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my friendly neighborhood cover art

My Friendly Neighborhood

Part of a series on Mascot Horror. [View Related Entries]

Updated Jul 19, 2023 at 09:50PM EDT by NeatCrown.

Added Jul 19, 2023 at 10:45AM EDT by Philipp.

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About

My Friendly Neighborhood is a 2023 mascot horror and survival horror video game in which the player finds themselves on the abandoned set of a children's show now populated by aggressive puppets. The game was released in July 2023.

History

On July 18th, 2023, video game developer John Szymanski released[1] My Friendly Neighborhood, a survival horror / mascot horror video game set in an abandoned production studio for a formerly popular puppet show (launch trailer shown below).



Gameplay and Features

In My Friendly Neighborhood, the player plays as a repairmen sent to an abandoned production studio of the formerly popular morning puppet show, Our Friendly Neighborhood! The game is a survivor horror where the player has a limited number of resources to deal with the enemies, and is often tasked with solving puzzles to progress further (gameplay video shown below).



The game features a grid-based real-time inventory inspired by the Resident Evil survival horror series.

Reception

Upon release, the game received positive reviews from the audience. On Steam,[2] the game had a 95 percent approval rating with over 150 reviews as of July 19th, 2023.

Fandom

In 2022, a demo version of the horror game gained popularity with Let's Play YouTubers, including JackSepticEye and Markiplier. For example, a gameplay video by Markiplier, uploaded on June 29th, 2022, accumulated over 4.6 million views in one year (shown below, right).



Upon release, the game drew attention online as a part of the larger Mascot Horror discourse at the time. On July 18th, 2023, Arsi "Hakita" Patala, creator of Ultrakill tweeted[3] about the game and gained over 360 retweets and 3,500 likes in one day (shown below, left). Later that day, Kane Carter, creator of POPGOES, a Five Nights at Freddy's fangame, tweeted[4] about the mascot horror subgenre, using My Friendly Neighborhood as an example of a properly made mascot horror game (shown below, right).


Public Hakita Is a Good Idea @HakitaDev Very fun game, you should check this out if you haven't. Make no mistake: it's not mascot horror. It's survival horror through and through, just replacing the scariness with comedy. There's a free demo on the Steam page you can try if you're not sure it's for you. John Szymanski (Ducky) @Ducky_Szymanski · Jul 18 My Friendly Neighborhood... ... IS RELEASED!!! store.steampowered.com/app/1574260/My... : 8:40 AM Jul 18, 2023 196.1K Views Kane Carter @kanethecarter It's kind of a shame that "mascot horror" is seen as a low-quality label for a lot of people now, or even as something to avoid while marketing a game. Because... My Friendly Neighborhood is ABSOLUTELY mascot horror. If it's horror enough to be "survival horror", then it's definitely also mascot horror. And I have no doubt that it's a genuinely good game that is trying harder than the average game in this genre/aesthetic, but to pretend it doesn't fit into this category is just false. If someone says they love mascot horror... they love when a game has memorable child-friendly characters that act out in dangerous or disturbing ways... would you seriously say "oh, then you won't like My Friendly Neighborhood. It's nothing like that." Of course you wouldn't, because that's exactly what it is! That kind of person would LOVE this game. I don't think mascot horror should be something that game developers should avoid or dismiss; it's something they should strive to improve upon, and prove CAN be high-quality. Because the concept is genuinely interesting and is not at all flawed by itself. It's just easy to exploit. If you're not exploiting it, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Instead be proud that you made something great, in a genre, and for a community, that appreciates it. PC PC Gamer My Friendly Neighborhood asks: w... Rock Paper Shotgun Steam Next Fest demo... Steam My Friendly Neighborhood on Steem My Friendly Neighborhood on Steam 39:14 YouTube Puppets Have Taken Control of thi.... ▸ Bloody Disgusting! My Friendly Neighborhood' Gets Ti... i Main L Laconic ro (▸ VideoExamples Create New O A type of indie horror game popularized in the mid-2010s. Instead of masses of enemies, an intangible terror, or an actively horrific threat, make the main terror be a recognizable, corporeal character (or group of characters) who, with some defanging, could easily be the mascots of a children's media franchise (and often are in-universe). This mascot essentially serves as a mascot for the game too, always showing up on the cover art, contrasting greatly with the dark, atmospheric cover art that most horror games have. In conjunction with this, add focused around the idea of taking children's masc of them by turning them into killers. The concept it the most popular example of this in action is the

Various Examples



1 ΠΟΛ

Search Interest

External References

[1] Twitter – @Ducky_Szymanski

[2] Steam – My Friendly Neighborhood

[3] Twitter – @HakitaDev

[4] Twitter – @kanethecarter

[4] Twitter – @kanethecarter

Related Entries 8 total

Recent Videos

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Recent Images 9 total

     

Top Comments

Charmielius
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Charmielius

This is 100% certified mascot horror anyone who denies it is pulling some "no true scotsman" bs but in reverse.
It being a good game doesn't stop it from being mascot horror and it being mascot horror doesn't stop it from being a good game.
Kids are still going to see it, embrace it and run it to the ground like they always do, just ignore them and enjoy the game for what it is, don't become a massive douche in denial because kids like what you like.

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Mistress Fortune
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Mistress Fortune

>has Arlo as the voice of a consistent character
>Is made by the brothers of the dude who made DUSK and Iron Lung
>Is much more akin to Resident Evil than it is to most modern mascot horror

No need to say more, I'm interested.

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