I have spent years waiting to be able to play Little Nightmares and finally Little Nightmares II made it to the Xbox Game Pass and my parents decided I was old enough to play it. A double success!
Little Nightmares II is the second game in a franchise by Tarsier Studios. It is perhaps best described as a puzzle/platformer horror game. In the game you will take on the role of Mono, a child who wakes to find themselves alone in the woods. The world is nothing like the one we know with deformed entities at every turn. It does not take long for us to encounter the NPC called Six. Together they must try to survive the terrors that lie ahead crossing through the Wilderness, School, Hospital, Pale City and finally the Signal Tower. Although you only play as Mono, the solving of puzzles often involves both characters and to that end you can call out to Six, requesting her assistance with a boost up or to catch you on the wider jumps. At the scarier of times you may find it something of a comfort that you can also hold hands!
There is a lot to explore in this 3D world and the addition of collectables ensures you get the very most from the game, encouraging you to scour every nook and cranny. Firstly there are hats for Mono to find. These can be selected and worn by visiting the pause menu at any time and are even required to be worn at select moments to claim some achievements. The other collectables are known as glitching remains. There are a few theories over exactly what these are but I always took them to be like the souls of departed children, though I have since read ideas that they are composed by interference from the signal. They only become visible when Mono moves close, at which point he seems to lean forwards, almost devouring them. They tend to be found in rather sad locations, perhaps hinting at their demise. This made the desire to find them all even stronger.
The collection of all of the glitched remains also gives access to a secret ending. Whilst I do not want to spoil this for you if you are yet to play it, I encourage you to get it as having read more about the first Little Nightmares, it does bring us neatly back full cycle.
I played Little Nightmares II both on the PC and Xbox. The first level of the PC did run into a few issues – when I started a new game, the hats I had collected in another game were already in my inventory and one of them was already on the head of Mono! The second was more problematic. At one stage you must acquire a crank so as to be able to reach a key and leave a locked room. About half a dozen times in a row the crank did not spawn for me, leaving me locked and unable to progress. Returning to previous checkpoints did not resolve it and I had to restart the level from the beginning. I had no issues at all with playing on the Xbox so if you have a choice, I would select that but of course you may play on PC without incident!
Some of you may be wondering how frightening Little Nightmares II actually is. For me, I found it atmospheric, creepy but more than anything else an absolute creative delight. Younger or more sensitive children may find some of the NPCs scary or the tension too great but that is a sign of a horror-game well-made and perfect for the lead up to Halloween.
A playlist of each level with timestamped collectibles and achievements can be found here.