Review: Little Nightmares 2

If you enjoy horror games and puzzles, Tarsier Studios’ Little Nightmares 2, which was released on February 11, 2021, is the game for you. Some of these puzzles are difficult, and you’ll have to use your brain to solve them. You’ll probably have to play through parts of the game numerous times to get everything right. You’ll probably love this portion of the game if you enjoy puzzles. If you like a little more guidance, though, this may be pushing you outside of your comfort zone. Despite its high difficulty level, the game earned great reviews from critics and fans alike.

In Little Nightmares II, a suspense adventure game in which you play as Mono, a young kid stuck in a world twisted by the humming broadcast of a faraway tower, you’ll return to a world of lovely horror. Mono sets out to uncover the terrible secrets of The Signal Tower with the help of Six, the girl in the yellow raincoat. Their quest will not be simple; Mono and Six will encounter a slew of new perils from the world’s wretched inhabitants.

This game is gorgeous, and the graphics are incredible. Little Nightmares 1 was a hit, and Little Nightmares 2 did not disappoint. Ambient scenery, a grim plot, and challenging but solvable puzzles. For us, Little Nightmares II was a vast upgrade over the first in almost every way. The visual art style is better, and the locations you may explore are larger; the music and sound are also better; and the nightmares you encounter are more varied, all of which contribute to a greater mood for us. You have various new actions to do mechanically, some of which are more context-specific, such as when you employ a weapon. The weapon segments aren’t very common and usually pass fast (sometimes right as you move to the next screen), but they’re where we died the most because timing your hits can be difficult. Don’t let this annoy you, though, because it doesn’t take away from the game’s main focus, which is platforming and puzzle-solving. Most spots where you move across small horizontal platforms now lock you into the platform, meaning you can’t fall off towards or away from the camera, which was a much-needed repair in the platforming area. Also, you only control one of the two characters for the majority of the game. This increases the scope of some puzzles, but it also means you must occasionally wait for the computer to catch up or prepare for a specific animation. However, it made sense to us and was not an issue. For us, the horror element was also turned up. We felt it to be much creepier overall, and the sound effects, in particular, were really unnerving. We found the game’s ending to be even more atmospheric and emotional than the original, but we can’t explain why without giving too much away. We believe the tempo is considerably better, and the gameplay is a couple of hours longer than the original. Because our imaginations fear us the most, you have more time to investigate quieter regions and allow the dread to build up. If you loved the first one, you’ll enjoy this one as well. If you weren’t a fan of the game, there is a demo available, so you may give it a shot. However, we strongly advise you to dive into this one.

This creepy puzzle-platformer sends you on an odyssey with Mono and Six, pushing you to solve puzzles and escape from a world hell-bent on killing them — or at the very least, preventing the two kids from stopping the enigmatic Signal Tower. Will you be brave enough to confront this fresh collection of little nightmares?