It’s a more handsome, slightly bigger and occasionally more disturbing follow-up that hits all the same horrifying notes and introduces some new and memorable antagonists. Little Nightmares II doesn’t reinvent what people liked about the first game, and it doesn’t need to. Nightmares that rarely ever conform to any semblance of logic or reason, but are sufficiently haunting enough to stick with you long after you open your eyes. Tarsier has done another bang-up job of conveying the vulnerability component of the nightmare equation, and at the end of the day that’s what these games are about – nightmares. They’re desperate of course, but still as curious and reckless as children are. Even when they’re forced to do some truly awful things to stay alive they’re incredibly sympathetic. The pair of them stumble around, knocking shit over, scrambling over ledges and generally just looking like a couple of kids in places they really shouldn’t be. Like Six in the first game, Mono endears himself through body language and some excellent animation work. It’s all backed up by another sparse but equally chilling soundtrack, the kind that wouldn’t feel out of place in a good Tim Burton film.ĭespite those few moments that threaten it, Little Nightmares II’s atmosphere and frequent game of “What messed up thing awaits me next?” wins out in the end.

The game’s sound design is impeccable, from the wails of a scuffling surgeon to the rattling of the broken ceramic heads of some demonic school children. Every encounter is framed just so, and often the things that happen off-screen in shadows and behind closed doors are just as unnerving as what can be seen. It helps that Little Nightmares II is a treat to look at, with the studio’s flair for visual horror amplified by an all-over uplift in environmental density, detail and cinematography. Turns out there’s a rich vein of spookiness that runs through places like schools, hospitals and apartment buildings and Tarsier has the tools and the expertise to tap into it. Trading the creatively messed-up confines of the first game’s undersea meat market, The Maw, for a more pedestrian collection of archetypal urban environments could have gone badly. The paper-thin narrative plays second fiddle to the same completely unsettling atmosphere and constant sense of dread as the original game though, and that’s where Little Nightmares II shines the most.

Little nightmares 2 characters names