Mr. Peterson's House

*This article contains cut content.*

*This article contains spoilers.*

**Mr. Peterson's House** is where the like-named Neighbor resides. The goal of *Hello Neighbor* is to get into his house and find out what secrets Mr. Peterson is hiding in his basement.

The house that the Neighbor lives in is just across the street. The house contains quite a bit of furniture and other bits and bobs which Nicky Roth can use to his advantage (distractions, blocking Mr. Peterson off, etc.) If Nicky gets caught, the Neighbor will throw him out and start defending his house a bit more. He will put cameras around his house, set up bear traps in areas that Nicky consistently goes to, and board up windows that Nicky keeps breaking through. Worst of all though, each time he enters, the Neighbor becomes a little bit more aware of his presence. In the Pre-Alpha and first Alpha, he would also keep blocking random doors with chairs.

## Gameplay

### Prototype

In this build not much was known of what the house exactly looked like. It was seen in the Hello Neighbor Announcement Trailer, and some images on the official page showed it to have three floors but there was no way to access any other floors, as it was unfinished. The first floor had only 4 or 5 rooms. The basement in this version was locked with boards, and a padlock. It appeared that there was no puzzle in this version because the key was on a table and the hammer was in a room full of boxes. The basement was probably unfinished and/or not a playable section, and was instead replaced with a cutscene where the protagonist removes the first board with the hammer, only for the Neighbor to grab them from behind and bury them alive. One of the outside doors was shown to have a lock on it, which the player needed to click in order to unlock the door. Doors locked without padlocks have not appeared in any versions after the prototype. This version of the game was never released and only used for the trailer. You would've needed a hammer and a key in this version.

### Pre-Alpha

[[File:PreAlphaHouse.png|thumb|200px| It was released quietly in September 2016, not gaining much attention at first. But in October is when traction of the game started to get picked up and then became popular. The house in the Pre-Alpha had only one playable floor. It also had only 8 rooms, which were a storeroom, boiler room, kitchen, garage, bathroom, bedroom and a living room, lounge room, and a back room where all the furniture was upside down and attached to the ceiling. The basement in this version of the game was locked with boards, a padlock and a keypad. The basement, which was unfinished at this time, was an empty room under the stairs. Should the protagonist sleep often enough, they would appear in a "Nightmare" where a giant version of the Neighbor appeared outside their's house and attempted to capture them. This is the only version the Blacklight and keypad appear in. You needed a code, a hammer, and a key.

### Alpha 1

This build was released on October 26th, 2016. In this build, the house was quite a bit bigger. It looked a lot more colorful and strange, and had two floors, and an elevator and a set of stairs connecting them. The basement was locked with only a padlock and boards, exchanging the number lock for a harder puzzle. Upstairs was a flooded room with a robotic shark. If this shark touched the protagonist, they would be thrown out as if they were caught by the Neighbor.

If the protagonist slept or got caught enough, the "Nightmare" from the Pre-Alpha had been replaced in this version with a nightmare that was more of a tutorial; the protagonist appeared in what seemed to be a circus (judging by the scenery and the music playing) with the Neighbor covering his face nearby. The protagonist was given the option to hide in one of two places - inside a closet or under a bed. Once the protagonist hid themselves or a certain amount of time passed, the Neighbor would start trying to find them. And if not caught, the player would wake up back in the normal world. There was another nightmare sequence where the neighbor walks into his basement door, a car crashes, a tire flies out, and then the neighbor walks out, closing the door behind him, and walks away acting proud of himself; then we wake up back in the normal world.

The basement was still not a playable section in this version, and was instead replaced with a cutscene similar to that of the unplayable prototype, which involved the Neighbor shutting the door as it opened, and burying the protagonist alive. You needed a key/lockpick, and a hammer in this version.

### Alpha 2

Alpha 2 was released on November 22nd, 2016. The house was very similar to the one shown off at TwitchCon 2016. In the footage of Alpha 2 shown in the November Producer Update it was shown that there were two floors. The house was also quite small in size compared to the houses from the Pre-Alpha and Alpha 1. The puzzles seemed to be relatively easier in this version. The Magnet Gun, the keycard and the wrench made their first appearance in Alpha 2. The basement was made a playable section in Alpha 2, as seen in the November Producer Update. The basement shown in this version was the same basement shown in the Basement Trailer, though it was incomplete and the game would end at the open door at the bottom of the basement stairs.

In the intro, the protagonist was shown driving to his new house, where the doors were blocked by boards which were nailed up. They needed to be removed with the crowbar in the trunk of the protagonist's car, and he needed to bring at least one box indoors. He would sit on the still-covered sofa and doze off. A loading sequence occurred afterwards where the protagonist was kicked out by the Neighbor. The protagonist ended up at the house across the road, and then a scream came from the house that the Neighbor took over. The protagonist ran over the house, looked inside the window and see the neighbor lock the basement door. The player snuck inside the front door but knocked a coat rack down and got the neighbor's attention. He needed to hide in a closet, and then walk down the hallway which would get the neighbor's attention. The neighbor would catch you, throw you outside, and the game would start.

In this version, sleeping was removed from the game as well was nighttime. The keycard was introduced in this version. The new, cartoony art style was introduced in this version making many objects no longer realistic. You needed a keycard and crowbar in this version.

### Alpha 3

Alpha 3 was released on December 22nd, 2016. It was the last build of 2016. Alpha 3's house was massive and was one of the first drafts of the final house as stated in the November Producer Update. This house was a multi-story place and was larger than the houses in previous versions. It contained about 5 floors. It also had a windmill near the top, which could not yet be reached. The Alpha 2 house was to be used as a tutorial house in this version of the game and forward, but wasn't used. This also meant that the houses from the Pre-Alpha and Alpha 1 were scrapped, as they were used to gain feedback for everything in this new house.

This house also had some really hard puzzles. The train tracks were brought back, but you couldn't normally access most of it unless you bent game physics, glitched to it, or used cheats. Unlike future versions, it was always night-time in this alpha and sleeping was also not in this version. There was rooms you could reach in this version legitimately that were not yet completed, stating this build was released partially unfinished. This build was also extremely dark even on the lowest shadow settings. There was hard puzzles, such as jumping to the blue key an getting into the room with the crowbar. Once you get into the basement, you would be teleported to another room where it was bright, and you found the neighbor all alone, crying. When you approached him, the game would end. You had to get a keycard and the crowbar like in Alpha 2 to get to the basement.

### Alpha 4

Alpha 4 was released on May 4th, 2017. It's the first Hello Neighbor version that was released in 2017. The Alpha 4 house expanded upon the Alpha 3 house, but the first floor was mostly unchanged. A lot more furniture and a lot more areas were introduced in this version. It brought back the train/tram from Alpha 1, and made it controllable. It also changed the design of the tracks. You could now access the areas that weren't accessible in Alpha 3. It was the second draft of the final house. The puzzles were also completely reworked, despite being in the same rooms. There was nightmare sequences, such as being trapped in a closet full of things that would give you double jump when completed. And you could also get the super throw after completing the nightmare of hiding in lockers in a school attempting to get to the end.

It was also harder to make it to the basement as the protagonist needed to melt the block of ice holding the keycard, and cool down the crowbar with water. You needed to turn off a generator to melt the keycard out of the ice block and used water to cool down the crowbar.

It started off with the protagonist in his apartment receive a letter through the mail slot in his door after loud pounding. We also see brief glimpses of the neighbor's gigantic house. Then the game would start. You found the key to the super jump fear room in the trunk of your own car, while getting to the super throw fear room is simply taking a vertically moving platform up to it. After you go into the basement, you make some big jumps onto platforms to avoid falling into an endless abyss, avoid the neighbor, go down a long hallway with scattered furniture, and find a door with a bright light. After going in the door, you'll wake up in a different world to the protagonist reaching for the door handle, picking up a suitcase, opening the door and leaving. The game then ends.

### Beta 1 & 2

The Beta 1 build was released on July 25th, 2017. The Beta house expanded upon the previous Alpha 4's house, and fixed some of the missing textures. The protagonist started the game in his old apartment and had some objectives such as getting the suitcase and the key for his house in the suburbs. Afterwards, the game started like in Alpha 4, except their own house was now larger and could be entered. But also the car of the Neighbor got a new look, which was a bit more detailed. This build was known for being extremely broken.

Beta 2 is the same build as Beta 1, but with some bug fixes. Exactly half of the bugs being fixed. It was released two days later on July 27th.

### Beta 3

Beta 3 was released on August 14th, 2017. It was mostly the same as the last four builds, but with more additions that are "new". Some small rooms were added where there were previously gaps in the house's architecture. The second floor room that contained the keycard is now a birthday party room with a cake that has four slices taken out of it, and one slice of it being on the table. The puzzle in this room gives the player the Rifle, and requires them to retrieve the remaining 3 slices of cake and put them on the plates, and get four mannequins and stand them up on the rug. The mannequins are scattered throughout areas in the house. There is a flooded room, which is completely different to that of Alpha 1, and additional puzzles have been added. Located around the upper floors are tomato plants that block the player's and Neighbor's movement, which can be shrunken and grown by using two gramophones with a red and green vinyl disc, respectively. The plants block the ladder and require the red CD-gramophone to shrink/wilt them. The windmill is now taller. Reaching the the top of the windmill one can find a mannequin and some empty crates near it, as well as the seed for the golden apple tree.

### Full Release

The full game of Hello Neighbor, including the Modkit, was released on December 8th, 2017, It had 3 Acts with it.

#### Act 1

In act 1, the house has a very similar layout to the Alpha 2 house, though it also has a set of shelves leading up to the roof, and some minor aesthetic differences such as a trapdoor leading to the basement (though it isn't open until the next act). Although Nicky can use the wrench on the ladder around the back of the house just like in Alpha 2, the wrench is in the tool room and requires a series of events to be retrieved, involving getting the car key from the second floor and the magnet from the car. It requires quite a bit of jumping and some box stacking to actually make it up to the second floor from the stacked shelves, though.

#### Act 2

The Act 2 house is the same house from Act 1 but with many extensions and some of the original walls shifted around. There are pipes everywhere in this house and there is a very big fence surrounding it that separates it from the other houses. This fence makes it very difficult for Nicky to escape. Some parts of the house have been repainted and there are many new puzzles added, along with the return of the Sharkotron from the first Alpha, which behaves identically to its previous incarnation. There are three methods of escape. These are:

* Activate the steam engine with hot water from the pipes and open the gate to a trampoline, allowing Nicky to bounce over the fence.
* Get the Lego Man with the mini-crowbar into the dollhouse to cause a larger one to appear in the bathroom on the first floor, take the full-sized crowbar and use it to remove the boards blocking a hole in the fence.
* Freeze the water on the top floor, grab the red key and use it to unlock the large gate at the front of the house.

#### Act 3

During the beginning of Act 3, Mr. Peterson's house is little more than a pile of rubble, with the man himself mysteriously missing. Upon walking onto what would be the interior floor, a cutscene plays where Shadow Men will appear and terrorise Nicky, having supposedly been the ones responsible for the house being destroyed and the absence of its resident, who may be deceased. After recovering from the overbearing presence, he runs away from the house. Nothing more happens until the dream sequence cutscene where one can be seen standing around the house after Nicky picks up the phone.

After the dream sequence cutscene, the house is mostly the same house as the Beta 3 house except with a couple of new rooms, some features and objects in previously empty rooms, and a second ladder which leads up to the roof. Both ladders need a wrench to be opened.

## Trivia

* In Alpha 2 it was possible to explore more of the basement in the Unreal Engine's ghost mode, which could be activated by console commands.
* In Alpha 1's resources, one can find an unfinished version of the third floor, indicating that at some point the third floor was going to be an accessible area, but this idea was apparently scrapped.

* + The first floor from the prototype house seen in Announcement Trailer can also be found. However, the others floors are in separate models.
* "Trashcan-flying" and going outside to the invisible wall in Alpha 1, into the copy of the house (where all the cutscenes happen ), and doing the "teleporting glitch" to the basement revealed it was just a picture of a road.
* After going in the basement from Alpha 3, there was a shadowy figure that looked like an older teenager or young adult which was peeking through the nearest door that could be seen.
* Five QR codes have been found in *Hello Neighbor*, starting with Alpha 3 in the house. Part 1 can be found on the other side of a balcony door, while the second part is located in the basement behind another door (after going in). When the parts are combined, it reads; "*Can you see it? Remember 1003063. I had to hide it, they might find out.*"
* The Fear School level found in Alpha 3, the Betas and beyond, is likely a reference to the first Alpha's classroom.
* There were also leftover maps from Alpha 2 and its basement in Alpha 3, "**Intro**" for the former and "**Basement**" for the latter.
	+ The Alpha 3 build also had the "**Neighbor\_3**" level, since it had leftover data from Alpha 2. It was an unfinished version of what would originally be the Alpha 3 house, with the only outside scenery being a flat grass plane.
* In the E3 Beta trailer and pre-Beta 3 build is a sequence that's based on Alpha 2, in which the player goes to the Neighbor's uninhabited house which is boarded and locked up with a padlock.