Developer: OTUSUN LAND
Publisher: OTUSUN LAND
Platform: PC – Steam

Despite being a pretty longtime visual novel fan, the Neighbor remake was a surprise to me – I’d never even heard of the original! Players enter the story alongside protagonist Yuuki Kae as she moves into a new apartment. Unfortunately, the place is clearly horribly haunted.

The haunted nature of the apartment is incredibly apparent right from the get go. There are entities banging on the walls at all hours, hand prints that suddenly appear on glass, and far worse. Yuuki can’t deal with it and ends up rooming with a college student in the same building. The two of them end up working to unravel the mystery behind the haunted apartment.

It’s a surprisingly effective horror story, with excellent sound to go along with it. The scares won’t make you jump out of your seat – instead they’ll creep into your mind late at night. Neighbor is more akin to a creepy but safe campfire tale. Don’t expect to spend too much time playing, though. The whole thing took me just under three hours to complete. As a kinetic novel, there are no choices or multiple endings to explore.

Though the game might not be long, it’s still a fun little jaunt through a scary story. It’s especially refreshing to see Yuuki as a protagonist because she’s an adult in her 30s rather than a high schooler. Check out Neighbor if you’re looking to curl up with a spooky visual novel for a few hours.

4 out of 5 alpacas

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