- Primary Subject: Hello Neighbor 3 Interview
- Key Update: Creator Nikita Kolesnikov clarifies Hello Neighbor canon and shares insights into game development.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: September 3, 2026
- Quick Answer: This article features an interview with Nikita Kolesnikov, the creator of Hello Neighbor, discussing the game's lore, development, and future.
When I was booking my appointments for Gamescom this year, I tried to be quite selective. My inbox took a huge hit in the months leading up to the event (and during) with PR emails asking if we would like to check out their games. While I would have loved to say yes to all of them, I simply didn't have time.
While scrolling through my inbox, I spotted one opportunity: Interview Available with Nikita Kolesnikov, creator of Hello Neighbor. This stood out because I spent many, many evenings playing the original game with my daughter over the years, which helped her fall in love with video games and gave us a new way to bond.
After I mentioned that opportunity to her, I got a stone-faced look and the reply: "You have to do that, Dad."
So thanks to her no-nonsense instruction, here are my words on Hello Neighbor 3.
I get nervous speaking to people I don't know, anxiety kicks in, and I fumble words and forget things. Doing an interview with the creator of one of the biggest indie IPs out there that my kids idolize was a whole new level of "Oh, shit."
Putting my professional hat on, I had prepared 10 questions, some of which I'd researched, which made me even more anxious to speak with Nikita.
All my fears were completely cast aside once I entered the tinyBuild booth/room and started chatting. Nikita Kolesnikov was around the same age as me, grew up in the 90s, and had a sparkle in his eye whenever I asked him about his work - all things we have in common - and we love this industry, even with all its ups and downs.
Although I had never met the man before, it felt like chatting with an old friend.
We discussed themes, game development, what Hello Neighbor 3 was aiming to be, and how he got started. And then I remembered to set up my camera.
We got into such a natural conversational flow that I completely forgot to set up my camera. Thankfully, I remembered eventually, and the result is the video you can see over on our YouTube channel (I'll post it at the end of the article).
Discussing the IP that he created allowed me to ask directly about one important element of the Hello Neighbor universe, something fans have debated endlessly online for years - What is canon, and what isn't?
Nikita explained he often tells fans on Discord, "It's canon, but not in the way you think." This may come across as a bit strange with all the nodes that have come off of the original game at this point. I mean, we have books, Funko Pops, animated shows, a live-action movie in the works, and many spin-off games. Each of these is carving its own version of events that have happened in Raven Brook, and while Nikita wants to keep some things secret, he sees all the different variations as things that happened, "but those stories get twisted over time" being told by different people.
While he wanted to keep some things a mystery, Theodore locking his son, and later Nicky Roth, in the basement are canon events. But the likes of the first game having Nicky live directly across the street, and the Hello Neighbor TV show having Trinity being the one who lived there are also "story beats that get twisted over time, like an urban legend,". But in the big picture of the Hello Neighbor universe, we now have "everything is kind of canon, if you zoom out".
We spoke in depth about the questions I had written down, yet the flow and fun happened outside of these scripted queries. When the camera was off, and the mic was down, Nikita and I gibbered excitedly over game development and the universe that he helped kickstart. That's when I fell more and more in love with what he wants to achieve with his games.
I may have taken this opportunity on out of sheer curiosity (and maybe to avoid my daughter's wrath), but after speaking with the creator and getting insight into his creative process, I came away from the booth blown away and inspired by the man who, in his own words, "made a game by channeling his inner child."
Hello Neighbor 3 does not have a release date at the time of writing; however, you can check out the pre-alpha build on Steam right now by clicking here. I encourage you all, young and old, to give the series a go; it's available on practically every device, and if you want to check out the full interview with Nikita, click the video below.
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