When I reviewed the first Little Nightmares, I described it as, “a beautiful field full of flowers, with dead animals strewn throughout it.” I described it as this because it seemed as though the game was set in a grotesque and awful place that if Six could escape from, she might find a safe a beautiful place in the larger world outside it. Having played Little Nightmares 2, I now know how foolish I was in that assumption. Little Nightmares 2 is more like a field of dead flowers, which at one time might have been beautiful, but the only remnant left of its former beauty is a single solitary flower bud, that has been surrounded by a thicket of deceased and mangled weeds. Gone is the Maw that encompassed Six’s whole world in Little Nightmares, however, monstrous and horrific creatures roam the streets and the buildings in the world outside of it. No longer does there seem to be an escape from this reality and instead it seems as though all you can do is try to survive until you reach the next threat. This is Little Nightmares 2, a dark and haunting story about something beautiful trying to survive in a hideous world. 

Speaking of beautiful things. I think it was a stroke of genius to give Mono, the playable character, an NPC companion. Their teamwork and friendship helps to separate Mono from the rest of the world, and shows that there is actually something wrong with it, rather than Mono just happening to be easy prey in a bleak world. It also gives the game more interesting mechanics and puzzles, as you have to get both characters through levels rather than just the one. The two characters also have much more personality in Little Nightmares 2 then they did in the first. I never really felt like I understood Six or who she was outside of the fact that she was hungry. That didn’t bug me too much because the lore and world of the Little Nightmares series is meant to be vague and mysterious, but I really enjoyed connecting emotionally with and understanding the motivations of the characters in 2. 

One thing that I enjoyed slightly less were the puzzles. Now, the puzzles are far and away more diverse and interesting in Little Nightmares 2 than they were in the first game. However, I don’t think that that puzzles are really what anyone is looking forward to when playing Little Nightmares, it is certainly not what I looked forward to. Players want to see the games bosses and its beautifully drawn world as they traverse the games story. Puzzles are an understandable way to make this traversal more engrossing and enjoyable, but there were certain points in Little Nightmares 2 that the puzzles became an annoyance which when I was finished with them, I would be more relieved it was over than proud of myself for solving it and that was a little disappointing. 

Speaking of disappointments, let’s talk about the games boss characters. One of the things that optimizes Little Nightmares are its horrible and nightmarish bosses, The Janitor, The Eyes, The Guests, and The Lady are all etched into my memory as fantastic experiences from the first game. Little Nightmares 2 drops the ball on its bosses a bit and instead makes its lesser enemies more interesting. While I loved The Hunter and their fight, in the opening of the game, I feel like the most memorable boss in the game is The Teacher. Who, I would say, has a very striking appearance, probably the most interesting character design in the game, but little else. She never really poses a threat, she isn’t doing anything all that monstrous, but she is on the screen for far longer than any other boss in the game, so when players look back on Little Nightmares 2, she will most likely be the first thing they think of and, at least in my case, that means, when I look back at the game the first thing, I think about is an underwhelming boss. One boss, The Doctor, is so overshadowed by the lesser enemies in their section that I almost forgot that they were a boss altogether. Luckily, that section is my favorite in the entire game, and I would say by far the scariest, but it ends in such a bland way that it leaves a slightly sours taste in your mouth. 

I realize that I sound like I really dislike this game, which isn’t true. I think this game is pretty great, it just happens that in order to write this review I’m thinking back to my experience with the game and as it just happens that the most memorable stuff in the game are the bad parts, but there are definitely good parts so without any further ado let’s talk about the story of Little Nightmares 2. 

The story in Little Nightmares 2 is fantastic. It is an interesting, beautiful and heartbreaking story that kept me invested throughout my entire playthrough. This is another area where I think that having the companion character really helped it shine. When compared to other games in its genre I think that Little Nightmares 2 has by far the best story. Most of the time games of this kind keep things extremely vague; and there is nothing wrong with that. Inside, for instance, is a great game that tells you almost nothing about its world or characters, but in doing so made me less interested in the character I was playing and by extension the game’s world as a whole. By grounding the characters in Little Nightmares 2 by giving them names and friends, Tarsier Studios, have given me a reason to care about what happens to them, which in turn made them able to play with those feelings and get me even more invested in the story. Without spoiling anything, I will say that the ending section of Little Nightmares 2 is one of the most intriguing and affecting sections of a video game that I have played in years, and easily stands above any of its predecessors in the genre. 

While It may not have the best puzzles in the world, which at many points turn into more of a chore than exciting gameplay, as I said before, that isn’t why I played Little Nightmares 2. I played it to experience a grim and bleak world, while starring in awe of its deformed and abhorrent inhabits. While, I still feel that the bosses could have been more exciting and a bit more challenging, there were still plenty of moments involving them that I won’t soon forget. Story-wise I think the game is a home run, and it has much more excited for Little Nightmares 3 than I was for 2 when I finished the first game.