Hello Neighbor VR: Search & Rescue Review

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Fast Facts

Welcome to the Neighbourhood!

Welcome to the neighbourhood everyone, where all your dreams and nightmares come to life. The developers at Steel Wool Studios have really given the term “Friendly Neighbourhood” a whole new meaning. From the creators of one of the most successful survival horror games in recent memory about a mysterious neighbourhood, you must use your wits and skills to complete missions whilst avoiding the creepy neighbour Mr Peterson. This version adds an all-new twist, creates a rollercoaster of a journey and only adds to an already creepy experience. I mean why not make it a more horrifying nightmare with a splash on the virtual reality spectrum? Welcome to Hello Neighbor VR: Search and Rescue and good luck! 

This is How You Do It!

Hello Neighbor Search and Rescue begins as most games start, with the tutorial. You will be taught how to use a tool to break through the boarded-up windows and use a rope to slide down to meet the other kids you will play as. You will learn to use the small baseball bat that will help you break through obstacles, by using the baseball bat against a high-powered baseball shooting machine. Also, you will also learn how to climb, something extremely important as this is the main mechanic when exploring and investigating Mr. Peterson’s house.

As you explore the garden you will come across more characters and you will learn how to use their skills. Including my personal favourite, the slingshot, used to shoot targets. You will also meet a kid that specialises in secrets using their magnifying glass to find hidden clues and directions. As you come to the end of the tutorial, you are thrown into the story undeniably fast, into the house of the mysterious and creepy Mr. Peterson, A.K.A our Friendly Neighbor.

You Messed With the Wrong House!

The story of Hello Neighbor Search and Rescue surrounds our friendly neighbourhood creeper, Mr. Peterson. He has taken something from the five kids and it is our job to complete puzzles, and objectives to find a way into the basement of the house and retrieve what has been taken from us. Sadly, other than that there isn’t much more to the story other than dodging Mr. Peterson and getting into the basement. There is hidden lore just like in previous games but again you would need to find and piece things together, mostly fan theories and ideas. There are no collectables or anything to collect to explain more about this story, and why these kids became Mr. Peterson’s new victims. But I must admit it was a fun and thrilling adventure and I had a blast with it anyway. 

This is where the fun begins!

The gameplay in Hello Neighbor Search and Rescue has many different tasks where only certain kids are able to complete certain jobs around the house, this is the only way to proceed and sometimes this can be more difficult than it looks. If you do, however, get stuck then pull out your walkie-talkie and return to the leader in the treehouse. Here, you can look at the board to see what your current objective is and what is available for each character. Then by using the same mechanic, change to the exact kid you need to complete the required mission.

You will have a lot of different puzzles that need solving with some being difficult and complicated. To complete these missions you will have to use certain skills from multiple kids at once to accomplish your goal. An example of a puzzle would be locating a key and then passing it onto another one of the kids, so they are able to unlock the door. The only way is by passing it through holes in the walls and in the floors and even glitching it through an obstacle which did happen to me a few times.

Scared of Heights?

But here’s a fun question… Do you like heights? If you don’t then just never look down, as you will have to do a lot of climbing to get to various places around the house. Even hanging on to a bar on an exceptionally large windmill which can be extremely uneasy for anyone with motion sickness or a fear of heights. However, there are settings to make the game less difficult for those with these problems.

These include various motion sickness-reducing settings, like using a snap motion to turn instead of the smooth filter that comes with most VR games. I do prefer the smooth movement but in Hello Neighbor Search and Rescue, it not have this option. Sometimes this could be frustrating at points in the game but it was not entirely impossible to play. I do hope a setting for smooth movement will be added in a future update for those who prefer this to snap motion. Nonetheless, the snap turn motion felt it was highly aggressive and would turn you extremely fast compared to other games with this same feature.

Motion Sickness?

The amount of motion sickness controls in Hello Neighbor Search and Rescue were limited which was highly surprising. There was the usual feature of teleporting instead of walking, also, when mantling or falling you can add vignettes which would make you feel less sick. Other than that there aren’t many settings you change much which may put off potential players in the future. You will use tools such as a wrench to complete puzzles but due to the controls, this can be a bit of a hassle and awkward at times. When turning in certain directions, the messy control scheme causes you to have to twist your hand in uncomfortable positions.

Whilst you are completing puzzles and objectives you will sometimes need to hide as Mr. Peterson is roaming the house. So like all Hello Neighbor games there is a hiding mechanic which you will use a majority of the time. If he catches you and you try to hide where he has seen you, the hiding place will not work and you will be greeted with a very in-your-face jump scare. This got me a few times, especially if he grabs you when you don’t know he’s there, so always listen out for the music that plays when he’s chasing you or you may receive a scary surprise.

Don’t be scared

I must warn you there are a lot of jump scares in this game and some will catch you off guard. There are a lot of glitches which can sometimes throw you outside of the map or glitch you through the wall. This happened to me, causing me to literally start flying through the ceiling towards the roof. My only remedy for this was to restart my game from the last checkpoint. I had a few glitches here and there but they were never game-breaking and were small issues that would not affect progression, needing a quick restart or reload. 

When it comes to the visuals Hello Neighbor Search and Rescue does not disappoint and it looks great for a VR game. With the same visuals as the other games in the franchise and using the same art style. It really drags you into the world, making it an enjoyable place to explore. The colours are bright and some of the graphical work looks fantastic with unique styles for each character model and the neighbour himself.

The sounds in Hello Neighbor Search and Rescue like all games in the franchise do not use any type of dialogue or voice acting and it mostly just consists of grunts and noises. The music is calming at times and very eerie in other scenarios, when needed, which gives you that little chill down your spine. All in all, I thought the sound work and soundtrack did their job to ground you in this quirky world. 

Final Thoughts

All in all, Hello Neighbor VR: Search and Rescue was a fun experience. It was a lot more interactive, with a more horrifying way of exploring due to the VR nature of it all. Although not the longest game and the story was not 100% explained, it was still so much fun to play.

I enjoyed the thrills and excitement as I finally achieved my goal. I loved the sense of excitement and paranoia when almost being caught. Personally, I would love a more explored story or even a VR version of Steel Wool Studios’ previous games which would be a welcome addition to anyone’s library.                                                                                                                                                   

Rapid Reviews Rating