My Friendly Neighborhood combines Resident Evil with the Muppets

“No! “No!” Get the hell off of me!”

The first thing I said was “I’m going to shout at you!” My Friendly Neighbour as I found myself ensnared in the felt-covered clutches of the game’s many leering mascots. After I had finished the game, I was shocked at how much sympathy I felt for these beady eyed creatures. It turns out they weren’t (intentionally) trying to suffocate me to death or flay me inside out. In the end, all they wanted was a good friend and an important purpose.

John Szymanski, Evan Szymanski are brothers. Sunset developer David Szymanski), My Friendly NeighbourIt is a horror-survival game in which players must battle a swarm of sentient puppets to stop a strange signal coming from an abandoned TV studio.

Similar to games like Five Nights at Freddy’s and Bendy and the Ink Machine, My Friendly Neighbour’s particular horror aesthetic is derived from taking otherwise benign examples of children’s entertainment from the early-to-mid-20th century and twisting them into something macabre and malicious.

Puppets are a great way to entertain children. My Friendly Neighbour draw obvious parallels to the likes of Jim Henson’s Muppets and Sesame Street. They’re twisted facsimiles of iconic children’s edutainment that have presumably been brought to life and transformed by the same malicious signal that has inexplicably taken hold of the airwaves.

A studio backlot containing sets for a children’s television show in My Friendly Neighborhood.

Other obvious sources of inspiration My Friendly Neighbour is in the moment-to-moment gameplay — it takes cues from classic survival-horror games (primarily the Resident Evil series) in forcing the player to navigate the labyrinthine corridors and secret passages of the studio complex, both to escape from the corrupted denizens of the compound and uncover the truth of what happened there. There are a number of different weapons and tools that you can use to complete this task. They’re all as bizarre and funny as the actual horror that is taking place.

A shot of the player firing the “Novelist,” an improvised shotgun, at a sentient puppet with letters flying out in My Friendly Neighborhood.

There’s the “Rolodexer,” the game’s equivalent of a traditional sidearm pistol; the “Novelist,” an improvised shotgun-like armament that blasts enemies with a confetti burst of letters; handheld “Punctuation” grenades that explode into a clattering mess of symbols; and the “Conclusion,” an oversized Gatling gun that makes short work of the game’s more pernicious adversaries.

My Friendly NeighbourIt is particularly impressive in the way it makes you weigh up short-term solutions versus long-term problems. While ammunition, other resources and puppets remain technically immortal, they are in short supply. In order to solve this issue, the game provides duct-tape scattered throughout the studio. It can be used in a way to incapacitate all enemies. The puppet will awaken if it sees you cross its sight line. You’ll have to use your weapons sparingly and rely on other tactics if you want to survive long enough to get to the heart of the game’s mystery.

A puppet popping out of a large industrial sewer pipe next to a series of yellow metal walkways in My Friendly Neighborhood.

The world-building, narrative design and storyline in My Friendly NeighbourThe game is amazing. Set in an alternate universe where an unspecified televised war and corporate consolidation have resulted in an erosion of community and shared values, the game’s story strikes an emphatically melancholic tone; this goes double for the protagonist, a disgruntled, down-on-his-luck repairman who may or may not have served in the aforementioned war earlier in his life. Although the final hours of the game might not be as exciting as the first, My Friendly Neighbour is, on a whole, one of the satisfying new horror experiences in a year that’s had no shortage of terrific horror games to choose from. If you’re looking for a fun and unsettling survival-horror title that’s light on gore and heavy on spine-tingling thrills, I wholeheartedly recommend giving My Friendly NeighbourA spin.

My Friendly Neighbour Vox Media is affiliated with a number of companies. Vox Media does not receive commissions on products bought via affiliate links, however this doesn’t influence the editorial content. This is where you can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.