GAME
OF THE
DAY
Hello Neighbor Hide & Seek
Stealth horror game w AI
In the original Hello Neighbor, you played as a young boy investigating a scary neighbor’s home. It was a fascinating mystery told through small clues found around the house—and it had a shocking conclusion.
But how did your neighbor get so creepy in the first place? The prequel, Hide & Seek,explores the past and adds some fresh wrinkles to the cat-and-mouse gameplay that made the original a smash hit.
The neighbor is back—as is his impressively waxed mustache. But this time, he’s a loving family man. His house is no longer run-down and filled with garbage. So what went wrong? In Hide & Seek, we find out how it all unraveled.
The most obvious difference is the change in perspective: You play as the neighbor’s daughter (the same one who goes missing in the first game). Viewed through a child’s eyes, the environments are surreal. A small bedroom, for example, appears as a massive, dreamlike field, with giant toys littering the landscape.
It’s also more of an adventure game. If the first game was about conquering one’s fears, Hide & Seek is a meditation on trauma and grief. You’re still being chased, but the map is much more open than the claustrophobic home of the previous game. And as with the original, solving Hide & Seek’schallenging puzzles will take a combination of smarts and skill.
Despite its heavy themes, Hide & Seek is plenty of fun to explore. Spend some time wandering its weird world and you just might call it family.