My Friendly Neighborhood

My Friendly Neighborhood is a 2023 survival horror video game published by DreadXP and developed by John and Evan Szymanski. Players control a repairman attacked by sentient puppets.

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
Set in 1993 in a world where sentient puppets are acknowledged, Gordon J. O'Brian is a cynical handyman 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.

Development
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 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.