Little Nightmares II

Little Nightmares II is a puzzle-platformer horror adventure game developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the follow-up to 2017's Little Nightmares, and features a new player character, a little boy named Mono, with the protagonist from the previous game, Six, appearing as a computer-controlled character. The story, which precedes the events of the first game, follows Mono, who must work together with Six to survive the horrors of the Pale City and discover its dark secrets. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Stadia, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 11 February 2021. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S are set to be released at a later date in the same year. The game received mostly positive reviews upon release, with critics praising its graphics, atmosphere, and sound, while criticizing its controls and some glitches.

Gameplay

Little Nightmares II is similar to its predecessor; it takes place in a 2.5D world. The player must explore the world, occasionally encountering platformer-like situations or being blocked by puzzles that must be solved to proceed. Unlike the first game, the player is not completely helpless; Mono has the ability to grab certain items and swing them to break objects or to fight back against smaller foes, although he, like Six, must rely on stealth and the environment to evade larger foes. The player is also given the ability to call out to Six and hold her hand to make sure they stay together and must often work together with her to solve environmental puzzles and defeat or evade enemies. The game also features collectible hats and glitching remains, the latter of which will unlock an additional scene upon collecting them all.

Plot

Mono, a boy wearing a paper bag on his head, awakens from a dream of a door marked with an eye at the end of a long hallway. He journeys through the Wilderness and enters a decrepit shack. He frees Six, who is being held prisoner by the masked Hunter who lives there. The Hunter pursues the pair until he corners them in a shed and they kill him with a shotgun. Using a wooden door as a raft, Mono and Six drift across a body of water and wash up at the Pale City, which is shrouded by mist and rain and strewn with old televisions. Throughout the journey, Mono attempts to use these televisions as portals to enter the hallway from his dream. However, he is always pulled back out by Six before he can reach the door. He also encounters several glitching, ghostly remains of children, which he can absorb by touching them.

Mono and Six enter the School, where they are separated when Six is captured by the porcelain Bullies, the School's rabid students. Mono rescues Six from the Bullies, and they escape the long-necked Teacher. Outside the School, Six recovers her yellow raincoat. The pair reach the Hospital, where they encounter the dismembered Patients, their detached Living Hands, and the bulbous Doctor who crawls on the ceilings. Mono lures the Doctor into an incinerator and may choose to kill him or leave him trapped inside it. Mono and Six then exit into the heart of the Pale City. They spot the Signal Tower, which emits a pervasive Transmission that controls the Pale City's inhabitants: the television-addicted Viewers, whose faces have been distorted from exposure to it. When Mono finally reaches the door through a television, it opens to reveal the spectral Thin Man. After Mono is pulled out by Six, the Thin Man emerges from the television and captures Six, leaving behind a glitching shadow of her. Using various televisions as portals, Mono navigates the Pale City until Six's ghost leads him close to the Signal Tower, where he confronts the Thin Man. Discovering he has powers similar to the Thin Man's, Mono battles and disintegrates him before pulling the Signal Tower towards himself.

Mono enters the Signal Tower and reunites with Six, now a distorted giant. She becomes hostile when he damages her music box, but Mono returns her to normal by destroying it. As the Signal Tower begins to crumble, the children are pursued by the gelatinous mass of flesh and eyes which forms its core. They outrun the mass, but Six allows Mono to fall into a chasm and escapes through a television portal. Alone and surrounded by the mass, Mono sits in a solitary chair and resigns himself to his fate. Time passes, and Mono grows older and taller, ultimately taking on the form of the Thin Man. The camera draws back to reveal Mono in the room at the end of the dream hallway, and the door closes.

If the player has found all of the collectible glitching ghosts, a final scene shows Six exiting the television portal and encountering her shadow self, which gestures to a pamphlet on the floor advertising the Maw. Six's stomach growls with hunger.