Hello Neighbor 2
Hello Neighbor 2 (formerly Hello Guest, and its prototype codename Late Night Shift) is a stealth horror thriller game from the Hello Neighbor game series. It released on December 6th, 2022 to mixed reception, with praise directed at the visuals and criticism towards the story, gameplay, and various technical issues. The game has since seen multiple, ongoing content updates, aiming to improve all aspects of the game.
In Hello Neighbor 2, you play as a local journalist named Quentin. He is suspicious of his creepy neighbor, Mr. Peterson. A bunch of people have gone missing and there's just something strange about Mr. Peterson. Everyone is afraid of him. There have been rumors of children going to his house and never being heard from again. Some say he likes to lock people up in his basement, but no one has any proof. So people just try to avoid Mr. Peterson, his odd house, and ignore the strange sounds coming from his basement at night. You have a feeling that Mr. Peterson is behind all the neighborhood disappearances, but no one believes in your ideas and theories. And while you normally wouldn't break into someone's house, you're the only one who believes something is wrong and has the guts to uncover the truth.
This game was revealed as part of an ARG that tinyBuild had mixed in with Secret Neighbor. To solve the ARG, the community had to complete in-game events (Secret Neighbor Mayak Event) and piece together codes until on June 13, 2020, Alpha 1 of Hello Guest released. Later on July 23, 2020, tinyBuild renamed Hello Guest to Hello Neighbor 2, and on that exact same day, Alpha 1 of Hello Neighbor 2 released. In October 2020, tinyBuild revealed Hello Neighbor 2 Alpha 1.5 would release that month, with Halloween related events, more story, and a revamped ending and intro. It released as planned on Monday, October 26th along with the Secret Neighbor Halloween Update.
On April 7th, 2022, pre-orders for Hello Neighbor 2 went live. The Standard edition Pre-Order came only with the Beta and the Release on December 6th. The Deluxe edition Pre-Order came with the Exclusive Beta, as well as the Back to School, Late Fees, and Hello-Copter DLCs. It also came with Early Access to the full game, which was unlocked on December 1, 2022.
Hello Neighbor 2 went through many developmental iterations, many of which were released publicly. A list of all Hello Neighbor 2 versions is documented here.
Summary
Not everything is as it seems in Raven Brooks. Picking up directly after the events of the original game, the police show up at Mr Peterson’s house — where he had kids locked up in his basement.
As Quentin, an investigative journalist, you sneak into crime scenes and people’s houses to find clues and evidence. It’s up to you to piece this puzzle together. Building upon the formula of Hello Neighbor 1, you play in a larger open world with multiple houses inhabited by suspicious characters.
- Sneak into suspicious characters' houses, because that’s what investigative journalists do
- The town of Raven Brooks is your playground, with AI-driven residents inhabiting its houses
- Track down Mr Peterson - the infamous creepy Neighbor
Plot
Act 1: The Neighborhood
The game opens with Quentin arriving in the town of Raven Brooks, stopping for a moment to make a note in his journal about the cases he's come to investigate. After a brief coffee-cup transition, Quentin is now in front of the Peterson household at night, trying to spy for anything suspicious. He comes across Imbir hiding in a bush, before the sounds of a struggle catch Quentin's attention - the sounds coming from none other than Mr. Peterson, struggling to drag Aaron Peterson back inside. Quentin snaps a few photos as evidence, but not without Mr. Peterson noticing before seemingly disappearing back into his house.
As soon as he left, however, Mr. Peterson steps back outside with a shovel in hand, menacingly walking towards Quentin. Quentin fumbles with his keys and manages to escape just as Mr. Peterson smashes his window open. Quentin is seemingly home free, until the Guest appears in the middle of the road, startling Quentin and sending his van hurtling into the wall of a nearby barn. Quentin manages to survive the accident and escapes the barn, but Mr. Peterson was waiting outside and knocks Quentin out with a shovel, stealing his camera in the process.
The next morning, Quentin mysteriously wakes up in the nearby Raven Brooks Banner office, one of the rooms having been converted into a bedroom. He finds his head mysteriously bandaged, right before the CCTV system suddenly fires on as a strange clicking noise is heard outside the window. Investigating the CCTV system, Quentin discovers that the police have arrived at the Peterson household, with Peterson himself nowhere to be found. Curious, Quentin decides to go out and investigate.
At the Peterson household, Quentin finds it to be guarded by a large, mustached cop named Keith Nielsen, who attempts to guard whatever lies behind the strangely locked-up basement door. After a little bit of puzzle-solving, Quentin manages to break into the basement. Within, he finds sheets, toys, and a newspaper clipping about the closing of the local Raven Brooks Museum. Underneath the newspaper clipping is a red key, which opens up the cellar door to the basement. When Quentin leaves, however, he is hit by a paper airplane made from one of Aaron's missing posters. Said paper airplane contains a cry for help written on the back, with a trail of even more airplanes leading Quentin directly to the Museum.
Inside the Museum, however, Quentin finds that the door to the museum's inside has been locked shut by a strange lock, as well as a misplaced shovel sitting by the entrance. When Quentin grabs the shovel, he suddenly begins to feel dizzy, and passes out on the floor - before seemingly waking back up in the Banner, at nighttime. However, the light seemingly won't turn on, and something is outside. Quentin grabs a flashlight to investigate, before a loud bang on the door startles him and causes him to drop the flashlight. Quentin frantically tries to grab the flashlight from under the bed as the pounding grows more intense, eventually looking under the bed - only to find Mr. Peterson waiting, jumping out to grab him.
However, Quentin then proceeds to wake back up in the Banner as usual, revealing the previous Banner sequence to have been some sort of nightmare. As Quentin gets back up, he notices that the CCTV footage has changed to display an interaction between Nielsen and the local baker, Gerda. Suspicious, Quentin decides to head to the Bakery to investigate. Yet again, he finds Gerda's bakery to be rigged with various puzzles, designed to protect the code to her register. Said code opens the register, to reveal that Gerda was in possession of one of the Museum keys.
Returning to the Museum that night, Quentin opens the entrance with the Bakery key, and is greeted by none other than Mr. Peterson once again. Mr. Peterson had moved into the Museum after Quentin arrived, now hiding out from the Police attempting to find him. Within the Museum, Quentin discovers strange paintings and artifacts that depict people wearing black feathered robes and white, crow-like masks, as well as an attic door that has been protected by three missing taxidermy heads. Upon further exploration, Quentin finds the key to the bedroom, and inside lies a Peterson family photo that Quentin picks up.
When Quentin picks up the family photo, however, he is suddenly launched into another nightmare. This time, he finds himself on the other end of the camera, photographing Aaron and Mr. Peterson standing in front of the Peterson household. Suddenly, dark clouds begin to form in the sky as Quentin notices another plea for help scrawled across Aaron's shirt as the boy begins to cry. As the rain begins to pour, Mr. Peterson grabs Aaron and begins to drag him off into the house, with Quentin attempting to follow suit through the raging storm. However, before he can reach them, a bright flash of lightning throws Quentin off his feet and catapulting back into his bed.
After waking back up in the Banner for a third time, Quentin discovers the CCTV footage to have changed again. This time, it displays the local taxidermist Mr. Otto having buried a strange something in his front yard. Believing this to be another key, Quentin goes to investigate Mr. Otto as well. Once again, he finds a house rigged with puzzles - this time, to protect the code to the safe Otto had buried in his yard. As suspected, Quentin finds yet another key to the Museum inside of said safe.
That night, Quentin returns to the Museum once more. After solving a few puzzles to find another code to a safe, Quentin finally discovers his lost camera waiting inside. Accidentally flashing himself with the camera sends Quentin into another nightmare, beginning with him opening the doors to the Museum. Inside, he finds a strange gold coin inscribed with an apple that seemingly fell from out of nowhere. After investigating, more gold coins start to fall, and Quentin notices that the coins are falling from the large crow figure in the middle of the room. Quentin backs up as the crow begins to come alive, twitching and squirming until it finally comes off its hinges and comes flying directly at Quentin.
Waking up on the fourth and final day, the CCTV has changed to footage of the Mayor of Raven Brooks, turning a strange wheel in his bedroom to access an off-camera hidden room. Immediately heading to investigate, Quentin discovers even more puzzles revolving around trophies in order to unlock the wheel. After spinning it in just the right way, a hidden door in the wall swings open to reveal the Mayor's study. Inside said study is both the final key to the Museum, and the same strange crow mask and robe clothing as depicted in the Museum.
Returning to the Museum that night, Quentin unlocks the final room and finishes up all of the Museum's puzzles, gathering up all of the animal heads in order to unlock the Attic door. Inside of the Attic, Quentin discovers a jail cell, with the key conveniently hung up outside of it. Unlocking the cell and moving some boxes, Quentin discovers Aaron inside. Aaron is initially afraid of Quentin until Quentin shows him the paper airplane from earlier, which earns him Aaron's trust.
Just as they are about to escape, however, Mr. Peterson blocks the way. After surveilling the situation, he approaches Quentin and picks him up by the neck, choking Quentin. Quentin motions to Aaron to run, before Mr. Peterson throws Quentin inside of the cell and slamming the door shut. When Quentin wakes up, he finds the cell having been secured with a reverse number lock, with the code scattered around the cell. Opening the lock and making his way back into the Museum, he finds himself against a far more aggressive Mr. Peterson, determined to prevent Quentin from leaving at all costs. Quentin persists, however, and manages to get the items needed to unlock the front door to the Museum.
As the door is opened, Quentin motions to Aaron - who was hiding under one of the displays - to come out and follow him. However, just as they're about to leave, Mr. Peterson comes thundering down the steps, furious. Just as he's about to reach Quentin, the crow statue hanging from the ceiling suddenly comes off its hinge, crushing Mr. Peterson under its weight. Aaron is horrified, and despite Quentin's attempt to console him and leave, Aaron runs to his father and embraces him. As Quentin tries to reach out to Aaron, a strange figure in shadow appears behind Quentin and knocks him to the floor. In a brief moment of consciousness as he's being dragged out, Quentin sees Aaron attempting to lift the crow statue up, as Mr. Peterson gives Quentin one final cold, angry glare, before Quentin passes out.
Act 2: The Forest
Quentin wakes up in the office and goes for a walk. He finds a bridge leading to another part of the town, in which he discovers a tunnel leading to the Raven Brooks forest. At the other side of the tunnel, he finds a shed in which there is a generator, a single fuse on a table, a box with some boards in it, a crowbar and a hammer on the wall that he will soon find out the use of... As he goes outside of the shed, he finds a lever and pulls it making the lights turn on, catching a bird-like creature wearing a black cloak's attention while running around the forest. It spots Quentin and runs very agressively toward him, and he closes the door and boards it up using the hammer and the boards. As the creature tries to break it down, Quentin uses another door to escape and runs away from the shed and inside a different building. He finds some more boards, some logs and a lever. Once he pulls the lever a wall opens, dropping the logs on the ground. The creature chases him inside the building, and he runs away into another building which is a control room for the crane. He boards up the door and tries pulling some of the levers, but nothing seems to happen so he jumps out of a window and runs back to the shed. He boards up the doors and notices some symbols on the generator: A saw, a crane and a trolley. He puts the fuse in the crane and box, uses the crowbar to remove the boards from a door, and escapes right as the creature breaks the door down. He runs to the crane room and uses the crane to put the logs in the wood cutter, replaces the fuse in the shed and cuts the logs into boards via the saw, causing them to fall into the trolley. Quentin replaces the fuse again and drives around in the trolley, until he sees a church and a graveyard, and decides to check it out. Inside the church he finds some platforms that he can get onto using the boards from earlier to make bridges. Once he is at the top tower he finds a wheel that he decides to spin, causing the bell to ring at first, then to fall down crushing the floor beneath it. As he goes down to investigate, he finds a secret underground passage leading to a nearby chapel, and once he gets in there two graves suddently open, and Mya and Diane Peterson comes out of them as mannequins. At first Quentin is afraid of them, as they are walking towards him, but when they get close to him they hug him right before retreating to their coffins. Quentin passes out and wakes up in the office again.
Patches
Patch 1
- You can now throw paint cans at the AI or place them on the doors!
- AI can now hear you!
- Other AI improvements
Patch 2
- Mr. Peterson can now place beartraps during the bossfight!
- Mr. Otto can now place beartraps!
- Improved AI navigation
Patch 3
- Added new animations for the AI catching you!
- Improved navigation in the inventory!
- Items in the inventory are now facing the player!
Patch 4
- AI now watches and follows you if you get to close to the property's boundaries!
- AI can now catch you hiding under a table!
- Garden gnomes with hidden cameras have been added!
- You can now throw garbage at the AI!
- Added the pinboard in Quentin's office
Patch 5
- RTX has been added!
- Paint cans spawns have been improved!
- New animations!
- Improvements for AI catching the player under a table!
Patch 6
- Added a fountain in front of the mayor's house!
- New animations for hiding in the closets!
- You can now bounce on the umbrellas in front of the bakery!
- Quentin's office has been rearranged!
- Added the option to change your FOV!
Patch 7
- Added a toolrack in the Raven Brooks Banner!
- Added a storage for the drone!
- Players now leave footprints after stepping in the trash or paint!
- Added new reaction animations for the AI!
- Added a new 3D main menu!
- Controls can now be remapped!
Patch 8
- The entire second floor of Mr. Peterson's house has been revamped, enjoy the new hiding spots and secret passage way installed on his second floor, but be warned, some puzzle elements have moved too!
- The umbrellas in front of the bakery had a graphic improvement!
- New tooltips in the barn.
- Some UX controller updates.
Patch 9 AKA: The Halloween Update
- The Guest is now added with a brand new design and multiple jumpscares!
- The map is now larger with the bridge being opened and an open world forest featuring the long awaited Guest!
- Many bug fixes
- The Chromatic Abberation when being chased by an AI has been replaced for a red blur on the edges of the screen.
- Addition of more unique Ambience, now every part of the town is bustling with Life!
- The bug where Imbir is visible before running out of the bush in the Intro Cutscene is now fixed
- The Intro Cutscene has been re-animated
- AI improvements (Keith Newsom and Gerda no longer get stuck)
- Color/Lighting adjustments for The Museum
- The Menu has been spruced up for the Holidays!
- The Neighbor's Chair in the Museum is now blue instead of Red.
- All Locations have had new decor added to them, the biggest being the Neighbor's house and Gerda's Bakery.
History
First Clues
It first began with tinyBuild posting 2 screenshots to their Twitter that depicted Theodore Peterson (better known as The Neighbor) on a camera. He is wearing the Guest suit. The other screenshot of a character holding a camera monitor, also being recorded. This was later found out to be Quentin.
There is a red text that either read "Distance: 4" or "Distance: 5", this presumably indicates how far away The Neighbor is.
Teaser of Mr. Peterson dressed as the Guest, doing a similar idle animation
Teaser of Quentin on a monitor
Secret Password (protected archive with Prototype)
On December 20, 2019, after the release of the Secret Neighbor Christmas Update, the message "/ HGP" appeared on the board in the room of the Neighbor. This code was used to access a secret website that is used to download HGP.
When you entered the website, which was found by ClassicJRB, there was a button on the site that gave the download. The file was password-protected, which could be obtained by activating the Mayak event and using the printer to get 20 different hexadecimal codes.
Later, on January 5, 2020, GreenHouseM13 used clues given by the creator of Hello Neighbor, Nikita, that he had put in his status. The clues lead to how the codes were supposed to be put together, and the end result looked like this:
f0ac0f112a01a5c0aae735be1f9e18a2f67b9e06a8911f9954746d96599c78a99909876878979879
The file contained a prototype launcher for the game. After launching the launcher, the game will be installed (about 600 MB in size). After the installation, you are able to play the Hello Guest prototype.
More Clues
Later, in January 2020, two videos were posted on the official Twitter: a facial animation test for the Neighbor in the Guest suit and the Neighbor's house.
In the Update Secret Neighbor, 1.0.9.9 was added a new secret in the form of a small video, which can be found in the trunk of the Man in the Hat's car by activating the secret. In the recording, Quentin can be seen grabbing a vandal by the hands. Then the angle changes to the Man in the Hat, who takes him somewhere.
Secret filmreel
Animated Series Gameplay Trailer
The broadcast to the series pilot of the Animated Series also featured screenshots of the game, as well as a small gameplay piece.
Alpha 1 (Hello Guest)
At night, June 2, 2020, a small excerpt from the trailer for Hello Neighbor 2 was shown, as well as an image for Steam and the old game logo. According to Alex Nichiporchik, this is Hello Guest Alpha 1, which was going released on June 6, 2020. On June 3, 2020, a game site was created on which screenshots of Hello Guest Alpha 1 were provided. On the day of release, for serious reasons, HG Alpha 1 was postponed to June 13, 2020. . The game trailer was released on the same day. For the period from June 6 to June 13, developers began to slowly merge HG Alpha 1 screenshots, and on June 10 a teaser for the game was even shown. HG Alpha 1 was available as a demo on Steam, the Windows 10 Store, and on the game’s official website (a few months after the release of Hello Neighbor 2 Alpha 1, Hello Guest Alpha 1 was made it's own steam game.) After the release, two patches came out, correcting some errors.
Two seconds of the Hello Guest reveal trailer
Mysterious Streaming Premiere
On July 15, 2020, tinyBuild published a strange premiere preview which looked like an eye inside the grille shaped like a diamond on the red background. Alex, through the Discord server, said that this is the logo of the new studio in which will work redeemed by developers Dynamic Pixels and where they will work on Hello Neighbor 2. Later, on July 17, the premiere screen began to change, new screens appeared, with the presence of a raven and strange structures. Then, on the tinyBuild channel, access to the stream was removed. But still, you can follow the link to go to the premiere on the same channel on YouTube.
Mr. Peterson holding keys to somewhere
Hello Neighbor 2
On July 23, 2020, the trailer for Hello Neighbor 2 was released, which caused a lot of questions among fans. It was also shown in the broadcast. Alex also revealed that, in fact, Hello Guest is Hello Neighbor 2. On the same day, Alpha 1 was later released.
Diary Site
In the announced trailer for Hello Neighbor 2, a forward slash and 5 letters ("d", "i", "a", "r" and "y") were found that make up "/ diary". As in the case with "/ hgp" - this is a part of the link, which must also be inserted at the end of the link. But in this case - at the end of the link to the official website of Hello Neighbor 2. And it turned out the following: https://www.helloneighbor2.com/diary
Initially, the page had a black background, and on it - black letters, forming the word "tomorrow". Later, the black background and letters were replaced with a background similar to the texture of plywood. Even later on the page from above and below appeared wood, because of which the site resembled wallboard. Also appeared: a piece of wallpaper with the inscription "Observations" and some scrap of a photo of Quentin. Later, they added: another piece of wallpaper with the inscription "These guys are planning something"; sticker with the image of a crow; Hello Neighbor 2 logo, buttoned; A screenshot taken from the game's official website; A screenshot is taken from the trailer for the game; previously, nowhere used picture, on which the Neighbor with a pitchfork in his hand climbs the stairs and, above it, lies the shadow of the Guest.
This is a developer diary.
Logo
Quentin photograph
Screenshot of the Guest's jumpscare
The raven sticker
Screenshot of the Neighbor with a pitchfork in his hand as he climbs the stairs, and above is the shadow of the Guest.
Another photograph of Quentin
Imbir sitting gracefully
Bus stop
Mailbox for a house numbered 120
Officer Keith in the grass
Alpha 1.5 Announcement
On October 8, 2020, during tinyBuild's Shocktober Special, it was announced that a Halloween-themed alpha for Hello Neighbor 2, Hello Neighbor 2 Alpha 1.5, would be releasing around Halloween, and a small teaser showcasing a snippet of the alpha's intro was shown during the event.
Alpha 1.5 Launch
On October 26, 2020, Hello Neighbor 2 Alpha 1.5 was released.
The Hello Neighbor Showcase
On March 25, 2021 (10PM EST), the Hello Neighbor Showcase stream began. The pre-show was a 16 hour event lasting until 1PM EST the next day. The pre-show showed various shots of Raven Brooks. We saw both the Neighbor's house and Theodore in idle mode from a few perspectives. Later in the stream, Theodore drives away, escaping the police. For the last hour of the pre-stream, the Guest was shaking a TV. The showcase began, and Hello Neighbor 2 got an AI trailer.
E3 2021
In the PC Gaming Show event at E3 2021, tinyBuild released a new Hello Neighbor 2 trailer. In this trailer, The Museum was shown for the first time and it was shown that Mr. Peterson would the NPC at the location. This trailer also showed that you can set up paint bucket traps for the AIs to fall for.
Devlog 1
On July 16th, 2021, Hello Neighbor 2's first devlog was released. This devlog talked more about the AI and its neutral network, as well as giving us more details on the gameplay, such as that it was going to be an "Open-World Investigative Journalist Simulator" where you could do any case whenever you wanted to.
This devlog also showed 4 new characters: The Mayor, The Taxidermist, The Baker, and The Farmer.
Deep Dive
On September 14, 2021, a deep dive for Hello Neighbor 2 was released. This deep dive showed gameplay for the museum.
Beta Announcement
On December 10th, 2021, during an ID@Xbox Showcase livestream, the first trailer for the Hello Neighbor 2 Beta was released, and it was announced that the beta was going to be released on April 7th, 2022, and that it would be available to players who pre-ordered Hello Neighbor 2. This trailer showed five of the NPCs that are in the beta: the Taxidermist, Keith, Skipper, Mr. Peterson, and the Mayor. The Taxidermist and the Mayor are two of the characters that were shown in the devlog. The houses of these two NPCs were also shown in the trailer, along with more of the museum. This trailer also showed that Skipper would be a NPC that guards the outside of the Mayor's house and that Keith would be an NPC at 910 Friendly Court.
Playstation Port Announcement
On February 10, 2022, an extended beta trailer was released alongside the announcement that Hello Neighbor 2 and its beta would be coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
Beta Launch & Pre-Orders
On April 7th, 2022, pre-orders for Hello Neighbor 2 went live, and the Beta was released.
Demo Announcement
On September 15th, 2022, it was announced that a Steam exclusive demo for Hello Neighbor 2 would be releasing on September 20th, 2022, and that it would be available for a limited time.
Demo Launch
On September 20th, 2022, the Demo for Hello Neighbor 2 was released. It contained some leaks for the Full Game.
Deluxe Edition Launch
On December 1st, 2022, the Deluxe Edition for Hello Neighbor 2 was released.
Standard Edition Launch
On December 6th, 2022, the Standard Edition for Hello Neighbor 2 was released.
Trivia
- The archive password consists of four-digit hex codes that can be obtained by activating the secret in Secret Neighbor after version 1.0.7.3.
- Hello Guest Prototype used a Patch Kit launcher, just like some of the Hide and Seek builds.
- Hello Guest Prototype (HGP) is the second developmental build released by the developers to not be on Steam or Epic Games (the first is Hello Neighbor: Hide & Seek Alpha).
- At the end of the video tinyBuild Year 9: The Trailer, shown in honor of the 9th anniversary of tinyBuild, flashed footage of the room in which the "Guest" was located. Most likely, this was the footage for the Hello Neighbor 2 trailer.
- In the prototype's menu, on the tent behind the tree, you can see the Guest.
- It was revealed that the game's original name was Late Night Shift, which was then changed to Hello Neighbor 2 to be finally changed to Hello Guest, and then back to Hello Neighbor 2.
- The game originally had a 2021 release date.
- On September 28th, 2021, the game's release date was changed from 2021 to "When New Neighbors Move In"
Gallery
Key Arts
Steam header (HG)
Quentin and Beatrix Keyart
DLCs key art
Patch #2 Key Art
Patch #3 Key Art
Patch #4 Key Art
Patch #5 Key Art
Patch #6 Key Art
Patch #7 Key Art
Patch #8 Key Art
Ditto, with no logo.
Patch #9 (Halloween Update) Key Art
Patch #9 (Halloween Update) Hotfix 2 Key Art
Patch #9 (Halloween Update) Hotfix 4 Key Art
Logos
Early Logo
Leftover Late Night Shift logo in Hello Guest Alpha 1's files
Old Logo
New Logo
Alternative logo #1
Alternative logo #2
Screenshots
Concept Art
A sketched over drawing of what seems to be a model of the Raven Brooks Mirror building made in blender
Sketch of the Alpha 1.5 pumpkins
Seems to be a drawing of the town
A possible village. Nikita talked about how he wants a village-like area in Hello Neighbor 2
Mr. Peterson's house
Looks like a cabin or station of some sort
A factory
A drawing of a possible cozy home
