After 4 alpha releases and hundreds of gameplay videos, Hello Neighbor is set to launch on PC and Xbox One on August 29th. Publisher Alex Nichiporchik from tinyBuild appeared on Twitch’s E3 Stream to show off some gameplay from the new Beta build. The Beta also got a new trailer to help fuel the wild conspiracy theories that keep the game on seemingly every YouTuber’s playlist.
Nichiporchik told the Twitch audience that with the Beta, the framework for the game’s opening has fallen into place. The actual visuals may still be subject to change, but we’re finally getting a more complete glimpse of the story that will play-out along-side the sandbox sneak-fest. A story which has generated more theoretical lore than some fully fleshed-out franchises.
The revised opening features the protagonist waking up to an eviction notice. With no alternative he packs his bags and moves back home to the house where he grew up. That’s when things get weird.
Building A (Beta) Mystery
The house we move back to looks eerily familiar, probably because for the last 4 iterations of the game we’ve been breaking into it. A quick shift has us waking up across the street in the house we’ve come to recognize as our own. During the Twitch show, Nichiporchik hinted that there was a reason for the house swap, but said players would have to solve the game’s mystery to figure out what it was.
As screams pierce the night, we follow their source back to the house of our illusive neighbor. Something’s going on in that house and soon we’ll be able to find out what. Players have been speculating ever since the first Hello Neighbor alpha build came out. Game theorists have covered every possible angle. Everything from the mundane to the supernatural. The only thing we know for sure is that even after all our various forays into the game, we still have more questions than answers.
Of course, the trailer doesn’t go much further into the mystery surrounding what the nefarious neighbor is hiding in his basement. Nor does it do much to justify the player character’s insistence on breaking and entering. Much like in the previous alpha builds, developer, Dynamic Pixels wants to keep as much of Hello Neighbor’s story a secret until its launch.
