Checking out Little Nightmares II
When Little Nightmares first released, many people didn’t know what to make of it, was it a platformer, was it a horror, well turns out it was both and more. When the sequel was announced, many people got excited and thanks to Bandai Namco I was able to go hands on with the game.
For those who don’t know the first game, you were in control of Six, a young girl who wears a yellow raincoat and after she escapes from the Maw, she encounters Mono, who is the main playable character in the sequel. The demo started out with the two of them sitting in front of a TV, around them were mannequins and a set of stairs that led up towards a few rooms and the elevator out of the area, there are no dangers in this space, but it was still suitably creepy, which was nice.
The main goal was to escape the area, simple enough, but in order to do that I had to locate two fuses, in order to allow power to the switch, which would in turn open the door. The task was simple, the execution, not so much as was soon made very apparent as in order to locate the first fuse, it required combating the escaped hand of one of the mannequins.
Combat is not the games focus, it is more the exploration of the environment and all the creepiness that comes with that, but it did a solid job, the only real problem I had with the combat is it didn’t tell me how it was meant to work, so I was grabbed… a lot. Eventually, though honestly through sheer luck, I was able to destroy the hand and find the fuse, this then led me back to Six, who was waiting on their own for me to return.
Fuse in hand, it was time to unlock the only other door I could and that took me to the creepiest portion of my hands-on time, mannequin storage. Well, I don’t know if it is called that, I mean it sure looked like a hospital, but given the sheer number of mannequins around the place, I would call it a storage facility. In order to progress in further, I had to pull a lever, which was simple enough, just jump and done, however when the lights turned off, which makes it the most over complicated light switch ever, some of the mannequins came to life and running was all I could do.
It was after a few resets that I discovered I had a torch, or a flashlight if you prefer and when the light is shined upon creepy animated mannequins, they freeze, the problem was, it wasn’t just the one. Eventually I managed to avoid getting caught and pushed on through, but there were more and more of them, so many in fact that I wondered if this was where the build would end, thankfully it didn’t there was still more to come, but it was nerve-racking to say the least. Though, by the time I got a second fuse and passed it onto Six, I will admit, my nerves were fraught, the suspense of dodging so many foes, all the while they creaked and clanked as their wooden limbs reached out to grab me, it was crazy.
The final moments, I won’t spoil but they did leave me a little grateful that my time with it was ending, but also sad, because I wanted to play a little more. For those that liked the first game, this is seemingly more of the same, though the creep factor has been turned up a lot, while the first was very Claymation in its visual aesthetic, this is just darker overall, which helps add to that creep, but it also highlights a potential problem. The game is dark, so dark, that there were times, even after I discovered the torch, where things were being difficult to see and while the game is still in active development, I hope they can balance it out some more.
Little Nightmares II is shaping up to be a deliciously spooky game and thankfully not the bland jump scare kind, how it goes in the long run is anyone’s guess, but I am very excited to see, how it does play out and what happens to Six and Mono.
