My Friendly Neighborhood

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Fix the broadcast at a closed puppet-show studio where the puppets want a hug.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Price: Paid
Rated: Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam (95% of 3,448 reviews); Metacritic 82 on PC
Length: about 5 to 6 hours
Players: 1
Made by: John Szymanski and Evan Szymanski
Released: 2023

What frightens The puppets of a cancelled children's TV show have come alive in their dark studio, and they lurch at you with felt mouths gaping, wrap you in hugs that hurt, and keep chattering their cheerful catchphrases while they try to eat you.
Content: jumpscares, fantasy violence, tobacco reference.

A first-person survival horror game in the mould of the classic Resident Evil games, set in the studio of a cancelled Saturday morning puppet show. When the old station starts broadcasting again, handyman Gordon is sent to switch it off and finds the puppets alive and hostile. You manage a small inventory, shoot letters as ammunition and solve puzzles to reach the truth.

About My Friendly Neighborhood

My Friendly Neighborhood was made by brothers John and Evan Szymanski and published by DreadXP. It came out on PC in July 2023 and on PlayStation 4 and 5 and Xbox One and Series X|S in July 2025.

The Friendly Neighborhood was a much-loved children's puppet show until its studio ran out of money and closed. Years later, without warning, TV sets everywhere start showing it again, and in the new episodes the puppets are eating each other. The city sends Gordon, a tired handyman, to turn the antenna off. Inside, the studio's halls and sets are dark, and the cast is waiting.

It plays like a first-person homage to the old survival horror games. You find keys, solve puzzles and unlock shortcuts across a studio you learn to map. Ammunition is scarce and odd: letters of the alphabet, fired from weapons like the Rolodexer. Puppets you knock down will get up again unless you stop them with tape, and the grid inventory is always too small.

Its horror is the unease of friendly children's characters gone wrong, with plenty of jokes and no gore. The puppets keep up their cheery talk as they attack, which makes them funnier and stranger at once. It suits fans of classic survival horror looking for something different, and it is mild enough for younger teens.

How to play My Friendly Neighborhood

Explore the studio, checking the map often to see locked doors and unexplored rooms.
Pick up keys, tools and letters, and arrange them in your grid inventory.
Shoot puppets with letter ammunition, then tape down the ones that fall so they stay down.
Solve the puzzles that open new parts of the studio, using clues from notes and sets.
Save at save points and store extra items to free up space.