Little Nightmares II (sometimes stylized as Little Nightmares 2) is a video game released on February 11th, 2021 for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, and Stadia, which has since been removed following Stadia's shutdown on January 18, 2023. On August 25th, 2021, a new edition known as the Enhanced Edition is released for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, which is a free upgrade for people who already have the game. Players will take control of Mono, with Six as an AI-controlled companion, as they journey to the Signal Tower.[1]
Description
Return to a world of charming horror in Little Nightmares II, a suspense adventure game in which you play as Mono, a young boy trapped in a world that has been distorted by the humming transmission of a distant tower.
With Six, the girl in the yellow raincoat, as his guide, Mono sets out to discover the dark secrets of The Signal Tower. Their journey won't be easy; Mono and Six will face a host of new threats from the terrible residents of this world.
Will you dare to face this collection of new, little nightmares?[2]
Plot
A boy named Mono 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 then 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 shoot him with a shotgun. Using a wooden door as a raft, Mono and Six drift across a body of water and wash up on the Pale City, which is shrouded by mist and rain and strewn with old televisions. Throughout his journey, some of the televisions activate, luring Mono to tune the transmission. Mono attempts to use these televisions to transmit himself through the screen, into the hallway he saw in his dream. However, he is always pulled back by Six before he can reach the door. He also encounters several glitching ghosts 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 who rules the institution. Outside the School, they find a yellow raincoat. Six puts it on and they continue their journey. The pair reaches the Hospital, where they encounter the dismembered, mannequin-like Patients and the bulbous Doctor, whom they may kill by luring him into an incinerator. 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 once again tries to reach the door through a television, the spectral Thin Man emerges from it and captures Six. Using various televisions as portals, Mono navigates the Pale City until a ghost version of Six leads him to the Signal Tower, where he confronts and disintegrates the Thin Man.
Mono enters the Signal Tower and reunites with Six, now a distorted giant. She becomes hostile when he damages her music box, but Mono turns her back to normal by destroying the box. As the Signal Tower begins to crumble, the children are pursued by a gelatinous mass of flesh and eyes which forms the core of the Signal Tower. 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 a room at the end of the dream hallway, and the door closes.
If Mono has found all of the Glitching Remains, a post-credits scene shows Six encountering a shadow version of herself, which gestures to a pamphlet on the floor, advertising what appears to be the Maw. Six's stomach growls with hunger.
Gameplay
Like its predecessors, Little Nightmares II is a puzzle-platformer adventure game. The player takes control of Mono, who, along with Six (the protagonist of the first game who returns as a companion non-playable character), journeys through the Pale City to reach the Signal Tower.
Mono has the same basic movements as Six. However, unlike Six in the first game, he is able to speak and under the player's command, he can call to Six for her help when necessary. He has the ability to use any long objects as tools to break objects or obstacles, or as weapons to fight small enemies. Instead of a lighter which Six is shown to carry throughout the first game, Mono obtains a flashlight in the middle of his journey, which at some point can be used to illuminate dark areas and immobilize certain enemies like the Patients. Additionally, Mono does not travel alone and is aided by Six as a companion. As such both Mono and Six must work together to accomplish various tasks and puzzles that cannot be done alone.
Mono also has the ability to use televisions as portals to navigate the Pale City. Mono is also able to find a television remote during his journey and use it to activate or deactivate a television.
Characters
- Mono - The protagonist of the game. His mission is to journey through the Pale City and stop the Signal Tower.
- Six - The deuteragonist and Mono's partner. She is a child who managed to escape the Nest and will later stumble upon the Maw.
- The Hunter - Lives in the Wilderness outside the Pale City. He has an obsession with taxidermy and hunts with a double-barreled shotgun whilst using an old lantern to spot his prey.
- The Teacher - A sadistic woman who teaches classes in the School. She has the ability to extend her neck to great lengths, allowing her greater reach in finding and catching intruders.
- The Bullies - "Students" of the School. They are living porcelain dolls that serve as the Teacher's underlings.
- The Patients - Amalgamations of corpses and mannequin parts created by the Doctor in the Hospital. They will ambush and pursue intruders in the dark, but will freeze under significant light or if light is directed towards them.
- Living Hands - Severed organic hands from the Patients of the Hospital. They crawl like spiders to attack intruders.
- The Doctor - A bloated monster who crawls on the ceilings. He's the one behind all of the nightmarish experiments in the Hospital.
- The Viewers - The citizens of the Pale City. They've been brainwashed by televisions, their faces distorted under the constant exposure to the transmission. They will act hostile if disturbed so its best to leave them alone.
- The Thin Man - The main antagonist of the game. He's the one behind the transmission and the distortion of the Pale City, and possibly the entire Little Nightmares universe.
- Flesh Walls - Lumps of flesh and eyes that are hidden behind the walls of the Signal Tower. They briefly pursuit Mono and Six after he rescues her.
- Glitching Remains - Remains of children who have fallen death to the Thin Man or other monsters' hands. They appear as collectibles in the game.
- Dark Six - A character which appears briefly during the game and in the secret ending of the game. It appears as a Glitching Remain resembling Six.
- A Nome - Skittish creatures who were once children. One of them can be seen wandering in the Hunter's house.
Downloadable Contents
- The Nome's Attic - A DLC expansion containing some puzzle rooms with a Nome in The Wilderness chapter. the Nomes' hat will be awarded to the player once completed.
- Mokujin Mask - An exclusive hat that can be worn by Mono, obtained by purchasing the DLC expansion pack.
Reception
Little Nightmares II has received mostly positive reviews. It currently holds an 82% score on Metacritic receiving generally favorable reviews from critics.
Trivia
- The game was originally set to be released sometime during 2020 but was pushed to the next year because the game needed more time to be worked on, and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, although the pandemic was not the main reason.[3]
- This is the last installment in the series to be developed by Tarsier Studios, as they were purchased by Embracer Group during the game’s development.[4]
- However, it has been confirmed the series is not over, as a third installment has been announced and is being developed by Supermassive Games.
- The recent most popular argument of this game is that whether if this takes place before or after the events of Little Nightmares. Although the developers implied that this was a sequel, a lot of the players find evidences that support this as a prequel. Later, to stop this from getting too controversial, the developers stated that Little Nightmares II indeed takes place before Little Nightmares.[5]
- The developers possibly implied this game as a sequel either to avoid spoilers or to tell the people that the game serves as a sequel in release order.
- Unlike previous installments where they feature their respective protagonists in the main menu, Little Nightmares II doesn't feature Mono in it. Instead, the shore of the Pale City is featured.
- Additionally, unlike previous installments which contain a post-credit scene, Little Nightmares II features a secret ending before the credits which can be unlocked once the player collects all 18 Glitching Remains within the game to fulfill the "No More Remains" achievement.
- According to senior narrative designer Dave Mervik, the theme of Little Nightmares II is escapism.
- "The theme of this one is escapism - and we always pick a theme at the beginning... it's got to give people potential. They can say 'this inspires me' - it inspires the artists and the audio guys in certain ways, so with escapism there's so much going on there that you can play with, and pull in different directions."[6]
- Probably, the main leitmotif of the game and the role of television in it were partly inspired by the dystopian novels "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury and "1984" by George Orwell.
Videos
Gallery
Logos
.png "Little-Nightmares-II-(Mono-and-Six).png (51 KB)")
Posters
Promotional Images
References
- ↑ https://www.polygon.com/2019/8/19/20812573/little-nightmares-2-announced-trailer-gamescom-2019
- ↑ https://store.steampowered.com/app/860510/Little_Nightmares_II/
- ↑ https://youtu.be/KgmgVRc686s
- ↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/little-nightmares-creator-confirms-its-done-with-the-series-but-namco-could-carry-it-on-regardless
- ↑ https://www.gamingbible.co.uk/features/games-little-nightmares-2-ending-explained-writer-confirms-prequel-20210311
- ↑ https://www.eurogamer.net/little-nightmares-2-interview