by Tuesday Pope
Little Nightmares is a game that is right up my alley. Ever since I saw Nightmare Before Christmas in theaters when I was 4, I’ve absolutely adored creepy childlike fairy tales. In the first, you play as Six, a nine year old girl wearing a yellow raincoat with an insatiable hunger. The adults of the world are all monsters who would love nothing more than to make a snack of you and other children. The themes of adult monsters chasing children are continued in the second game of the series, Little Nightmares 2.
In this game, you play as Mono. You wake up in a forest by a TV and start making your way to the city. The game is a platformer and puzzle game. Unlike the previous, this one has more active combat in certain parts. You also play cooperatively, although the game is not co-op. You soon rescue a little girl who dawns a familiar yellow raincoat. That’s right, Six is back and will help you solve puzzles along the way. While the game had at one point been considered to be co-op, the developers soon realized that a lot of story beats wouldn’t be able to play out the same. I went in thinking this was a missed opportunity, but after finishing the game, I can definitely see why they didn’t take this route and narratively it’s a good fit.
There isn’t much story beyond the budding friendship of the two protagonists and the ending reveals. The story more focuses on the fun monsters in each section. All of them are delightfully creepy with small touches like a doll’s arm or a porcelain head. At the end, the TV motif comes into play as the main antagonists reveal themselves and the story beats fall into place. The game has four main monsters and areas and honestly I wish it was longer. It also doesn’t have quite the cohesion of the first game which entirely took place on The Maw, a large ship with a restaurant.
There are still some clunky controls in certain sections and glitches as in the first one. At one point I got stuck behind a cart and had to restart from last check point. None of that is game breaking, although it can be a little frustrating. It’s nothing that detracts from the overall enjoyment. There are a few puzzles which have extremely not obvious solutiona, but overall the puzzles can be quite clever and fun to figure out. Also the visual style is amazing as always. There are many sections that are downright beautiful.
At $29.99, the game is worth the price if you like creepy things or puzzles games. I greatly enjoyed my time with this game. Be warned, though, the game is short. I believe I beat it in about 6 hours. Now of course you can go for all collectibles to extend the play time. There’s various hats you can collect and wear. Mono starts the game off wearing a paper bag over his head which you can swap out for various oversized hats you find along the way. On my first play through I found only two. And yes, the bag/hat is plot significant. There’s also glitch children you find along the way, which is akin to hugging the gnomes in the first game. If you find all of them you get the secret ending which reveals where Little Nightmares 2 falls in the timeline. The game does come packed with substance and visual appeal. It was worth it for me, but I can understand this not being for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with waiting for a price drop.
Overall, Little Nightmares 2 is a great game. I still like the first game more, but this is absolutely a great main title follow up. And if you enjoy this series, there’s also a phone game, a DLC story to the first (and possibly to this one in the future), and a comic you can check out all set in this world where children are what’s on the menu. Get creeped out on whatever system you play; it’s on all of them. Except for the two stadia players out there. You guys are out of luck in more ways than one.
