be recommending it. For these causes, I’m giving Hiya Neighbour 2 a 5 out of 10.
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Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X and Sequence S, Microsoft Home windows, Xbox Cloud GamingDevelopers: tinyBuild, Dynamic Pixels, Eerie Visitor StudiosPublishers: tinyBuild, Gearbox Publishing
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