Before Little Nightmares II, Little Nightmares was a breakthrough success for developer Tarsier Studios way back when. Drawn to ‘The Maw’, by promises of fulfilling their innermost desires, people traveled to this mysterious Island. Said people also became trapped in the living nightmare, such as Little Nightmares‘ infant protagonist, Six.
Little Nightmares II
The twisted Maw natives were obsessive and over-sized humans with a taste for violence, much like the antagonists in this instalment. Additionally, LN2 introduced a new child hero, Mono. Waking up in an almost ethereal woodland setting, he soon stumbles across Six and embarks on a disturbing journey of discovery.
In fact, A Signal tower on the mainland is warping reality and turning it into a visceral love letter to Tim Burton. As a result, Mono and Six sneak, jump, climb and fight their way to the answers they need to stop the signal and the dreaded ‘Theme Man’.
This is No Theme Park, Kid
Speaking of themes, LN2 still feels like a telling of a nightmare from a child’s perspective. In conclusion, everything is the extreme of itself, there’s no middle ground with actions, size of objects/NPCs or anything else for that matter. Hence a black and white adolescent mentality is at play, represented by more playful and interactive gameplay.
Firstly, gameplay includes more quick-thinking action sequences at the drop of an oddly shaped hat. That’s right, players can collect hats. Fear is the obvious theme here, more so basic ones. Finally, not being safe, big enough, fast enough and interacting with strangers are just a few LN2 touches on.
Watch Out…
Ultimately, nightmares play a big part in the games atmospheric and narrative approaches, capturing that feeling of dread, falling and struggling during gameplay. The overwhelming fear of someone lurking in the shadows is what Little Nightmares II concentrates and drip feeds throughout a play through.
Mono has introduced combat into the franchise. By picking up inanimate objects, players can now set off traps and fight off low to mid ranking enemies with the RT button. Having Six along for the ride is reminiscent of EA’s ‘Unravel Two’, with Mono hitting Y to call over Six and using LT to hold her hand.
Control Your Nightmares
The standard controls of jumping and interacting with facial buttons remain. Movement and general button inputs can feel slow at first, but around 30 minutes with Little Nightmares II fixes that feeling. It adds to the overall feeling of angst.
The overall platforming experience is tight and well-thought out, with movable objects providing a welcomed puzzle element to gameplay. The aforementioned sudden action sequences break up the creepy yet minimalist aesthetic to Little Nightmares II. Again, a welcome challenge.
A Visual Horror?
Visually, the game is beautiful. It won’t win any awards for melting any consoles, but textures, lighting and overall art direction is superb. This will instantly appeal to anyone remotely interested in the Tim Burton approach to Mise en Scene.
Another outstanding quality of Little Nightmares II is the sound engineering. It should be a crime to not experience without a decent gaming headset or remount set of headphones. Whilst there isn’t an epic soundtrack, Little Nightmares II goes from hearing a pin drop to swelling chugs of dread depending on a players gameplay situation.
Xbox review code provided by Bandai NAMCO
