Upon attempting to open the door and then wandering away from it, construction noises are heard, and then the sound of a lock being opened. In Act 2, the player wakes up in a small locked room within the basement. The player fails to open the door and is then captured by the Neighbor. At the end of the passageway is a door locked with a few padlocks. If the Neighbor catches them here, the player is simply put back at the beginning of the passageway and must repeat the chase. The player must make their way to the end of this passageway without being caught. Upon entering, the Neighbor enters behind them and begins chasing them. The player must turn on a generator and then make their way back to the exit door, flipping the switch to remove the gate blocking the door. However, for whatever reason, he cannot catch them, should they leave the washing machine. The player must make their way to the end, while avoiding the Neighbor. The Neighbor will also enter the basement. Upon doing so, numerous gates appear and block the player's path, requiring them to use the doors.

This will create a path for them to follow, and they must then turn off the power. The player must get to the end of the basement, and make their way back to the beginning while removing the chairs blocking all the doors. It contains a secret passageway leading to the real basement a maze of rooms. However, upon trying to open the washing machine, the entire front hinges open, revealing itself to be a secret door. In the full game, the basement appears to be an ordinary room at the bottom of the stairs, containing boxes, a boiler and a washing machine. The chair can simply be removed, but the keycard is frozen in a block of ice inside the Neighbor's freezer, and the crowbar is hidden somewhere on the third floor and heated with electricity. In its current appearance, the basement door is a brown wooden door, which is keycard-controlled, nailed with two boards, and as of the first Beta, propped shut with a chair. In Alpha 2, the basement door looked like a large metal door that could be opened with a valve, and was blocked with only one wooden board, but had a key-card reader in place of a number pad. This method would become the default for future versions.

Additionally, the player had to remove the individual nails instead of just clicking the boards.

In Alpha 1, there was no keypad, and there were two wooden boards instead of just one. In the Pre-Alpha, the basement door was a white wooden door blocked with a wooden board, and sealed with a padlock and number keypad.

How to beat hello neighbor act 2