The Nightmare Continues

Little Nightmares II

Genre: Action/Adventure

Developer: Tarsier Studio

Publisher: Bandai Namco

Platform(s): PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows

**This review contains spoilers for Little Nightmares II**

 

Little Nightmares II is very similar to its predecessor in that it’s an action/adventure horror inspired platformer where you need to solve puzzles and rely on stealth and the environment in order to avoid foes. It takes place in a 2D (ish?), desolate world where the inhabitants known as the “Viewers” are being possessed/brainwashed by a radio tower broadcast. Unlike the first game, however, you are not completely vulnerable; our protagonist, Mono, has the ability to pick up certain items (i.e. a small axe or pipe) and swing them as weapons to either crush an enemy or break through doors. 

In fact, our first encounter with the axe comes when breaking down a door in the Hunter’s cabin where we find… (insert spoiler!)

…Six from the original Little Nightmares! To be fair we don’t know it’s actually Six until later in the

game but for the sake of this review I’ll be using her name as it makes my life a lot easier. 

Another new mechanic in Little Nightmares 2 is the ability to call out to Six for her to scramble over to your location so the two of you can work together in solving certain puzzles, or gaining access to alcoves that you normally wouldn’t be able to reach on your own. Walkway cave in? Drawbridge break on you? Incredibly long jump to the other side of a cliff where you could potentially fall to your imminent demise? No worries! Ten to one, Six is already on the other side of wherever with a helpful, outstretched hand. Nothing like a leap of faith to solidify a friendship, right?

There are also times where you and your partner have no choice but to separate in order to progress further, only to be reunited with Six sometimes acting a bit, well, feral? Which makes us wonder…what exactly happened while we were off grabbing that power fuse to cause such an adverse reaction in our partner in crime?

Graphically this game is stunning. I’ve personally played it on the Nintendo Switch, but after watching some videos and reading others reviews on the game noticed there is a slight difference in ambience and colour vs play on the PS4. The PS4 seems to be sharper and plays a bit smoother than the Switch, but it’s fairly subtle unless you’re really looking to compare side by side. It takes nothing away from actual gameplay and, crispness aside, these backgrounds are jaw dropping; from the way the camera pans out while Mono runs across a clothesline to show you the bleak and desolate city behind you, to the eeriness of the silhouetted shadows of hanging prosthetics cast by Mono’s flashlight.

There is one scene where Mono is running through a disturbingly beautiful hallway, tiny hands gripping his flashlight for dear life, where mannequin arms are grasping for him ala Resident Evil 2 style through hospital doors that, while creepy as all hell is just gorgeous to witness. As Mono races towards the screen, the hands claw and swipe from every direction, even directly towards the screen and therefore you, the player. The scene is incredibly tense to play through, and if you've played through the demo then you know what's coming next, so you also know there's no time to gawk at how awesomely creepy this looks. 

I've dubbed this the "Hall of Nope"

So, just what is going on in the world of Little Nightmares 2? After escaping the Hunter on a broken door across the river with Six (Titanic style), we’re met with the puzzling sight of broken televisions bobbing in the murky waters. Mono’s makeshift raft washes up on a beach leading to looming buildings that literally bend inward, almost as if trying to get closer to the glowing radio tower in the center of the city. This radio tower seems to be emitting some sort of brainwashing frequency, as the city’s inhabitants are all seen staring listlessly at TV screens. As you progress through the game, you gain access to a universal remote to these TVs and, when turned off, elicit a violent reaction from the Viewers. Some are even seen plummeting to their deaths off rooftops, either to try to get closer to the tower or because they couldn’t take it anymore. Whatever the reason, it’s disturbing to witness.

 

 

Mono and Six traverse through several unsettling areas and encounter equally disturbing enemies along the way:

The school is home to the Bullies, porcelain children with empty eye sockets and a savage demeanor that not only mercilessly attack Mono and kidnap Six, but also attack one another, often seen pouncing on other children, setting deadly traps, and generally trying to kill anything they come across. Only one thing seems to keep these Bullies under control, and that is the Teacher, this areas “boss”. If she’s not disciplining the Bullies, the Teacher is stalking the halls and library of the school. If spotted, the Teacher lets out a terrifying shriek and gives chase to Mono… by extending her freakishly long neck, bending and twisting it in inhuman angles in pursuit of Mono and Six. All with that damnable smile on her face. 

 

Out of the school and into the rain, the next area we find ourselves in is a dark and dank hospital. As if the previous environments weren’t creepy enough, the hospital is blanketed in complete darkness with only your source of light being a discarded flashlight. This area is home to several creepy crawlies, including the Patients, Living Hands, and the Doctor. The Patients are the Doctor’s disfigured creations, mannequins that are missing heads, hands replaced with hooks or claws, mismatched legs. They chase Mono down in the darkness and can only be stopped by shining light directly at them. Remember the hallway I mentioned previously with the mannequin arms? Yea, have fun with that.

Freeze Tag!

If you think you’re free, think again. What could be causing the ceiling to shake and rumble in such a way? Enter the Doctor, a grotesquely large individual wearing thermal long johns (ew…) that dangles and crawls around the ceiling tiles while assembling his mannequins. Just like previous encounters, stealth is key here. Mono and Six can exploit the shadows of room corners as well as hiding under patient beds to stay out of the Doctor’s grubby paws. Eventually the chase leads us down into the basement where the Doctor is tricked into trapping himself inside the hospitals incinerator and, well, you can imagine how that goes…

We find ourselves back in the bowels of the Pale City where the buildings all seem to bend and bow towards that damned tower, our next destination. During our adventures, we’ve seen Mono being lured several times into the TV himself with Six being able to pull us back just before we reach the end of the hallway. 

Not this time. This time we reach the end only to find the illustrious Thin Man, an enemy with an eerie similarity to Slender Man (*shudders* ugh) with the ability to glitch several paces ahead, as if skipping time, to close in on our heroes. While Mono gives him the slip, Six isn’t so fortunate.

Off to save our girlfriend!

The Broadcast Tower is hauntingly beautiful, illuminated in its entirety by a purple glow with floors and floors of stairs leading to the top…and to the Thin Man. The puzzles here are unique in that they require you to listen for the unnervingly innocent music coming from all around you. You’ll notice the music tends to be more quiet when you stand in front of certain doorways, yet louder at others. The goal here is to find where the music is coming from; though once you do, you’ll probably wish you hadn’t.

I won’t spoil anything more from here on out, just make sure you’re wearing your seatbelt because once you find Six, it’s one hell of a ride. The Little Nightmares series is definitely one of the most disturbingly beautiful games that everyone should experience whether you’re a horror fan or not. It’s not jump scare, in-your-face horror, but rather picks at your nerves, steadily building tension with every creak of a door or grunt and groan of the Pale City’s inhabitants. This one should not be missed.