My Friendly Neighborhood

''My Friendly Neighborhood'' is a 2023 indie survival horror video game partially inspired by the children's shows Sesame Street and The Muppets. Published by DreadXP and developed by John and Evan Szymanski, Players control a repairman named Gordon, where he is sent to investigate a seemingly abandoned children's TV studio where the puppets from the canceled show have come to life and become hostile and aggressive.

Gameplay

Years after a children's show has ended, the studio begins broadcasting again. Players control a repairman named Gordon O'Brian sent to investigate the signal. When now-sentient puppets from the show attempt to hunt down and kill Gordon, players must evade or defeat them while solving puzzles. Defeated puppets revive when players re-enter a room unless Gordon's limited supply of duct tape is used to permanently incapacitate puppets. Gordon can find and use several improvised weapons, such as a shotgun-like weapon that shoots letters of the alphabet. Limited amounts of other power-ups can also be found, including items that allow players to save their progress in the game. It is played from a first-person perspective. The game features multiple endings based on the players' actions, such as choosing to help puppets with their problems rather than killing them.

Synopsis and plot

Setting

Set in a world where sentient puppets are recognized, My Friendly Neighborhood was a show originally made for public access television, and titled " Ricky with Friends," created by Al Gerzwald, who aimed to create a show that would bring joy to children but also teach them valuable life lessons. After its success on public access, the show was picked up by the City Network Broadcasting Group, and its title was changed to the main title, My Friendly Neighborhood. Production took place in the City Network Hotel and the first episode aired on November 9th 1968. It was an instant hit with children drawn to the lovable neighbors and their idealistic world. A series of movies followed as well as hundreds of episodes over the next decade.

While My Friendly Neighborhood was popular for many years, its downfall began as a result of a war waging on the Northern Continent that lasted for 20 years and claimed almost 100,000 casualties, finally ending on February 4th, 1972. The war being televised made repercussions that changed the television landscape, moving further away from family-friendly outputs and more towards more adult content. Audiences became jaded and conditioned by the graphic imagery appearing on the screens during wartime and wanted programming to reflect that.

By the early 1980s, a shift had occurred with programming moving towards crime and drama shows that appealed to the generation of children who grew up during the televised war, with My Friendly Neighborhood and its wholesomeness no longer fitting in, and so the City Network Broadcasting Group instructed Al Gerzwald to change the tone of MFN and reimagine the core principals of the series. Also around that time, the city had gone through a massive economic downturn and, as a result, was being brought up by business tycoon Ronald Richbaucher and his company Nebuzaradan Enterprises, evicting many citizens from their homes as he strove to create a city that could withstand the future by placing profits ahead of the wellbeing of consumers, turning the city into a dark and hostile place because people were feeling alienated.

My Friendly Neighborhood struggled to keep up with the new format of televised broadcasting, which favored pessimism over optimism. A scandal has also happened on the set in which one of the puppets, Ray, had assaulted the show's lead human actor Richie Bromine, leading Richie to quit and the show losing its leading man. This, coupled with series of box office failures and a lack of interest in the show due to a jaded post-war generation of viewers, led to the show’s cancellation on July 15, 1983. Gerzwald gave a final recorded address to his young viewers, saying that while darkness exists in people's hearts, there is also light. He urged his viewers to try and find the light and see the best in humanity.

Plot

Set in July 8, 1993, Gordon J. O'Brian is a cynical handyman and war veteran who is on probation from his employer due to his "sullen and impolite" behavior towards clients. One day, the City Network Broadcasting Group's abandoned building on 123 Sunrise Street suddenly turns on and begins broadcasting signals for their long cancelled puppet show ''My Friendly Neighborhood''. The last job of the day, Gordon is sent to the building to find things out of place. He meets Ricky the Sock who is surprised that he wants to shut down the antennae. After encountering malicious puppets, Ricky reluctantly allows Gordon to use a gatling gun as a way to protect himself against the felt beings.

Throughout the game, Gordon is helped out by Ricky and encounters other major puppets who are in disarray over their current state. Gordon can either kill or help the puppets. Doing the latter will result in Gordon opening up and becoming more cordial about his own living situation. Eventually, Gordon makes his way up to the broadcasting tower where Ricky appears, stating his belief that the reason why their show was cancelled was because people preferred to be dark and cynical rather than happy. Despite his attempts to convince him otherwise, Gordon shuts off the tower, only for a lightning bolt to hit, sending Gordon falling and landing in the basement of the building.

Through a phone, Ricky reveals why the puppets have turned malicious: when the show was on, the producers would not allow them to watch television. After they left, the puppets finally saw it for the first time, only to be horrified by the content that they saw, driving them mad. With the elevators locked, Ricky tells Gordon that he must venture through the abandoned set, now called "The Unfriendly Neighborhood" and turn on the emergency switch. Gordon faces off against the monstrous Almagamuppet and successfully defeats him.

Upon leaving the building, Ricky comes out and asks Gordon if he could help run the studio instead. If the player says yes, after having helped the puppets, Gordon explains that his bosses found out about what he has done and fired him. Nevertheless, Gordon is happy and feels at peace. Agreeing without having helped any of the puppets, has Gordon revealing that he stopped showing up at the studio after a while, but still thinks about what happened to the puppets. If Gordon says no, his bosses congratulate him and he gets a promotion, but begins to think about the Neighborhood and its inhabitants, only to forget about them. If Gordon leaves early without having done anything, it is similar to the no ending, except he gets fired.

Release

DreadXP released ''My Friendly Neighborhood'' for Windows on July 18, 2023.

Reception

''My Friendly Neighborhood'' received positive reviews on Metacritic. Although ''Slant Magazine'' said ''My Friendly Neighborhood'' "isn't all that scary or all that tense", they praised the game's setting as "truly exceptional" and said that it showed "a tangible love and care" in bringing it to life. ''Polygon'' similarly called the worldbuilding "remarkable" and praised the strategic choices players have to make. They recommended ''My Friendly Neighborhood'' to people looking for survival horror games that are "light on gore and heavy on spine-tingling thrills". ''Adventure Gamers'' described it as "''Resident Evil'' or Bioshock with chattering Muppets" and recommended it as a "charming and genuinely fun" game made by people who are clearly fans of survival horror. ''Hardcore Gamer'' recommended it as "a pleasant surprise and a genuine delight", praising the story, characters, visuals, and puzzles.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.dreadxp.com/myfriendlyneighborhood/

2023 video games
DreadXP games
First-person adventure games
Indie games
Single-player video games
Survival horror video games
Windows games
2020s horror video games