Game Thoughts: Little Nightmares II
When I was a kid, I absolutely loved Rugrats: Search for Reptar, a 1998 PlayStation platformer packed with episode-based mini-games. Two levels absolutely terrified me: “Toy Palace,” where you had to defeat a giant gorilla by throwing boxes at it, and “Incident in Aisle Seven,” where you similarly had to defeat a giant crab. I was so scared of these level bosses that I would always ask my mom to beat them for me.
I’ve basically been terrified of “scary” video games ever since. In fact, I think Little Nightmares II is the first proper horror game I’ve ever played — and I did it live on stream.
Little Nightmares II is a puzzle platformer developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Players control Mono, a young boy trapped in a world that’s been distorted by a television transmission. As he tries to escape, Mono meets Six, a girl in a yellow raincoat who acts as his guide. There are five chapters total, and players have to solve puzzles in each to move forward.
When I started seeing this game on my social media feeds, I was immediately drawn in by the art. This side-scrolling platformer is absolutely gorgeous, with interesting colors, cool use of shadows, and unique looking characters. The monsters — or whatever you want to call them — are genuinely terrifying, and each one is a little bit different than the last. There are plenty of scares here, but there’s also a lot of beauty to gawk at, which makes for a really powerful experience overall.
In addition to its refined graphics and stunning style, Little Nightmares II also has excellent controller effects/integration, and the game recognizes when a player is too confused by a puzzle to move forward. It will provide hints as needed, though these obviously become rarer as the game progresses. Each chapter utilizes the skills and techniques players learned in the ones before and builds on those, steadily increasing the difficulty without sacrificing the element of surprise or the scare factor.
Don’t be deceived by the sweet-looking promotional art for this game. Little Nightmares II takes approximately 6-8 hours to play, and you’ll likely be scared out of your mind for at least half of that time. Solving puzzles when your heart is pounding is incredibly difficult, which adds a whole new layer to the gameplay.
My best advice, after having significant help from friends, is once you find a possible solution, be patient and keep working at it — some of these puzzles seem impossible, but I think there’s also an element of luck in each run. You may die once, twice, or 100 times, but eventually, you’ll get there. Just take a break if it gets to be too much and remember: It’s just a game, and games cannot hurt you. (This may seem obvious, but I got so invested at points that I had to remind myself.)
Although I don’t typically play horror games (although I might play more now, because this one was so fun), I do enjoy watching horror movies and TV shows. I’ll scream and bite pillows and freak out, but that’s half the fun for me — I partake in horror when I want to be scared. Each chapter in Little Nightmares II introduced some new horror, and each one struck a different nerve.
Given the game’s basic concept and story, that’s very impressive. I think it would have been easy for Tarsier to pick one or two similar villains and stick with them, but instead, the developer went for an array of scares which could be triggered by a variety of in-game actions. And some of them don’t even involve the monsters themselves, which is even more impressive. Some of the best scares in this game, for me, were scenery-based moments that surprised the hell out of me.
Plus, the story itself is beautiful. It’s heavy, but tightly constructed, and the ending is so good that I sat and simply stared at my computer, open-mouthed, as it washed over me. The events of Little Nightmares II precede Little Nightmares, which features Six as the controllable protagonist. This motivated me to play the second game first, and I’m glad I did, because I think it will give me a really cool perspective on the original.
If you like horror and want to dive into something unexpectedly creepy with a fantastic story, this may be the game for you.
Little Nightmares II is developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is currently available on PlayStation 4, Stadia, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam).
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