TinyBuild has announced that Hello Neighbor's release date has been delayed to December 8.
In a post on their blog, Producer Alex Nichiporchik explains that the reason for the delay is due to production not putting enough time aside for QA. Looking at the situation, and after pushing some to hit the August 29th release date, they eventually decided to delay to spend more time on QA, as they found a lot of issues when they did an engine upgrade and moved to the release code. Instead of rushing and releasing, they decided the best course was to take their time for QA, and that would also let them further refine the design as well.
This is useful as Hello Neighbor Beta 3 has been released to those who have pre-purchased the game, providing more content for everyone who has it. This build has a boss, a basement, reworked set piece fear rooms, stability improvements, and more making up about 40% of the game.
The Fear Rooms are the main area that they've been reworking as it has been an issue for them. Fear Factory has been removed, and they gave players super throw by default. The Fear Supermarket got a reworking, to make the level more streamlined and flow better. The basement in Beta 3 is one of several that will be in the final game, and the giant Neighbor from the pre-alpha has returned as a boss now. You can read more in the producer's update here.
For those who are interested in the game, but not wanting to put in a significant amount of money, there's good news for you too. Alpha 2 has been made available for free on the Hello Neighbor website, letting you get a feel to see if it is the type of game that interests you at all. This build has the final artwork and a small tutorial and intro level for the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCduSfzRS2g
What do you think of the decision to have Hello Neighbor delayed? Do you think that having Hello Neighbor release date be December 8th might hurt it? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
