The Tragic Downfall of Hello Neighbor

Hello Neighbor had the potential to be one of the best horror games of the decade, but due to mismanagement and questionable development decisions, Hello Neighbor would only become a complete tragedy.

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On this channel, I like to cover games that have failed, games that have died, nostalgic stuff, and games that are awesome. In today's video, we talk about Hello Neighbor and how a game with a lot of potential became a true tragedy.

#HelloNeighbor #TinyBuild #RoboKast

[TheBrianJ]

For a little more context regarding their new game: I was at PAX West too, and Tiny Build had a area just dedicated to Hello Neighbor 2... and I never once saw a line to get in, and it remained half-empty most of the time.

It really is amazing how far the game fell. Fantastic recap of everything!

[Googledeservestodie]

Begging Game Theory to talk about it more to try and CPR the game's hype is the most pathetic move I've ever heard of. They were so busy trying to be the next FNAF with overcomplicated lore and a focus on letsplayer YouTubers they forgot everything else about making a game.

[gnolex]

I have my own theory on why games like Hello Neightbor and Bendy and the Ink Machine fail so badly. I call this John Romero Syndrome because it started with John Romero, the famous developer behind infamous Daikatana. Basically, makers of those games are artists and it's very clear from the very beginning that this is the case. Both Hello Neighbor and Bendy and the Ink Machine looked great, had their own style, even today you'll find games similar to them and people will say things like "oh it's like Bendy". But those makers are not proper game developers. They can come up with a quirky mechanic and expand it, but they don't know enough about programming, balancing gameplay or making it fun. So a game might be in development but not really progress much as a game. It will look nice but feel terrible to play. This is actually what happens with a lot of small horror indie games, people have a vision of their game but have no idea how to make it into a fun gaming experience. So they slap basic puzzles and fetch quests to fill the void. Just like John Romero, they are missing an actual game developer who can make plans into reality and implement all the gameplay; they are missing someone like John Carmack. An incomplete studio cannot make a complete game. And so we have Hello Neighbor and Bendy and the Ink Machine, games that are artistically great and inspiring, but missing too much of important game stuff.

[Lonezewolflonewolf]

I think the biggest mistake was catering to the streamers, and trying to beat the speed runners. No matte how hard you make a game, you will always have players find a way to speed through it.

[freeze_zane]

As someone obsessed over the franchise, i will say this:
This is a great video that somewhat summarized this dumb fall of the series in a perfect yet short way

[namekiz]

Hello neighbor could have been equal to fnaf, sadly the dev were desperately trying to make it happen while ignoring the selling point of horror game itself

[toastytoad]

as tragic as the downfall was, I discovered the game long after it had already died, but it looked interesting so I got it and played it all winter break. Because of the art style, the lore of Nicky (the player) trying to get over his trauma and the fun game mechanics it's very nostalgic for me and I always feel warm when I hear the soundtracks.

[MaxSchmidGame]

I think you managed to hit the nail on the head on the topic of the game's plot. I am a pretty fervent defender of the game's story as having solid themes of overcoming PTSD and trauma, and I really like how they showed that in game with it being a wordless story, but that story should have been for some other game, or at least should have been less relevant to the gameplay.

[finleyweeks]

Crazy to think it came out 5-6 years ago 😳

[The_Hofol]

Hello Neighbor is the perfect example of why developers shouldn't always listen to content creators.
Seeing their failed attempts at introducing "lore" and the infamous meme of them begging MatPat for attention is just really sad, since the early alphas were a great concept: You break into your creepy neighbor's house to see what's in the basement and a super adaptive AI tries to hinder your progress. If they completely threw out the hastily inserted lore and focused on the AI and (actually playable) puzzles, it could've been a really great game, even Game of the Year material.

[mikethecap]

aye robokast been watching your videos since you started this channel, it’s crazy that it’s been so many years since you ran your own minecraft server and played unturned together. probably wouldn’t remember me, but the times we played together i had a blast. glad to see you’re doing good.

[Dave_kiddystrangler]

I feel like the game should’ve been alpha 1 but just a little more polished

[darlingcosmos]

It's funny how you mentioned a heart wrenching novel, because when I read the first three novels I actually cried. The books are criminally underrated. The main character (Nicky Roth) comes across as an original character by actually being the loner or "quiet kid", and is put through unfair situations due to his curiosity and exploring his world of Raven Brooks. So much shit happens and explains Mr. Peterson's (The neighbor's) insanity. Other than the dark parts of the story, the lighter parts made me laugh too, it sort of plays with your emotions like a greek tragedy which might be a stretch but I'm not kidding when I say the books are damn good.
They are much more satisfying than FNAF or any other indie horror game novels and explains the lore of the first game in horrific detail. At the start of the books it makes some fart jokes (possibly to make the age rating lower) but later on it begins to become darker and more grim as the plot moves on. Secrets get more disturbing such as topics like implied mental domestic abuse and child neglect. The author who made these books know what it's like to have the mind of a child in a very dangerous situation which only made the interactions between characters realistic and even excruciatingly scary. Even though I knew Nicky Roth would live because of the first game, I still questioned if he was going to be alive at the end of the third novel or not.
Everything about these books opened a brand new world as If I had lived in it before. I felt like I could touch the grass of Raven Brooks, run around in the Peterson house, finding secrets about the town. It's so greatly detailed and an unforgettable story imo. If you aren't into the game, you probably won't be too into it. However it changed my perception of the game and I feel Nicky's pain as I go back to play the game spin offs.
The absolute tragedy these characters had to go through because of the past constantly affecting the present made playing the HN games more meaningful to me. Mainly because the very end of the third novel greatly disturbed me and yet gave me a fresh new feeling of, "This is the best story I've ever read and I don't think I'll ever find another one quite like it." The backstory deserved to be told in the novels, the animated series can try all it wants to be the coolest brand new thing, same can be said for the games themselves, but the first three books will NEVER be beaten by those. The following HN novels won't ever beat the original three published before them either. I think they're interesting enough to be given a chance as well {except reset day, it screws with all the previous lore} but those aren't nearly as "horror-like" or tragic as the first three.
Anyway the books did what the games couldn't do, haunt your mind of a tragic "horror" story. Despite the game being labelled as horror, the books do a much better job of giving you that feeling. I mean it when I say that this story will forever linger in my memories and remind me of character's mistakes that I will never repeat. It's such a good lesson about the dangers of being isolated and losing trust. I won't spoil anything since I know some of you might read the books. I HIGHLY recommend the books to any hello neighbor fan. Alpha fans or not you should all at least give it chance. I know the books may say 10+ but they should be rated much higher (like teen rated or a bit higher), that's how dark and mature the story really is. Thanks for reading this and have a wonderful day/night! <3

[Domsweirdvideos]

I wish the chase music would be more like the original because I can’t tell if I’m being chased or not because of how quiet it is. I liked how ominous and sinister the alpha 1 music sounded. at least I could HEAR it! I also wish that the graphics in the game didn’t look like they were from a veggie tales skit and that they were just like the older versions. I wish the house wasn’t so big. I wish the house was just a normal/somewhat big house and not something that looks like a house of the future concept from the 1950’s.

[mariokarthero]

Seems like this was a case of doing too much too soon, damaging the game (and possibly the IPs) reputation. They should've just made a good game first and focused on it being EZ YouTube lore bait later.

[dylanhudec]

Do y’all remember back when hello neighbor was in its prime?

[artistsometimes]

They were more interested in chasing popularity then making a good game. It should be a huge sign to anyone that games that are fun to watch huge youtubers like Markiplier or Pewdiepie play are often not very good games. They're simply a stage in which to scare/frustrate the youtuber for our entertainment - heavy on the schadenfreude. Actually 'good' games are rarely played by those youtubers, often because they cater to smaller audiences - most people don't actually like playing proper videogames, certainly not the same games. That is apart from mmos or huge multiplayer games like Fortnite or Minecraft. But in that case, it's generally a much younger demographic and the appeal is being part of something bigger than yourself, rather than finding the game mechanics fun or the story compelling.

The biggest problem for any game is limiting its scope and fighting the hype train so it can fulfil its potential, whilst also making sure it's seen and played by enough people to make a decent return. And a lot of that is down to the youtubers who have the reach to review games they like rather than let's play whatever's popular.

[amateural]

Trying to bait Matpat into a video is the easiest way to kill your franchise.

Take the golden egg when he makes one. Quit begging for more.

[Small_Brian]

Hello Neighbour and Bendy and the ink machine were my childhood I miss 2018 man

[Intelligent-Guy]

Great video. I still like the series but it was definitely at it's best during the alpha 1 days. It's a shame we never got the full version of that.