Little Nightmares II Reviews
With its delightfully scary monster designs and ominous atmosphere, Little Nightmares II stands out as a truly unique horror experience. Sure, it falters in some of its puzzles and clunky controls, but it makes up for it with its art and level design.
Despite a couple of hurdles, Little Nightmares II remains true to the eerie, terrifying foundation built by its predecessor. It can't completely avoid comparison, but its expanded world and NPC co-op features are well implemented and make the journey worth taking.
A visceral assault on the senses, Little Nightmares II drowns you in its thick, moody atmosphere and renders you helpless against the Pale City's many horrors. It is a meticulously crafted, devilishly clever puzzle-adventure that weaponizes every tool the medium has to offer to terrify you. While it retains many of the flaws that hurt its predecessor, its length, polish, and ambition propel it to the upper echelon of horror games.
Little Nightmares 2 is a sequel that ups the ante on everything from the gameplay to the nightmares themselves.
Despite contriving its fair share of unsettling moments, Little Nightmares II is a disappointing follow-up to one of 2017's most pleasant surprises. It might be a bigger game than its forebear, but it certainly isn't better.
Unfortunately, there really isn't a whole lot to say about Little Nightmares II. You get a general sense of how the story is progressing through events and the world is interesting, even if contrast hides a lot of details, making it a series of rather basic puzzles and stealth sections to the end. Given neither are overly engaging, it can be a little underwhelming, but it also fits the concept. You're not some otherworldly creature moving giant rocks to get into an impossible place, you're likely some kid trying not to die to a bear trap or captured. As a result, fans of the original will likely love it, whereas newcomers or those looking for a harder experience will likely be underwhelmed.
Overall Little Nightmares 2 does everything the original did but bigger and better. What’s keeping me from being more positive about the game is it’s still very much the same. I didn’t find myself falling in love with the game like I did the first time around. I felt like I’d played this game before and the new additions weren’t enough to really wow me. The combat felt tacked on and not important enough to warrant. It also didn’t help answer any of the questions it acts. If there is to be a trilogy of games this certainly feels like The Two Towers of games.
Little Nightmares 2 is certainly polished and beautifully stylised, but it didn’t offer me a new experience. While many on-screen antagonists snared me in their traps, it itself didn’t grab me. I far prefer the titles I mentioned before — Limbo, Inside and Unravel — over this, but fans of this genre will certainly feel differently.
Unlike the original, Little Nightmares 2 isn’t a game I can envision reaching cult success. It’s sad to see, too. Already the predecessor was quite noble, flaws aside, it just needed some upholstering. Instead, the follow up just adds more frustration and more jank over a longer time period. There’s absolutely striking imagery and wonders worth seeing in Little Nightmares 2. They’re just quite hard to recommend amongst all of the challenges the game presents.
Little Nightmares II is a well-designed sequel that proves the developers have listened to opinions of gamers. It’s not revolutionary in any way, but it eliminates the biggest flaws of the previous game, accentuates its advantages, and offers more content.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Little Nightmares II's ambition makes the original look like its introduction, and although this added ambition contributes to some of its frustrations, they ultimately don't prevent it from becoming even more clever, gripping and chilling than its predecessor.
Little Nightmares II builds on the original's macabre formula of unsettling imagery and clever puzzles by crafting more diverse environments and expanding the player's toolset for solving and escaping tense situations.
Little Nightmares 2 makes every single moment count to craft a truly unsettling experience and to wordlessly deliver an expertly paced and impactful story.
Little Nightmares II isn't content with just iterating on its predecessor, instead improving on it in practically every way. The puzzles are challenging and rewarding, combat surprisingly functional, and the imagery is as striking as ever. While trial-and-error design bogs down Little Nightmares II considerably, it's far and away a better game than the original.
Despite some frustrating combat and platforming issues, Little Nightmares II is better than its predecessor in every way. Don't miss it.
Little Nightmares II is more of what fans enjoyed in the first installment. It's a terrific blend of evenly spaced platforming combined with environmental object manipulation puzzles. If that wasn't enough there's even a dose of co-ed puzzle solving. The game especially shines during the tense, atmospheric real-time platforming sequences. With its forgiving checkpoint auto-saves even a tired, old gamer can succeed through the platforming sequences.
All in all, I enjoyed my time with the game almost more than I did with the first. The sequel really makes you think about this strange world where everyone's a monster except these kids who've been stripped of their innocent due to their unjust and cruel fate. I also can't help but think of what other characters other than Mono and Six may be out there fighting their own battles, so I really hope we get to see more of this hauntingly beautiful world Tarsier Studios has brought to life. So if you're a fan of the first game or even have a mild interest in the series, I can't recommend both games enough.
Tarsier Studios asks us to imagine a world no person had dared imagine before. What if Hayao Miyazaki had used his powers for evil? In such a place, you could explore a fantastically oppressive world, evade unholy terrors and meet lifelong friends. Your nightmares await you in the Pale City!
Fans will be pleased with Little Nightmares II, but others might not be convinced by the premium entry fee and low replay value.
Jumping out of the submarine scene in the previous game, "Little Nightmare 2" presents more familiar daily places like farms, schools, hospitals, which can creat a strong sense of horror with everything weird.
Review in Chinese | Read full review