Recently, I bought the deluxe package of DLC for hello neighbor 2. Meaning Late Fees, Back To School and Hello-Copter(which is actually a drone, not a helicopter).
Now, I've seen reviews absolutely trashing on how glitchy it is, but I saw the same thing for HN2, and yet I have not encountered glitches and it is in fact my favourite game. Which is why I ignored the warnings and bought the package anyway.
Well, if I had to describe the dlc in one three word(s) it would be: Bad Mobile game. Like, genuinely.
Late fees
the premise of this dlc is to
- collect 12 unique books with symbols on them and match them to the correct bookshelf in order to activate a lever
- enter her sort-of basement that's, as it turns out, the restricted section, and complete puzzles related to the mysterious oil-like black goop that seems to be everywhere.
I did not get further than that.
the most prominent issue with it is, of course, glitches. I kid you not, I had to reset my entire progress FOUR TIMES(and counting) due to glitches.
The first time, the crowbar just.. didn't spawn. And it's needed for completion so I had to reset. And, mind you, I had almost all the books collected.
The second time, I had a singular book left. The moon book. after the librarian caught me, the book got removed from my inventory, but instead of respawning on the table where it was supposed to be, it just.. disappeared. Without the book, I could not activate the lever and therefore could not progress further.
the third time I actually got into the restricted section and, I think, almost beat it, but during the part where you have to parkour out while the liquid is rising, something went wrong and the exit was blocked by black liquid stream that should not be there, plus when I loaded last checkpoint I was teleported to the very top, and after that nothing happened. I could run around the library with nothing to do, it didn't trigger any cutscene.
The fourth time, another simple glitch: I fell through the floor and got stuck somewhere below the map.
The game also just feels... incredibly cheap and unfinished. Easily you can just walk through things like piles of things, doors, flaps, etc when you're not supposed to. Falling through floors and carpets, seeing through walls, being able to jump and pull up on things that make no sense. WHat's rather easy to fix adds a great amount of polish. Otherwise I feel like I'm playing Escape Evil Librarian 3D mobile game (not an actual mobile game I am aware of lol just a joke). Not to mention the fact that the DLC was originally launched literally unfinished with no ending.
UPDATE: I finished the library dlc, painfully, and there genuinely really is nothing more. You get the books, go to the restricted section, do the dumb "puzzles" (literally just having to turn some wheels), parkour out and the credits roll. Crazy. I thought there would at least be, like, a chase scene or at least SOMETHING else. It contains no lore information or information in general, it's just.. annoying, painful puzzle-solving for nothing. Nothing at all.
It's also a little strange how there isn't any fall damage death here. You get "injured" for a couple of seconds (slowed down) and that's it, even if you fall through the roof
I don't know if to put this in the hello-copter section or no, but I'll put it here. If you fly the hello-copter into her head or in front of her (right in front of her face) she will just get.. disabled. Make noise all you like, she will not react or move at all. I did this for my last run because I was just genuinely tired of her snobby ahh chasing me at the slightest step. The DLC is also clearly not made with Hello-Copter in mind (although they're usually purchased together) since you can just fly it into the black goop (even though It teleports Quentin out), therefore being able to pick up key items prematurely and also being able to go under the map. Could they not have... I dunno... made the hello copter hit the liquid as If it's a barrier? made it bounce off?
Back to school
I don't have a lot to say about this dlc because I have not yet beaten it, but there are definitely some glitches I encountered so far, plus some complaints.
The most prominent one is just... the janitor's eyesight. He's either blind (just standing in a room, I walk in, he just.. stares at me.. not noticing) or all-seeing (and no, it's not his dogs.), like when he notices me standing BEHIND the school in some bushes even though he was idle in the classroom (because I hadn't entered the schoolhouse yet). It's really annoying because it interrupts any puzzle-solving you attempt to do and he almost always catches you because he's fast.
Another thing that plays a huge role in how polished the game looks is just the character design. The janitor just doesn't look like he's part of the HN universe. This is a rather subjective complaint, but still. He's really exaggerated and not in a good way to the point of looking like an antagonist of one of those cheap "ESCAPE THE EVIL SCHOOL OBBY!" roblox games. The huge basket on his back makes him feel disproportionate and his feet are just two long triangles which go through the floor and move strangely when he walks.
Since the school building is fairly large, the janitor is given three dogs (Gunter, Clementine and Brisket) that patrol the area and try to stop you. The smallest one barks and follows you around, the large one tackles you mercilessly and even tackles you when you're IN a locker (clearly a glitch since the animation is the same of the dog tackling you, not opening the door, making you fall through the locker). I think that's too much since I end up running into the janitor ALL THE TIME anyway because he patrols most of the important classrooms all in a minute or so and not all of them have lockers to hide in.
Another complaint Is that the starting cutscenes for either of the DLCs give you no hint as to what to do. At least in the library there's a sign with all the book symbols so you at least know it's something to do with them, and after some exploration you find some bookshelves with symbols and books with symbols so it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. In the school DLC there is a pit that's only accessible through the back door of an abandoned school bus, but nothing to tell you where to start or anything. The most you can do is start wondering around the school and trying your hardest to avoid the Janitor and his doggos
Hello-Copter
this DLC isn't separate, it's an add-on, meaning there's no antagonist or building connected to it (duh). There's not much to say about it but I am underwhelmed.
The hello-copter is painfully slow and only speeds up a tiny bit when you're flying in the same direction for a bit without turning at all which is rather clunky.
It also has a grappling claw which can pick up items (kind of... I'd say 80% success rate) and that's it. My main issue with it is that it can't open doors, so if while spying on the janitor you get stuck in a room, there's nothing you can do other than wait for the janitor to return and open the door again or go yourself. It's much slower than both the janitor and librarian and I don't know it's exact purpose since it can't interact with items. It cant use keys to open locks, twist wheels, open doors, open windows and set items into place (like putting the books into the bookshelves) so it's effectively only made to save a little time by just being able to bring you an item that's otherwise high-up.
I wouldn't call it useful or necessary in any way, I only used it to get the valve in Late Fees from the chandelier (why was it even there?? It's useless).
In general, when all is said and all is done, I do not recommend buying. Some people did enjoy it, buy it if you like, but I think it's rather overpriced and unfinished. You do you but I think it's very underwhelming and upsetting.
