Hello Engineer
Tinybuilds has released a demo for a game within the same universe as Hello Neighbor. They have named this game, Hello Engineer. It is a multiplayer game, which can be played with up to 3 other friends. This Indie Developer has marked this game as Racing and Simulation. Hello Engineer takes place in the same universe as Hello Neighbor and Hello Neighbor 2. In Hello Engineer, our Protagonist’s neighbor returns to cause more mayhem.
There are two aspects that this game focuses on. The first part is that it is a racing game. In multiplayer, this means racing your friends. Gain bragging rights. The second aspect is building your go-cart for the obstacle course race for that level. Sometimes you have to go big to avoid pits. Sometimes going low or thin is the way to go.
There is a Sandbox mode, where you can build however you want. There are a few paths you can take depending on your build, and this arena is purely to have fun. This game mode can be reached so far from the lobby room. This room is accessible from in-game, where you can “return to Lobby” in the pause menu.
Building is very simple. Hit the middle mouse button to copy a part. Hit tab to see the parts menu. When picking up parts and moving them, you have to be careful of where you grab the item to place elsewhere. Moving and replacing items can be a tad finicky and can cause wrong placements. The building phase is not meant to be rushed. You can save whole builds and pull them up in an instant. There’s also some wiring involved with any build. Despite having another aspect to create when building, the wiring is the easiest part of the construction.
Building in Game
The first 9 levels are tutorial based. This isn’t so bad until you see that some levels could have been combined, creating fewer tutorials and more challenges. The first level goes over basic controls. It then progresses onto how to place items, and how to create them. It even shows you how to access the library and what it entails. Despite all of this the game seemed buggy during the construction phase. At one point, the vehicle would appear in different positions in the construction zone. Another level did not have the inventor’s tent within the build zone. A much later level, when restarting the level, would actually make the vehicle disappear. Lastly, one of the levels in the middle had the vehicle in the ground. This could be on purpose, and more of a guess, seeing as how the vehicle was clearly above ground at every other level.
Racing
The racing aspect is less racing, and more finishing an obstacle course. If you are playing with friends, you could compete and have bragging rights within your friend group. In Single-player, you are timed. There isn’t really anything you are racing against, except time.
Despite this, the obstacle courses are challenging once you get to level 8. There are super ramps to jump off, and things in the road to slam into, drive around, climb over, or duck under. I have actually gotten stuck on level 10, typically failing right before the finish. The obstacles are so far unique, and you get two cutscenes so far in the demo. This, of course, is not counting the intro cutscene.
A Show too!?
Lastly, While playing Hello Engineer, there is a TV at every level’s tent, where you can watch the animated series! That’s right, Tinybuilds has created an online animated series. The animated series is the children whom you can pick to be in Hello Engineer, but with the same concept as Hello Neighbor. The show is interesting, and when you are in front of the TV, you can be sent to an external link(provided below) to watch the full series.
Author's Thoughts
Hello Engineer has a lot of promise, considering you can only access a good chunk of Act 1, and a free for all mode with the creative building. Hopefully, Tinybuilds keeps at it and complete the game soon. The full release would be an excellent game to try out for anyone. I wasn’t able to complete level 11(the final level in the demo) but I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys puzzles. Listed below is the link for the Animated Show which is good, and also to the game’s demo, so that everyone can attempt to play and see for themselves the attention to detail the developers have made so far.
Mom of three, enjoy videogames, board games and phone games. I typically am playing Simulation games or FPS games.
