My Friendly Neighborhood - Playstation Review

Stylised cartoon characters with wide eyes, set against an urban backdrop. Sign reads "My Friendly Neighborhood." The tone is playful.

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Did I pick up My Friendly Neighborhood because of it’s art style? No. Was it because of the references and similar play style of Resident Evil? Also no. Well then it must have been because of Kyle’s amazing review on the PC release which you can read here! Yeah… no. In all (embarrassing) honesty, I wanted to play this John Szymanski and Evan Szymanski’s survival horror because it reminded me of that one episode of Angel where he was turned into a puppet.

I’m not sure which kids would be entertained by sentient puppets but to each their own…

After initially releasing on PC in July 2023, the puppets have made their way to the PlayStation Store this month. You can invite them into your library for £25.49! Let’s take a look at what you’ll experience shall we?

A first-person shooter game scene features a cartoon puppet character standing in an alley and putting on a performance, while the player holds a weapon showing "15" ammo and a "Caution" warning on screen. — I’ve been practising my heckling

Gameplay

Imagine Resident Evil Biohazard but with sentient Puppets. That’s the vibe that you get with My Friendly Neighborhood. This game combines first person shooter mechanics with horror and puzzles to create an all round fun experience. There are few different difficulty settings to choose from however I chose to play on normal. ‘Normal’ is a really well balanced mode where there’s just enough ammo for you to feel prepared with enough of a difficulty curve to stop things from being annoyingly difficult.

The inventory system is similar to classic horror games, with your bag only having so many spaces that can be filled before you can’t pick anything else. That being said, it feels pretty forgiving with how much space you have from the beginning of the game and there is additional storage at the tool tables that you find near any save station.

A vintage-style save station is mounted on a brick wall, featuring a green button and the text "Public Save Station 5¢." A hand is holding a retro gun, displaying "Caution" and ammo status "10/0." — Thank god I have some spare change

Save stations are your best friend but come with a cost. You can collect tokens around the map that you can use in save and heal stations similar to the one above. It kind of reminded me of the dreadful Tomb Raider 3 save method where you had to collect those blue diamonds but less annoying. The game gives you enough grace (and tokens) to make it a successful mechanic but not a broken one.

Graphics & Audio

My Friendly Neighborhood is as bright as it is worrying. Character and set design really mix the happy energy that you would expect from a kid’s puppet show with the tension of a horror game. I was constantly on edge waiting for something to jump out at me. The constant rambling of the characters definitely helped. Sometimes you can hear them even though you can’t see them. As they are so well spoken it makes it a little bit scarier

A cartoon character with a wide-open mouth relaxes in a white bathtub filled with water. The room has a blue wall and black-and-white checkered floor. — Me after a long day at the office

I have to admit. The constant rambling can get a little bit overwhelming if there are three or more puppets hanging around. “Oh my god will you just shut up!” was a repeated phrase in my play through. I understand the point and it did have the right effect, but it is a lot.

Graphical Glitches

There were a few graphical errors such as dead characters clipping through signs or the surrounding architecture. It doesn’t ruin anything in game and in some cases it actually brought some well needed humour to the moment! I’ve seen worse clipping in triple A games.

A cartoonish character slumps over a sign reading "Welcome to The Friendly Neighborhood" at night, as a hand holding a large wrench is visible in the foreground. The character's head is clipping through the sign. — Don’t lose your head!

Longevity

If you’re just playing for the story, you could probably get through this game in 5-6 hours. If you’re looking to go for a perfect run then it will take you upwards of 11. I’ve really been enjoying the time that I’ve spent in My Friendly Neighborhood. I’m definitely going to keep playing and get the platinum. For casual players that don’t care about trophy numbers then one run through is enough. This game is really good at showing its best qualities to the player so you’ll definitely get a fully rounded out feeling from one run.

Final Thoughts

My Friendly Neighborhood combines a number of elements from well-known, classic horror games and puts a fun twist on it. I think it is a perfect, easy horror game to get into without over the top gore and themes. It’s definitely worth trying out and you get a decent amount of game for £25. For comparison, Resident Evil Village was £60 on release and the story lasted around 8 hours. So this has a lot of game for a fair price!

I’m giving My Friendly Neighborhood the Thumb Culture Gold Award!

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

About Author

Alex Crooks

My favourite kind of games are the ones that make you cry… and by cry I mean throw your controller at a wall because I definitely dodged that attack but I’m still somehow dead. Or cry because that jumpscare was just uncalled for and now I need to recover before I can make my way down another scary, dark corridor.

I’m as old as the first Tomb Raider and feel like I’ve been playing games ever since. I’m a Playstation girlie that dabbles in Switch and PC games. Don’t ask me about Bloodborne unless you’re ready to listen to me ramble on for hours.

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My Friendly Neighborhood – Playstation Review