I was surprised by My Friendly Neighborhood: delighted to find an array of tightly-designed classic survival-horror systems that knocked me on my ass more than thrice. The attention to design detail took me back to the likes of Code Veronica, where Resident Evil placed a slightly higher priority on puzzle solving and multi-complex backtracking.

Played on the Survival difficulty — one step above normal — I found this precise level design that delivered a perfect blend of exploring every nook for ammo, piecing-together puzzles across the interlinking map, and the careful resource management of combat scenarios (where you ask if it’s better to shoot or run). I even got that sort of perverse-joy when I died after not saving for nearly an hour. Like, “Alright, let’s go!” Of course, I proceeded to make that same mistake a few more times at different intervals in a way that managed to elongate my five-hour run into nine hours, but I was happy (and very tense).

The Neighborhood might not make everybody want to be a neighbor, but the precise love for the “behind the scenes of Sesame Street” evoked a deep sense of affection for this lifelong Muppet fan. Each set piece evoked a unique sense of time and place just outside the margins of some of my oldest memories. It’s unlike anything I’ve played in another mascot horror game — or any other game at all. It’s not quite gonna earn a ton of nine-out-of-ten scores from most critics, but I think Destructoid got it right when they gave it an eight-point-five.