Despite some issues with its controls, I thoroughly enjoyed the original Little Nightmares. Tarsier Studios created such a compelling, macabre world that I even played all three pieces of DLC that were released, something I very rarely do. Naturally, I was pretty excited about what Little Nightmares II might offer. Ultimately, I wasn’t disappointed, though many of the issues that permeated the first remain.
In Little Nightmares II, you play as Mono, a young boy who wears a brown paper bag on his head. His adventure begins in the Wilderness before eventually taking him to the Pale City, which is as creepy as the name suggests. He doesn’t have to face its twisted populace alone, though. Six, the original game’s protagonist, is also by his side through most of the game.
Together they have to deal with several creepy people, and much like the first game, these warped humans stick in your mind long after you finish playing. There’s The Teacher, who can stretch her neck to great lengths with a disturbing creak and emits a horrifying squawk whenever she spies our protagonist. The Doctor is a gelatinous blob of a man who traverses his hospital by inching along the ceiling, breathing heavily in such an unsettling manner you will hear it in your sleep.
There’s also the game’s main antagonist, The Thin Man, a gangly individual who acts more calmly than most Little Nightmares villains, but with no less menace. His influence is felt beyond the areas you physically encounter him, however. He has some involvement in The Broadcast, a signal that beams into the many television sets that litter the game’s levels and causes any adult nearby to stare mindlessly into the static that fills the screen.
Much like the first game, the story is told without words and is arguably more intriguing for it. Tarsier Studios leave just the right amount of the narrative to your interpretation to encourage some interesting discussions among fans. The lack of dialogue also aids in creating the game’s magnificent, disconcerting atmosphere. When paired with the deliciously macabre visuals and ominous, sparingly used soundtrack, the result is a horror game that can actually maintain the creepiness throughout its runtime rather than petering out after the introductory hours.
The atmosphere has never been an area where Tarsier Studios has struggled. So this isn’t particularly surprising, although its brilliance should absolutely be celebrated. Instead, the original Little Nightmares only faltered when it came to the gameplay itself. Unfortunately, many of these issues still persist, especially with the controls themselves, which feel somewhat cumbersome.
How detrimental this can be depends on which part of the game you’re playing. There are several chase sequences in Little Nightmares II where the 3D movement in a 2.5D world causes you to unwittingly swerve off course and ultimately get captured by whichever crazed monster is pursuing you. It does detract slightly from what the game is trying to achieve in these moments, but elsewhere, the game generally elevates itself above its predecessor.
The original felt like a string of successful stealth sections marred by puzzles that involved throwing objects at buttons before dabbling in the aforementioned clunky chase sequences. Little Nightmares II, meanwhile, feels much more varied. For instance, there are eerie porcelain bullies that roam The Teacher’s school that you’ll actually be able to fight, an option that only emerged in The Residence DLC in the original.
There are hammers dotted about this area that Mono can drag around behind him, looking somewhat like a horror villain himself, before shattering the heads of these creatures. Another section in the hospital sees you sneaking through darkened wards where you are pursued by horrifying mannequins that will stop in their tracks if you shine your flashlight on them. There are problems with both, the timing for killing the bullies is overly precise, and sometimes the mannequins are undeterred by the beam of your torch.
But, Little Nightmares II doesn’t linger on these sections for so long that they become overly irritating. In fact, the mannequin section, in particular, is very effective despite its flaws. Hearing the clicking of their plastic limbs shuffling after you in the dark makes it incredibly tense as you desperately swing your torch in their direction to keep them frozen, which becomes increasingly difficult as more appear.
In a late section of the game, you will gain the ability to teleport through the same television sets that hypnotise the inhabitants of the Pale City. This is the peak of Little Nightmares II’s puzzling prowess. It’s incredibly enjoyable to figure out how to use these TVs to jump around the level, often avoiding a fatal death by a fraction of a second. And, smartly, these puzzles only appear in one portion of the game, ensuring they don’t outstay their welcome.
There are still puzzles that feel more like fetch quests, such as searching for three fuses to open one door. But they’re often gathered by solving a chess puzzle before avoiding the clutches of a different enemy, which mixes up the pacing, rather than it feeling like you’re simply wandering back and forth looking for items. The puzzles, in general, are rarely too taxing and usually have pretty logical solutions, which is good since exploring the world and unravelling the story is Little Nightmares II’s main draw.
If you enjoyed Little Nightmares, then you will most definitely enjoy the second instalment. The stellar atmosphere created by the first is as strong as ever, and the wordless narrative is compelling right up until its jaw-dropping conclusion. However, if the cumbersome controls put you off the original, they haven’t been improved drastically in the second. Regardless, there is definitely a more enjoyable variety to the gameplay that mitigates some of the frustration.
7/10
Stephen Gregson-Wood 