The first Little Nightmares was born almost like a bet, with the trust placed by Bandai Namco in the small team of Tarsier Studios , but above all in a project that, although basic in the mechanics, proposed a new point of view in the horror landscape. Although at launch the surprise effect granted the game its small space on the gaming stage, the real luck of Little Nightmares came over time. This by increasing their fan base, and with the appearance of dozens and dozens of theories about the game and its characters, ranging from the original title, to the DLC, to the prequel “ Very Little Nightmares”Published on mobile. If we wanted to simply talk about the main concept, we would have nothing different to say about the game we learned to face four years ago, with the darkest and most recurring nightmares of children reproduced in an unhealthy imaginary world … but lucky for you – or bad luck – with Little Nightmares 2 the Swedish studio has given us many terrifying surprises . We tried the game in its PlayStation 4 version (but with all the advantages of running it on a PlayStation 5), although during the year, at an unspecified date, the version dedicated to the next gen will also be published.
How many times did you hide under the covers as a child? Maybe on those nights where you just couldn’t sleep, and the rain and lightning outside made the window panes vibrate with the wind whistling through the trees? Well, the fear of the moment was nothing compared to the nightmares that would then chase you during the night… The time to live those moments is back. Cover your eyes, or prepare for the worst.
A light in the distance
As you have already read in our preview based on the game’s demo (which you can retrieve here ), in Little Nightmares 2 we will take on the role of a new character, Mono , a young boy with a paper bag on his head, who will collaborate with Six (the protagonist of the first game) to reach the Signal Tower . In fact, from this disturbing place comes a distorted and incessant hum, a signal that makes all televisions mesmeric deadly machines.
It all starts from a nightmare. A grayish corridor, a door with a large eye that seems to be staring at you. How much is it true? When Mono awakens, you will find yourself in a dense forest, which not too late you will discover to be littered with a multitude of traps. The first area of this level will practically act as a tutorial, where you will learn – or revise – the basic commands of Little Nightmares, which for most of the features are the same as the first title. Without going into too much detail and without making spoilers, however, know certain levels will have their particularities , and you can take advantage of different ways both to defend yourself, to escape, and to solve certain puzzles. A little clue? Also sounds andlight will be decisive.
It won’t take long before you get to know Six (still stripped of her iconic yellow raincoat), and despite the little girl being hesitant at first, you will start the journey right with her, which will become a fundamental part of the gameplay itself : with the in fact, you can solve puzzles, you can reach higher positions with her who will be your step, and so on.
A dark puzzle
Little Nightmares 2 is a collection of ingenious puzzles , gruesome discoveries , creepy encounters and frightening situations . The mix generated by the various features of the title make it one of the best productions of its kind ever, making use not only of a very high level technical sector , but also of an excellent artistic direction. We are rarely faced with a creation that with so little is able to create a sense of awe and fear, amplifying its “malaise” minute by minute. Although the “more of the same” is a ghost capable of being quite scary, Little Nightmares 2 manages to make us forget, even net of some stratagem, that we already know some of the mechanics that we will exploit. To help in this sense there are not only the new terrible enemies, but also their number: did it seem easy to escape from an overweight cook? Imagine what it can be like to face hordes insteadof bullies … or much worse. Yes, because if there is one feature that is smoothed out in this chapter, it is precisely the one dedicated to enemies, which in some cases we will actually have to face … with all our limitations.
An honorable mention is, to say the least, mandatory for art and level design : The choice of colors, settings, the untold story of every single character – or “monster” – encountered, give a unique feedback that undoubtedly surpasses even the first game. We will carry out actions that will seem absurd, or almost evil , to achieve our goal, we will give all our inventiveness to the bottom, we will exploit every single possibility to defend ourselves . The levels are built more broadly, with an even more marked three-dimensionality, an exploration that offers more breathing space, and the balanced exploitation of space both vertically and horizontally, especially for solving puzzles.
As we have already mentioned, the sound also gains a prominent position: the sound design of Little Nightmares 2 is designed not only to complement an atmosphere with dark tones, but is also used in some cases as an advantage for the player. Clearly what is most striking is one’s role in the environment, with the music to destabilize, the rain to set the rhythm, and the voice of the little mono to ask for help.
It is a long-lived experience twice as long as the game that preceded it, guaranteeing a duration between 6 and 7 hours to be completed, not counting the collection of the different collectibles (they are of two types, hats and ghosts , and they are scattered both in accessible areas and in decidedly more hidden places). The price, however, remained budget.
Ultimately Tarsier has re-proposed what he knew how to do, but at a higher level , and if we are sure that where some of the many theories of the community will finally have an answer, at least twice as many
many will be born to make players puzzled. And I forgot … the twists are guaranteed. Be ready.
