What happens when you combine Sesame Street, BioShock, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Resident Evil? You get My Friendly Neighborhood. In this 2023 survival horror developed by John Szymanski and Evan Szymanski, you step into the shoes of gruff and cynical repairman Gordon O'Brien, who finds himself fighting against hordes of fuzzy, maniacal, and very much alive puppets.
While My Friendly Neighborhood is a horror game first and foremost, it's surprisingly lighter in tone than what one may expect. Sure, the puppets may take "kill 'em with kindness" to a whole new extreme, but the halls, offices, and sets of the abandoned television studio are crawling with whimsical Easter eggs, charmingly clever references, and plenty of hidden treasures to find.
10 You'll Find References To The Muppet Movies Everywhere
As you journey through the abandoned sets and dressing rooms of the sprawling studio, you'll notice a lot of posters for films made during the show's heyday. Take a good look at them. Don't some of those titles sound familiar?
You would be right for thinking so. Many of the film posters seen in the studio reference classic Muppet films, such as "Puppet Pirate's Cove" (Muppet Treasure Island) and "The Puppets Storm Chicago: A Musical Movie" (The Muppets Take Manhattan). But while the Muppet movies are seen as classic and beloved in our world, to the point there are actually 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Muppet video games, it seems that the movies of My Friendly Neighborhood weren't as financially or culturally successful.
9 There's A Giant Norman Hidden Underneath The Entrance Plaza
One of the first hubs you find in My Friendly Neighborhood is the entrance plaza located outside the studio. You'll have to journey through this area more than a few times to collect items necessary to progress the story. But hidden beneath the quiet city street lies a face you're more than likely to have seen pop up several times in-game.
If you were to somehow noclip, or fall through the street out of the area's intended boundaries, you'll find yourself above a giant chalk drawing of Norman, that puppet in the varsity jacket. Unlike his grinning in-game model, Chalk Norman seems to be rather upset by something— presumably by you breaking the rules by leaving the game world. That's not very friendly now, is it?
8 You Can Unlock An Overpowered Mini-🍌Gun
In lieu of regular firearms, you have to rely on specialized 'typewriter guns,' which fire alphabet tiles instead of bullets. While a few shots are enough to temporarily down most puppets, there is one special gun that makes My Friendly Neighborhood feel more like Doom.
If you get access to the Pirate's Cove set on Stage 5 by solving a fusebox puzzle, you'll find a locked treasure chest hidden in a cave. This treasure chest can only be unlocked by finding three gems scattered around the set. Once the chest is unlocked, you're given the Conclusion, a bright golden mini-gun that rapid-fires alphabet letters with extreme force. The only catch to using to adding this gun to your alphabet arsenal is that the Conclusion can't be reloaded, so save it for emergencies!
7 🀅 You Can Finish The Game As Soon As It Starts
At the beginning of the game, Gordon pulls up to the television studio and climbs out of his truck. From there, you're expected to explore your surroundings and head inside the studio to get right into the game proper. But like certain other games, you can 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:unlock a secret ending right he🍌re. Simply have Gordon get b𓆏ack in the truck and leave.
As the ending cutscene explainꦗs, Gordon is fired for not finishing the job and, although the broadcast still continues, Gordon gets distracted and forgets about it. Wheth🦄er you consider getting fired to be better than spending your workday fighting hordes of overly-cheerful puppets is up to you.
6 Ricky The🧔 Sock Puppet Is Voiced By Another Puppet
One of the friendlier faces in the Neighborhood (and one that isn't trying to hug the life out of you) is Ricky, a snarky yet affable sock puppet. YouTube fans, however, may think of a certain other puppet when they hear Ricky talk.
Ricky is voiced by Arlo, a bright blue puppet who delivers video game reviews, news, and skits on his YouTube channel. Adding another layer to this fuzzy rabbit hole, Arlo seems to have been inspired by Grover, another famous star of fuzz and felt who, like Ricky, is on a children's television show. It's puppets upon puppets.
5 You Can Watch The Game's Opening Montage On TV
During the introduction of My Friendly Neighborhood, you're treated to a montage of different television shows. These shows range from talk shows, news footage about a car crash, reality shows, and other forms of pop culture 'trash TV.' Later on in the game, you'll come across several television sets located on desks and workbench throughout the studio, playing this montage over and over.
At firstꦗ, you may not put too much stock into it, considering it to be another piece of environmental decoration to make the wo😼rld feel more alive. But this soon becomes a very key plot point in the overall story of My Friendly Neighborhood.
4 ✃ You Can Unlock A QR code In-Game 🅷
While many of the puzzles in My Friendly Neighborhood reward you with necessary items to progress or some much-needed supplies, one particular puzzle gives you something that you're not expected to use in-game: a QR code.
To unlock the QR code, you need to solve an arcade machine puzzle in the office building. According to players on Steam, the numbers needed to unlock the machine are the dates relating to when trailers and teasers for the game were released. When the puzzle is solved, the machine spits out the QR code. What's on the QR code you may ask? It sends you to a link for the official My Friendly Neighborhood Discord server.
3 You Can Find The Rat C🐎ave In The Basement ꦍ
Once you reach the basement area below the studio, you'll find yourself in a large, round room with a deep pit in the center. Surrounding the pit are small brick staircases and, on closer inspection, you'll notice a few bricks sticking out from them. Push these bricks in, and you'll hear a clunking sound, like a door opening. If you look left of the pit, you'll notice that a new passageway has opened.
Inside the Rat Cave, you'll find...rats. A good few dozen of them, squeaking and jumping, surrounded a small table in the center. It's on this table you'll find one of the game's cheat tapes, which gives you a special cheat code for later use. Aside from that, it's just a cave full of adorable, but very loud, mice. What more could you want?
2 The🃏 Goblette Statues Can Eat ❀
When you enter the office area, you'll run into Goblette, a giant frog-like puppet that acts more like a mobile wrecking ball than a big friendly kiddie character. You'll also notice that there are many golden statues of Goblette around the offices, each with their mouths wide open as if they're coming in for a chomp.
As it turns out, these golden Goblettes actually can 'eat.' If a grenade or any other throwable item is thrown at their mouths, the statues will 'swallow' the item by closing their mouths. While this has no effect of Goblette or the game as a whole, it's a fun little Easter egg to feed the Goblette statues — though, keep in mind to manage your resources before doing it.
1 You Get An Achievement For Sparing The Final Boss 🌼
At the very end of the game, Gordon finds himself trapped in an abandoned sub-basement of the studio, with the only way out guarded by the "Unfriendly Neighborhood." Unlike the cuddly and whimsical puppets you've blasted your way through, the Unfriendly Neighborhood is a grotesque amalgamation of different puppet heads and limbs — and as the name implies, it isn't too happy to see Gordon.
But it's entirely possible, although challenging, to escape without hurting the Unfriendly Neighborhood. If you do so, you'll unlock an achievement called "Mercy." While putting the Unfriendly Neighborhood down doesn't affect the ending, isn't My Friendly Neighborhood all about being kind to others?