Dread Neighbor is a first person psychological horror. Developed by Ghostcase and published by Erabit, Dread Neighbor was released on May 7th, 2026. Players take on the role of multiple characters—or victims—through the course of the game. Each character experiences unsettling events, such as things quickly vanishing or unexplainable occurrences. They are all being stalked by a masked killer, with most of them meeting their end by the blade of the killer’s axe. Being a horror, what is probably most important to ask is if Dread Neighbor is scary—and yes, I believe it is for the first half. With a tone that is…well, dreadful, the scares come mostly in the form of atmosphere. There are a handful of jumpscares, and though they become slightly monotonous later in the game, the horror building up to them creates a sense of anxiety and anticipation.
However, Dread Neighbor is about 95% horror with little else beyond. There are small story elements, but nothing that feels fully fleshed out. The game offers almost no puzzles, no stealth mechanics, a single fleeting “combat” moment, and chase sequences that hardly function as actual chases. In practice, it plays like a walking simulator: move from point A to B, trigger a scare, and do it again. This may appeal to some players, but for me personally, I wish there was a little more depth to the game. Players can expect to spend around two hours maximum in gametime, including seeing the multiple endings. However, by the game’s somewhat humorous true end, I’m left with a rather bland experience. So, grab your red suitcase, because its time to discuss Dread Neighbor!
As usual for horror games, I will try my best to avoid spoilers. However, I will have to have spoil some things as they are relevant to my discussions. Included screengrabs will only be from the first bit of gameplay.
A Killer at Pleasant Harbor Apartments
Having previously released Dread Flats in July 2025, Ghostcase strives to improve their games with each installment. What is new in Dread Neighbor is the use of multiple perspectives. Over the course of the game, players take on the role of five different characters—Lily, Anna, Felix, Sherry, and Sophia. Each character starts in a different location with their own lives, seemingly unconnected from the rest. Lily is at home. Anna is at her fashion design studio late at night. Felix is night fishing. Sherry just wants to celebrate her birthday before being kidnapped. Eventually the game has you take on the role of Sophia who is the most important character of the bunch.
At least three of the characters live at Pleasant Harbor Apartments. I assume they all live there, but only three have the setting of apartment complex with the other two elsewhere. Pleasant Harbor Apartments is actually surrounded by a cemetery, which likely explains why so many characters feel like they’re being watched.. Sophia, gifted with the ability to see ghosts and other paranormal beings, actually experiences this on a more literal sense as eye growths appear in her apartment. Each character is being stalked and toyed with by the killer, but I will discuss them in the next section.
There are a few more common threads that tie the characters together outside of the killer and the apartments. Some of the characters can watch news reports about an escaped inmate who has violent tendencies. Some characters will have or see a stuffed rabbit toy with blinking red eyes. I believe all characters at some point will see a red suitcase. Later, we learn that the killer fills these suitcases with body parts and lets them go in the river. The idea of the killer showing each victim the red suitcase is very chilling.
However, outside of these threads, there really isn’t a deeper story from what I can tell. The killer is just a killer. The only potential reason as to why is because they have an extreme case of antisocial personality, and even this I feel is quite the stretch. The characters’ stories barely intersect, feeling tied together only by the apartment complex they all inhabit. Besides Sophia, it’s hard for me to find any reason to connect with the other four. They’re just kind of branded to be victims for the killer and nothing more.
The last thing I want to briefly discuss in this section are the endings. The game has three different endings, and though this sounds ambitious, it really isn’t a fully fleshed out aspect. The ending you receive comes down to your decision near the end of the game. Only one ending, the true ending, results in a slightly longer gameplay and though I won’t spoil what happens, I found it to be a bit more humorous than scary. Thankfully, the game lets you go back to this moment if you want to see a different ending without having to play the whole game again. However, I would have loved if the multiple ending aspect was a bit more fleshed out. It feels a little uninspired at the moment. I suppose a somewhat lack of story or connection between characters doesn’t help.
Stalked by a Masked Killer
The Killer is a large, hulking being. Though seemingly just a neighbor in the apartment complex who happens to be a serial killer, he is a tad supernatural. He is probably inspired by classic slasher killers such as Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. They move slow and can seemingly appear and vanish at will. Like them he wears a disturbing mask and stalks his victims. As you wait for the elevator, approaching footsteps echo down the hall, and a figure leans around the corner to watch you while you scramble inside and hit the button.
He also likes to toy with his victims a bit before going in for the kill, though I question if it is actually him. For example, many scares clearly show someone setting them up. An axe scrapes its way under the bed, a stuffed rabbit dangles at the top of the stairs before falling, and a small toy truck winds up and bursts out from beneath the bed. In each moment, players can see a hand doing each action. However, the hand is bare. The killer wears a long jacket and gloves, with no visible skin showing. It makes me wonder if there is indeed more going on outside of the killer. This could connect the scares to the graveyard encircling the apartments, suggesting a ghost might be behind these actions, yet the game never commits to that idea.
The overall tone for the game is of course dread. The developers overall do a great job at building the anxiety and tension leading up to a scare. What comes as a big component to this is how visually realistic the settings look. For a game with a low price point, good graphic quality quite feels like a rare occurrence. Dread Neighbor delivers on this, slightly helping me feel a bit immersed in each of the perspectives (the lack of personal story or connection to the characters is what keeps me not immersed). Outside of the setting itself, small touches—like the axe dragging or the toy truck darting out—do a lot of work to build tension. Though it may just a be going from point A to B, they make sure that the walk between re-builds the tension each time.
Of course the tension build up is for the jumpscares. My biggest gripe with jumpscares are when they feel cheap or unearned. The jumpscares feel genuinely earned. The game shows restraint in how often it uses them, yet the way they’re executed could be sharper. Many of the jumpscares feature a dramatic zoom in. For an example, I’ll expand on the elevator moment I used earlier. After getting in the elevator and trying to go up, the doors will shut and then reopen after a bit. This sequence repeats three times before the hallway lights cut out and the button no longer works. Players need to leave the elevator, only for the killer to be right there.
This alone would make me jump, but instead the camera quickly zooms in on the killer’s mask. A similar zoom occurs during some of the other jumps. This gives me a feeling of ‘cheap’ as many cheap jumpscares like to use in-your-face jumps, an extremely loud noise, or a combination of both. The moments that use the zoom would be just as scary without it.
I must talk about the not so chase ‘chase sequences’. In these moments, the killer walks towards the player, which is fine. Most slasher killers don’t run at their victims, so I am more forgiving. However, though given the ability to “run”, these characters are surely not too keen to actually try and get away. Instead of running away in a panic, it’s more of a hurried pace, like speed walking but maybe a little slower. The tension in these moments isn’t “oh god, I have to get away from this man who is trying to kill me”, it’s “oh god, why am I moving at a snail’s pace?”
Thankfully, like the dramatic zooms on some of the jumpscares, there aren’t too many of these slow chase moments and they tend be short. Overall though, I think the game does a great job at being scary at first. I certainly felt scared through much of my playthrough. The game excels at building tension through dread, which suits its title perfectly. However, as the cycle of moving from point A to B and bracing for the next scare repeats, the fear gradually loses its edge. Without gameplay elements that really take players out of this formula, such as a puzzle or an actual chase sequence, it becomes monotonous. I was tired of the formula about 45 minutes in, and that’s roughly half the game. I hope they improve this in future games.
Be wary of your Neighbors
That’s pretty much it when it comes to reviewing Dread Neighbor. Visually, the game looks great and the settings look realistic. Tension builds effectively, and I definitely felt the dread the title promises. Jumpscares don’t feel cheap or unearned for the most part. I like the idea of playing as the different victims of the killer. I haven’t personally played Dread Flats, Ghostcase‘s previous game, but I hope that there have been improvements.
And I hope future games continue to improve. The story here doesn’t feel fully fleshed out. I don’t need everything explained to me, but I do want to know perhaps a bit more. I would also like them to maybe go a bit beyond just a walking simulator. Introducing puzzles, stealth segments, high paced chase sequences, or even more combat would have been a welcome addition to my experience. Lacking all of these makes the end experience feel bland, like I could have just watched someone else play the game without needing to play myself.
I suppose I’d recommend this one to players who want a one-time scare. Perhaps as something they want to play once on a Saturday night and then never again. I don’t like putting the game in that way, but it’s overall content leaves me not much of a choice. The developers at Ghostcase are probably self-aware in that they aren’t trying to provide a game with replayability or is groundbreaking in the indie horror genre. I think they absolutely knew what they wanted to produce, and they do it well for the most part. As a player though, I can’t help wish for something more with a bit more polish or depth. I leave the experience of Dread Neighbor feeling like it was a just okay time that unfortunately did not have a lasting impression.
Thank you for reading and be careful not to get axed!
