Considering the ending of the first game... why?

[EveyD]

Anyone who's beaten the first game presumably knows the player character came to terms with their traumatic kidnapping and moved on. So why do we need to find Mr. Peterson? Are we going to kill him? Arrest him? Confront him with no clear plan?

[[Fr]Mr.Sim]

In hello neighbor 2 you don't play the same character. Different origins, different story and different reasons.
The plot is explained by the dev in gameplay showcases

[me (rest in peace rick sanchez)]

It Says Missing So We Might Be Trying To Escort Him Back To His House

[[Fr]Mr.Sim]

Originally posted by superbeario:

It Says Missing So We Might Be Trying To Escort Him Back To His House

I don't think so. We are a journalist so we want a scoop. We find the neighbor and we try to uncover his secrets

[Solar]

also there's a missing poster of nicky in one of the trailers

[Zaichi]

since Nicky never found out what happened to Mr. Peterson, only that his house burned down, we can assume once Nicky escaped and called the cops Mr. Peterson's house burned down, either as a direct result of that or because Mr. Peterson wanted to cover his tracks with what happened to his daughter and son, still wanting to protect his only living family member from being taken away from him for unintentionally killing his own sister.

Mr. Peterson's gone missing might be an indication the cops are still looking for him on suspicion of foul play with his kids and presumably Mrs. Peterson as well, as well as definite foul play with Nicky, having abducted and kept him prisoner for a long while.

playing as a journalist in HN2 we're looking for Mr. Peterson either as a wanted man or curiously gone missing after the disappearances of his kids which is a mystery to everyone but Mr. Peterson himself. maybe it even has something to do with the person that caused the crash that killed Mrs. Peterson.

so many possibilities, many different ways they can take the sequel i can't wait to play it fully.