Review: My Friendly Neighborhood

destructoid.com:

Turning beloved children’s characters into horror monsters isn’t something new. I think “nightmarish Alice in Wonderland” has been done roughly a bajillion times. So, My Friendly Neighborhood’s idea of murderous Sesame Street puppets may not seem that novel. Except that’s not what it’s about. I know. It kind of took me by surprise.

I’d also say it’s “My First Resident Evil,” and the argument could be made, but that’s selling the game short. My Friendly Neighborhood wears its inspirations, sure, but it’s more than just a horror game made friendly for a younger audience. Its themes of non-violence, its goofy characters, and its approach to horror all convey much more depth than you — or certainly I — might’ve expected.

My Friendly Neighborhood (PC [Reviewed], PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S) Developer: John Szymanski, Evan Szymanski Publisher: DreadXP Released: July 18, 2023 (PC), TBA (Console) MSRP: TBA

In My Friendly Neighborhood, you play as maintenance professional, Gordon. For the last job of the night, he travels to a derelict television studio to disconnect the transmission tower on the top floor. It has spontaneously started airing a canceled children’s TV show over the normal TV broadcast.

Upon arriving, Gordon doesn’t look too surprised to see that the puppets are alive and hungry for deranged hugs. In fact, rather than feeling horrified at his situation, he seems mostly just annoyed and inconvenienced. He just wants to finish the job, go home, and watch TV. The puppets have other ideas.

Your expectations may be that this is a hide-and-seek kind of horror game where you navigate the studio while avoiding confrontations with murderous puppets. That’s not the case. Instead, as I mentioned earlier, it has more