Little Nightmares II

Little Nightmares II is pretty much similar to the first game, it has similar controls, similar objectives, and a similar atmosphere. You basically play a little guy and you go through different areas and hide and run away from different monsters while solving mini puzzles between and doing some basic platforming. The puzzles are pretty straightforward, although in this game they are a bit more complex than the first, but not too much. Each area has its own theme and gimmick, like one area you are in a school and most use melee combat to fight enemies, another you need to use a remote to turn on and off TVs to teleport you to different areas. I found this game had a little more variety to the puzzles than the first and each area definitely had its own unique theme, and in this you get a partner for a good chunk of the game who will help you solve puzzles and give you company, which adds a new dynamic. But I cant help but feel the first game did most things better.

I did not really care for the monsters in this, you get a hunter with a bag over his head that chases you through the woods with a shotgun, a teacher with a stretchy head in a school, a fat doctor in a morgue that climbs on the ceiling, a faceless man in a suit and fedora who can come out of the TV, and of course the final boss that is a twist. The villains in this were kind of forgettable compared to the ones in the first. I felt the first game had really unique and cool monsters, in this aside from maybe the final boss and teacher the others were kind of lame and generic. The faceless man just feels like a slender man knockoff, the shotgun guy just wasn't that scary, and the doctor was just a bit bland.

The other thing I didn't like about this was the combat. During certain segments you need to fight enemies and they kill you in one hit, so that means you have to time hitting them perfect, and the controls with the movement were just too clunky for this game to have good combat and often if was trial and error. Speaking of trial and error there were a few segments in this game that felt very trial and error and I found myself dying to over and over until the one time I just got lucky. This is mostly due to the controls and camera sometimes being clunky. Like sometimes I'd just and miss, then the next try I'd do the same jump and make it.

In terms of atmosphere and design this game is pretty solid, and around on par with the first. The different areas were fun to explore, and the puzzles were solid enough, although a few were annoying. And for the most part nothing feels dragged, like each area concludes when it feels like they've fully been explored. If anything a few of these areas could have been expanded further and feel like they weren't long enough.

The game itself is pretty short and is around 6 or 7 hours. This is one of those one and done games that you play once for the experience and story, and then you don't pick back up until several years later when you forget the story and puzzles. The story was alright as well and ties into the first game with a twist that I feel is best left up to people to play than review on here. I just feel the first game did most things better but this game still is pretty close in terms of quality, if this had slightly better monsters and a few less frustrating platforming segments and sections, as well as didn't have the combat sections it would be pretty much on par with the first, but because of those things it just is a step below the first.