Open World, like Promised.

[chrome wagon]

Current game is hindered by being odly linear. I mean, you literally go though the game randomly passing out and waking up back in your news station. Very annoying!

How to fix:

1. After beating Keith the cop guy thing, then open up Gerda's bakery, after that both the taxidermist and mayor's houses become open, and the museum doesn't kick you out, that's just frustrating. What it I wanted to keep exploring?

This gives players more freedom, without confusing things. Once players unlock the museum with Gerda's key, they will notice that other keys are locked, placing paintings of the house you need to go to next to the locked door like in the Beta would make it clear where they have to go to get the requires key. This makes the later game more fun as player's get to choose which house to go to first, if the player gets stuck on one, they can try the other.

2. I know it is sad, but this requires removing the passing out/ nightmares sequences. I know it hurts... but they really had no place in the game anyway. Passing out after looking at an oddly traumatic shovel? He-he-he H**L NO!

[chrome wagon]

I swear to jod the diagram makes sense

Adding more houses in future updates would just build on this

[spark aurora]

This could be a good idea if executed properly

[low thicket]

Make it open world after the first day already, not after bakery, that's just an unnecessary step

Some lore changes would be needed ofc because baker has the museum key

but just make the key lead to something else in the museum instead

[spark aurora]

Make the mayor be the guy having the museum key?

[chrome wagon]

This works too

Devs, if you're see'n this

I'm sorry for the things I've said

But if we get any sort of ability to go to multiple houses at once, the community can finally die happy

[mighty egret]

That would be too confusing for new players, I have seen a lot of new players and they already find the game confusing, because there's no 'task' system or guide in the game. I believe having the neighbor's house a 'must do' in the first day and than unlocking everything else will make things less confusing.

Also story wise, investigating the neighbor's house first makes more sense, and than after we find the newspaper about the key being missing, we can start exploring every other places for clues

[low thicket]

who cares

Like

So you're saying the game should be linear as hell because some people can't grasp that they can go where they want

That's called being too safe and boring

and I did say the neighbors house should still be first, and the rest should be free

some people who can't get their brain to process the simple fact of "you can go do any house, each has a puzzle that gives you a key to museum" is a worthy sacrifice

[low thicket]

There also IS a guide... the TV shows you where to go every time and crows in the air above the house

it's pretty simple

[mighty egret]

the game has zero dialog or explanations, they just throw you into the game, at least right now, the game is designed so we have to go to one places at a time, making it impossible to drift off and getting lost about what to do. I'm fine with opening up everything, but I still think the game will need at least ONE stage the players must do, so they can grasp what they would have to do in other houses, the barn is too simple for the job. Also story wise, Quentine should start out with the neighbor's house anyways, since seeing him is why he started to investigate in the first place. he only started to investigate other places after seeing the newspaper in the basement.

[low thicket]

Still I said from the start that neighbors house would still be forced as the first

but how is the neighbors house any different from the other houses

What do players even need to find out... like how to open locks, and use a crowbar, both things they learn in the barn

[mighty egret]

that's basically just a hint, not a guide. the player has no idea what to do, I have an entire playlist of youtubers trying out the game with no info, and they always gets lost and get frustrated.

[low thicket]

The cutscene quite literally makes quentin stare at the TV, which has 4 large screens showing the house you need to go to

if that's not understandable that's a player problem

[mighty egret]

again, that is not a guide, do you not know how guides work? and if it is, it does a horrible job.

[low thicket]

Its a puzzle game

do you know the point of a puzzle game

there isnt meant to be a guide

[mighty egret]

It's not a player problem if 90% of the players gets confused, it's a problem of the game. bad game design, that's what it is. Hello neighbor 1 had the same problem, but worse.

[low thicket]

oh no

a controller with an empty battery and having a battery

what does the player do

It would be insane if they had to like

put the battery in the controller or something

damn this game needs a guide!!!

I havent seen any youtubers struggle that much myself

In fact I have seen people critize hn2 for having too easy and boring puzzles

where there is no thinking involved anymore

[mighty egret]

people usually know why they have to solve puzzles in puzzle games, they know they have to do it to escape a room or get a prize. however, in HN 2, they have no idea why they are solving puzzles and what the story is, because there's not a single dialog, or a message saying 'you need to get a key', it's missing a lot and in result, people don't know what they have to do and why they are doing it.

[low thicket]

To save aaron... to see whats in the attic basement, it's literally set up in the intro cutscene

you need to find out where aaron is

[mighty egret]

the cut scene doesn't even show the basement 💀

[low thicket]

and you need to check the neighborhood for clues

Yes but there is a strange red door with 4 locks and 2 spotlights pointing at it

I wonder if that door is importiant right?

and after that you find out about the museum and the TV's show you that the police gave gerda (the baker) the key to it

so quentin goes to the bakery to get the key so he can check for mr peterson in the museum

[mighty egret]

there's not even a missing poster like the beta. there's no clues, and even the newspaper, a very important thing is in hello neighbor language, the mc doesn't even say a word about what clues he have obtained after he gets all these random items and keys.

[low thicket]

erm

quentin literally opens a journal in the intro

which im pretty sure shows missing

Aaron and mya

[mighty egret]

it shows for like 2 seconds, if that's everything that explains about what and why Quentine is doing all the stuff he does, than the game does an awful job at it.

[low thicket]

What are these

and what is this

is this like...

some sort of hint of where I need to go

But this games design is so bad I cant tell

[mighty egret]

most players doesn't even notice this

there should be more, I believe

I mean you can justify the game all you want, but there has been a LOT of reviews about the confusing stories. There's a reason why the game got a bad rating.

[mighty egret]

And I stand by it. HN 2, like HN1, has awful story telling and almost no explanations about everything as the story progresses

[low thicket]

So youre saying players DONT notice the giant tvs... The pinboard in his office... and they never think to check the house that they literally were just seeing in the intro

But it's the games fault

[low thicket]

The house you can literally see right after walking out the office by the way

[mighty egret]

You can't really trust steam reviews, it always gets better overtime, FNAF SB is also positive but almost all youtube reviews say it's awful, same with HN 2.

[low thicket]

well youre just making up a problem

[low thicket]

like you dont believe this yourself right

[jagged lantern]

Sorry i dont understand a word you just said but the diagram helps

[mighty egret]

I'm not, confusing story telling has always been a problem since HN 1

• Lack of guides as well

[low thicket]

What do you mean lack of guides

I just showed pictures of 2 guides

which are basically thrown into the players face

Go to the blue house

Easy

the house itself has multiple hints

if you want an actual guide guide this game isnt for you

and trust me, what you're talking about is not even close to the reason hn2 is disliked a lot

(fun fact: you are literally arguing FOR something that is part of the cause of hn2's dislike)