Hello Neighbour a test of blind perseverance

THERE’S two ways to look at Hello Neighbour and one perspective certainly casts it in a better light than the other. Taken as a straight puzzle game, it is fascinating and frustrating in equal amounts.

The nonsensical and illogical nature of many of the puzzles in this game make the experience rather exasperating. How are players supposed to deduce which combination of wacky objects is the correct one to ensure progression? This lack of logic is particularly noticeable in act three of the game when all reason is thrown out the window and Hello Neighbour becomes the most tiresome of guessing games.

Looking at Hello Neighbour from the perspective of a community effort, it retains some of its shine. Perhaps the developers intended Hello Neighbour to be subject to a community-drive meta-analysis of sorts, where solutions and discoveries would be pooled together in online forums. Unfortunately, this is an overly-generous take on a deeply flawed game. Certainly, games should never require external material and research as a means of progression.

For all its disjointed mechanics, there is a certain charm to Hello Neighbour that is inescapable. The Rube-Goldberg esque construction of your neighbours house, the initially vibrant colour pallette and the momentary reward whenever you do manage to solve one of the janky puzzles combine to offer fleeting glimpses of how great this game could have been had the developers managed to actually create a cohesive experience.

The ever-present feeling that something is never quite right with your neighbour and his ever-shifting surroundings. Indeed, horror elements later on in the gameplay give the experience a decidedly nervous edge.

The strengths of Hello Neighbour - which are few and far between - only seem to highlight the rift between the pros and cons of this title. Games such as Portal highlight the strengths of puzzle games - to challenge the player to solve the puzzles through ingenuity and logical deduction. Hello Neighbour seems to be simply a test of the player’s blind perseverance. A fun game on paper, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.