Hello Neighbor, the stealth horror game with smart AI, releases in August

tinyBuild has announced that its scary-but-cartoony neighbour-harassment simulator Hello Neighbor will release in August this year.

Think horror games and you’re probably thinking of decrepit castles, abandoned asylums or derelict spaceships. Hello Neighbor presents a much fresher and colourful-er take on the genre that’s close to home: literally. In tinyBuild’s Hello Neighbor, you sneak into your neighbour’s house to discover his secrets, but find that your neighbour is a lot more than you bargained for. According to the publisher, Hello Neighbor will launch on August 29th this year.

The game’s highlight is its highly intelligent AI, which tracks everything that you do and the decisions that you make. The more you play, the smarter your neighbour gets, so you’ll constantly have to be on your toes (perhaps literally?) as you try to outwit him. It’s kind of like the excellent Don’t Breathe, except the villain isn’t blind, and it’s daytime. Wait, that’s actually kind of more frightening.

Here’s how tinyBuild describes the game’s evolving AI:

Really enjoying climbing through that backyard window? Expect a bear trap there. Sneaking through the front door? There’ll be cameras there soon. Trying to escape? The Neighbor will find a shortcut and catch you.

tinyBuild has been putting out a steady drip of alpha demos for the game, the latest of which was released earlier this month. Here’s a trailer for the alpha, complete with pop-in textures and a house possibly built by the same person who built the Finches’ house. Have a look at the trailer below:

While tinyBuild is publishing the game, Russian studio Dynamic Pixels is handling the development. The roughly 13-year old studio chiefly has experience in mobile titles, and this is their first PC and console game.

Hello Neighbor is currently in development for PC and Xbox One. On PC, it will be available off Steam and Humble Store.  You can check out the PC alpha demo on the official site here.