Puppets—and I don’t mean the wooden, ventriloquist dummy kind, but the fun, soft-bodied muppety types—aren't natural beings of horror. More timeless toy than perfect hunting organism. But consider those vacant eyes, gawping mouths, and the unpleasant image of stuffing your hand up a butt to manipulate the puppet's face into talking, and you might rethink your relationship with these childhood favourites.
That's exactly the kind of slapstick discomfort that upcoming survival horror shooter My Friendly Neighbourhood looks to be leaning into, with a cast of murderous puppets that are at once funny and quietly disconcerting. "They naturally have the tendency to feel a bit uncanny valley, particularly if they're humanoid," lead developer John Szymanski says. "Puppets are also by nature ridiculous and gregarious, which gives so much room for being able to pull off silly and stupid things you can't do with more serious characters."
