Taking advantage of its arrival in Xbox Gold games, I recently replayed Little Nightmares in full, reconfirming how much I like it. From the decaf of its challenge to its rugged inspirations – I’ll never forget the sea of shoes that closed the first demo I tried – Tarsier Studios seems like a superb game to me.
Perhaps because of having it so present, my time at Little Nightmares 2 has been even more special. The tweaks, evolutions and changes that arise in this new adventure are much more significant than it seems at first glance. And they feel great .
A leap of ambition and quality
What has been tested has gone well beyond what was seen in the demo that arrived on Steam in December and that today lands on consoles. In it, we are introduced to Mono , the protagonist, and we are presented with his encounter with Six when they both escape from a hunter’s cabin.
At first glance it doesn’t seem to differ much from what we saw in the previous game. A collection of scenarios that, dressed as if they were an almost palpable diorama, serve to tell the story of a sequel that once again moves away from dialogues or cinematics.
However, a handful of steps help us to see the first nuances of this evolution. Little Nightmares 2 begins to play more with depth and, far from looking like we are jumping from one shoe box to another in its rooms, the feeling of a whole is much clearer.
The intention is to be more of a continuous world -a la Inside- and less level achievement with well-adorned transitions. A sensation that not only remains in the initial forest, but goes further when, shortly after, we reach an urban area that maintains that same style.
The devil is in the details
Added as the collaboration with Six , an AI that has not given me any problems during the test, or the use of tools in the form of weapons, it has turned out to be the perfect condiment to finish having the feeling of being before a completely renewed .
Do not imagine their characters turning into killing machines, far from it. The pipes, hammers, and knives we pick up weigh enough that each attack must be measured with pinpoint precision , and what they convey as they are dragged is closer to the desperation of a scared and vengeful blow than it is to a gratuitous death.
With somewhat more elaborate puzzles , but without getting lost in distributing challenges across multiple rooms or getting bogged down with twisted interpretations, changes like the fact that keys are now smaller and kept in inventory are a most welcome addition.
No more carrying her from point A to point B without being able to do anything else on the way. Now overcoming that search has more options in between, thus allowing longer paths with more challenges or intermediate platforms .
Just what I expected, but better
Delving further into your options or surprises would be counterproductive for a game that cries out to arrive knowing and having seen the least. The simple fact of appreciating first-hand what its walls hide or the actions that will bring us more than one leap from the chair is, after all, a large part of the grace .
I can say that the work when it comes to shaping the new little nightmares is insane. His world now feels more alive and his characters are more than just a puppet that wanders around and that you have to dodge.
On the whole, and always waiting for how it behaves in its final version, the feeling is that of being before a Little Nightmares 2 that already knew in advance that it was going to play yes or yes, but that despite this has managed to improve a lot plus the taste in my mouth that I imagined in my head. Gains from moving on.
