Hello Neighbor 2 has been pushed back to an unannounced date in 2022. Publisher TinyBuild has announced that pre-orders will begin in April, and that an upcoming beta will show off some of the game’s open world.
According to the publisher, pre-orders for the stealth horror sequel will go live from April 7, 2022. The last time we heard about the game’s release, it was due for 2021, meaning it’s received a quiet delay.
As well as ensuring that they’ll be able to play the game at release, fans pre-ordering Hello Neighbor 2 will also receive access to the game’s beta when it releases.
While a release date is yet to be announced, the studio has said that those accessing Hello Neighbor 2’s beta will be able to explore a good part of the game’s fictional town, Raven Brooks. Elsewhere in the announcement, the publisher also shared a short trailer for the game.
“In this game, you’ll be playing as Quentin – a journalist investigating a series of missing person cases in the open world of Raven Brooks,” explains a narrator over the top of the trailer. “Create your own adventure as you interact with a host of new characters and take on the infamous Mr. Peterson – a suspect who has been hiding from the police and is now designed with a neural network. But trust no one, everyone’s a suspect.”
In the trailer, fans are introduced to a number of different new characters from within the game including what appears to be an AI dog, a gun-wielding taxidermist, and the town’s Mayor (as previously referenced in the game’s first devlog). The clip also appears to show off a number of new items that players will be able to collect within the game such as a doughnut, which Quentin uses to distract a dog, and a rifle, which is taken from a wall.
For more on Hello Neighbor 2, make sure to check out our first preview of the game, where we sat down with the game’s creators to talk about the sequel’s improved AI, new protagonist, and expanded open world.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.