Game Review: Little Nightmares II (2021)

Hey there, you dirty little whores of Hive. Back again today with another game review, this time I'm going to go over and talk about the recent release of Little Nightmares II, though I'm going to be lazy and just call it Little Nightmares 2 from now on. Suck it, pussy. Little Nightmares 2 was released on February 10th for the PC and PS4 platforms, as well as being pre-orderable through Xbox's Microsoft store. The game was developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco, just as the first game was. I was a big fan of the first game, it's so rare that new IP's come out and are actually good. Especially within the horror genre. And, this sequel came outta no where for me, as I had no idea it was set to release already.

So, shoutout to the fatman in red for dropping this shit off to all the good little gamers out in the world. Especially so, considering how much I absolutely fucking loved this game.

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I can say without a doubt that Little Nightmares 2 is just as good as the first game was, if not slightly better in some way. It's been a good handful of years since I played the first game, so I had to do some googling of the blessed text to remember all of the story and lore. If you really wanna get into the narrative of the sequel, I'd recommend doing so or going back and playing the first game again if you've got the time. I will say though, the games narrative and how it connects is a bit confusing. I don't mind this or anything, because having the narrative be more cryptic and up to the player to interpret what was actually going on is a lot better than just having every single thing nailed into your head with a hammer. But, the fact that this game has no dialogue or exposition can make you feel kind of lost after awhile with how vague it is. Everything in the story is shown through your environment and what your character is going, and it can be hard to figure out the entirety of the narrative this way. You'll still get all the big beats of the game without an issue, but, just a heads up. Still a fun narrative with some fun twists.

One thing this game did a great job with just as the last one is the art design. The worldbuilding/setting, the character design and just the universe this game takes place in is super god damn creative and unique. The monster designs are very well done and have a creepy look to them, with some interesting deaths attached to them. The levels and environment actually have an unnerving element to them, which is something a lot of horror games don't really nail these days. The pacing and stealth mechanics help a lot for making things feel tense while you play, and you never really get sucked out of the world while you're playing it. It's very immersive, and it all just works extremely well.

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The puzzles in the game were all very solid as well, and had a good variety of mechanics to them. Some require you to stun enemies with light, others involve you doing your best Bleach cosplay and teleporting around the place, and other times you'll just be doing teamwork with another character like you're playing Portal. While not being insanely hard puzzles, they're just hard enough to keep things entertaining and not get you shoving a controller up your asshole in sheer anger and righteousness. You might get stuck for 5-10 minutes here and there because you're not sure where the solution actually lay. Which is fine, and definitely makes solving the puzzles feel more rewarding without being annoying.

Mechanic wise, the gameplay is good and I have nothing to bitch about with it really. Every moment of it left me satisfied and I never got pissed about anything. I only ran into a small amount of bugs, which was a bit surprising since most games on launch are riddled with them anymore. The combat elements in the game are fine, though one of the bugs had to do with swinging the weapon and having it go through the enemies like they're a ghost, and the controls for being a platformer are all great as well. None of the glitches were ever bad enough to actually bother me though, especially compared to other titles. I'm looking at you Cyberpunk, you fuck. There's even a little collectible system in the game that influences a bit of what you can do in game, pretty snazzy, huh? Pussy. But, yeah. I generally feel you'll just have an entertaining time exploring the levels and checking out how dark and beautiful the game looks on each level.

There is one thing which I can see being a bit of a turn off for some people. And, that is the fact that this game is as short as short dicked Johnson, who had a really short dick. You can expect to run through this game is probably 4 hours on your first playthrough, which is obviously not that much content. Thankfully, that 4 hours you get is really strong and fulfilling unlike most other short title games. Another good thing is the studio who makes this isn't trying to bend everyone over and slide their fingers into your rectums with overcharging. As, this game comes with a price point of $29.99. If this game wasn't as good as it was, I'd have probably said hold off since it's such little content. But, I have no issue recommending it at that $30 price point. Though, there's not much replayability for it unless you plan on trying to be a speedrunning god or going back to get an ending you missed.

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Overall, I think pretty much anyone can enjoy this game so long as they go into it knowing there's only a handful of hours to be spent playing it. The themes and lore spread in the universe are excellent, it has beautiful art design and just everything in the actual universe of the game is fucking awesome if you like macabre styled things. I'm very much hoping that we'll get a third entry in this series, and definitely recommend you to play both of these games if you've never tried them out. So, yeah. Until next time, doods.

Later!