Hey everyone, Mamun Here, and welcome back to my blog. Little Nightmares 2 continues the trend set but these unsettling side scrollers like Limbo and Inside before it, giving you a short but well-paced game filled with great puzzles and an underlying story. It’s charming as much as it is unsettling and though it’s quite short I find myself consistently more drawn to these bite-size fantastic games. If you’re new to the blog, please bookmark the blog, and share the article with your friends if you found the article useful. Now let’s get into the review starting with story.
Little Nightmares 2 Story Review
Despite not having any dialogue, little nightmares 2 does a phenomenal job at crafting a rich and intricate story through its environmental design. Although you don’t technically have to play the first game to play this second one, you’ll no doubt benefit from the added easter eggs and secrets from the first game.
Nevertheless, even if you don't play the first game, you'll somewhat understand most of what going on outside of two different endings that will most certainly lead to many scratching their heads and googling what that was all about. As someone that did play Little Nightmares 1, I loved the callbacks to the first game and the intricate details that seem irrelevant at first, certainly paid off by the end of the game.
Little Nightmares 2 Gameplay Review
If you played Limbo, Stela, or Inside, you'll probably feel like Little Nightmares 2 is up your alley, I know I did. While most of the design language from the first game is still here, the sequel layers on top of it with some minor new mechanics and I think, more importantly, an expansive continuation of its world.
Some of these new features work well and others could use a bit of refinement. Little Nightmares 2 opens up with our small protagonist Mono who like Six in Little Nightmares, has to traverse a large and unsettling world. Mono may just be a spec of dust in this wildly warped nightmare but that's what makes this world so fun to explore.
Whether I was trying to open a door, get a hold of a key, or run for my life from a nightmarish-looking creature, that smaller perspective truly made the exploration fun. To my surprise, I also found a companion, Little Nightmare's original protagonist Six. They're an AI companion that follows you throughout most of the 4-hour campaign.
Like Elle from The Last of Us, you can have them hold levers for you, give you a boost to higher ledges, and so on. For the most part, it's a decent AI companion with it only occasionally acting dumb. Luckily you have a dedicated button to call them over or you can drag I mean hold hands with them and guide them.
Sadly you can't play co-op with a friend of these two characters, though honestly most of these puzzles were straightforward enough that I can't imagine playing co-op would be all that challenging. Regardless, the option to do so, especially in a time when most of us are locked inside our homes, would have been a nice touch.
Most of the puzzles throughout the campaign were simple yet fun. Flipping switches, finding keys, cleverly stealthing my way around enemies, and rushing away from the warped nightmares chasing me. Rarely if ever did I feel stumped by any of the puzzles but there was plenty of trial and error cases. If anything that might be where Little Nightmares could have held back a bit.
While I don't mind solving puzzles through trial and error, Little Nightmares 2 featured great and suspenseful moments that sort of forced trial and error solutions. I could be running away from an enemy and not know the exaction to do without having gone and failed before. In those moments I felt like some of the suspense and initial excitement was widdled down.
Additionally, later sections of the game introduce combat. In theory, I didn't mind it so much, but in practice, it feels oddly executed. With Mono being so small, the objects they use to swing at enemies are large and heavy, usually taking Mono quite a bit of time to swing. That in conjunction with the 2.5D space, made it challenging to navigate my swings and actually make contact with enemies.
This was perhaps the most annoying part of this sequel and further reinforced to me that Little Nightmares 1 found its gameplay groove already, not necessarily needing new mechanics but just more worlds to explore instead. Luckily these new features don't stain too much of the package and outside of those later combat sections, Little Nightmares 2 was quite the adventure.
Little Nightmares 2 Visuals Review
Little Nightmares 2 may be a nightmare but it’s beautiful. While many are quick to categorize this as a horror game, it’s more unsettling and uncomfortable than anything. The series continues to masterfully forge these unpleasant atmospheric tones that didn’t scare me but did send shivers down my spine the moment something would go bump in the night.
Controlling Mono in this grand yet ghoulish landscape often hand my eyes lost at exploring the world behind me. While all the action is at the forefront, the environment behind it often had little stories to tell. While I wouldn’t exactly pin the art style as something out of the mind of Tim Burton, to me it felt more like a Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Now I luckily had access to all the console versions for testing with my main playthrough on Xbox Series X. Shockingly the only main difference between all of the console versions is the resolution.
Base Xbox One and PS4 reach a locked 30 FPS at 1080p. On the pro consoles and next-gen consoles, that gets bumped up to 1620p also locked at 30fps. It’s odd that the FPS didn’t get upgraded to 60 or that the resolution didn’t get maxed out to a full 4K even on PS5 or Series X. For the most part, the next-gen port is just a straight-up port. On Nintendo Switch, the resolution is maxed at 720p 30 FPS both in handheld and dock mode.
While things are blurrier with more artifacting on smaller details like these curtains, it still was fairly playable. The darker scenes might get a bit too blurry on occasion but for the most part, the experience was fine and with it being so short, it lends to a great handheld experience, especially on the Switch Lite. Regardless of the platform you choose, you should get a solid experience but if you specifically want 60 frames per second, then you'll want to get this on PC.
Little Nightmares 2 Audio Review
Like I mentioned before, Little Nightmares 2 isn't scary. It's ominous, weird, and creepy and part of that is because of its music. A lot of the music here mixes in slow and dark piano tracks highlighted by higher notes that left me feeling not scared but anxious and uneasy. Furthermore, I think it was the moments without music, those that chose to keep things silent outside of the ambient noise that truly kept me on my toes while exploring. These characters don't have a lot to say verbally but the world did, with my best pair of headphones available I dove right in.
Little Nightmares 2 Conclusion
Little Nightmares 2 doesn't try to reinvent the wheel all that much when it comes to mechanics and that's because it didn't have to, the odd feeling combat is a great example of if it ain't broke don't fix it, or maybe don't add to it. What Little Nightmares 2 does excel at is expanding its world and lore, putting together a fascinating story, and ultimately continuing what is fun but size adventure, perfect for a single sitting. While it might be a bit of a high asking price at $30 for a 4-hour campaign, I find myself increasingly more invested in these smaller but well-paced packages. If you're tight on cash, pick this up on sale, but if you're looking for a fun adventure to play over the weekend, Little Nightmares 2 is a great piece of gaming comfort food.
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