NEIGHBORS: Suburban Warfare leaves Early Access and goes free-to-play

From a $9.99 game to free-to-play

The change is a significant one for NEIGHBORS. When the game entered Early Access on April 17, 2025, its PC version cost $9.99. Invisible Walls later acknowledged that the paid model created a difficult barrier for a multiplayer game whose experience depends heavily on having an active community.

Version 1.0 therefore removes that admission price. NEIGHBORS is now free-to-play, with in-game purchases including cosmetic content. Ahead of launch, the studio said gameplay-affecting content such as Neighbors and custom Houses would remain unlockable with Pocket Pennies, a currency that can be earned through play.

Players who purchased the Early Access version are not simply being left behind. Invisible Walls previously announced that existing owners would retain their unlocked Neighbors and receive exclusive cosmetic rewards as part of the transition.

A 1.0 built around more immediate matches

The full release also comes with a broader change of direction. Invisible Walls concluded that NEIGHBORS had become too complex and punishing for the party-game experience the studio wanted to build. Destruction has consequently been streamlined to reduce the amount of knowledge required before players can get on with wrecking the house across the street.

Resources have been removed from the redesigned format. Shops are simpler, general perks are gone and shop tiers now unlock automatically as the nights progress. Additional offensive equipment relies more heavily on random high-value drops capable of shifting a match.

The sprint button has also been removed in favor of a faster standardized base movement speed. Invisible Walls is targeting matches of roughly ten to fifteen minutes, compared with an earlier average of around twenty.

Gwen joins the neighborhood dispute

Version 1.0 also introduces Gwen, a new Neighbor built as an aggressive support character. Her cheering can increase her team's damage, while her taunts make opponents more vulnerable. The pom-poms are therefore not merely there to satisfy the homeowners' association.

A new Practice vs. AI mode meanwhile lets players fight robotic opponents either solo or alongside up to three friends. The enemies scale according to party size, creating a space for newcomers to learn characters and for experienced players to test combinations without requiring a human opposing team.

The wider game still offers several ways to turn Heartsville into an insurance claim. Destruction revolves around wrecking the opposing house before yours is destroyed, Brawl focuses on knocking out rival Neighbors, Prop Hunt turns players into suspicious household objects, and Robot Invasion pits teams against waves of machines.

The neighborhood war reaches consoles

The September 29 full release also marks the game's arrival on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Microsoft's store confirms the Series X|S edition is free, with online multiplayer for two to ten players and cross-platform multiplayer support.

PC effectively served as the testing ground for roughly seventeen months of Early Access. During that period Invisible Walls added modes, adjusted balance and moved away from dedicated servers toward player-hosted sessions, a decision the studio attributed to the cost of maintaining permanent infrastructure for a relatively small player base.

The goal behind 1.0 is consequently easy to see: remove as many obstacles to entering Heartsville as possible, whether those obstacles were the price or the complexity of its systems. One barrier apparently remains essential, though—the little white fence between two suburban homes, if only because it gives everyone one more thing to smash.