Little Nightmares II

**Mode(s)** | Single-player

***Little Nightmares II*** is a puzzle-platformer horror adventure game developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the prequel to 2017's *Little Nightmares*. The story, which precedes the events of the first game, follows Mono, who must work together with Six, the protagonist from the previous game, 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. An upgraded version titled *Little Nightmares II: Enhanced Edition* was later announced and released on 25 August 2021 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

The game received mostly positive reviews upon release, with critics praising its graphics, atmosphere, gameplay and sound, while a few criticized its controls and some unintentional glitches. Within one month of release, the game had sold one million units worldwide.

## Plot

Mono, a boy wearing a paper bag over his head, awakens from a dream of a door marked with an eye at the end of a 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 and they kill him with a shotgun. Using a 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 television sets. 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 ghostly, glitching 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 and they escape the long-necked Teacher. Outside the School, Six finds 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. 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 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 set, it opens to reveal the spectral Thin Man. After Mono is pulled out from the television, the Thin Man emerges too and captures Six, leaving behind a glitching shadow of her. Six's shadow remains lead Mono close to the Signal Tower, where he confronts the Thin Man. Discovering he has powers similar to the Thin Man's, Mono takes his bag off and battles and disintegrates him before pulling the Signal Tower towards himself.

Mono enters the Signal Tower and finds 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 while slowly being corrupted by the Signal Tower's influence, ultimately taking on the form of the Thin Man (indicating that the Thin Man is actually Mono's future self). The camera draws back to reveal the now-adult Mono in the room at the end of the hallway in his dream, and the door closes.

If the player has found all of the collectible glitching remains, 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 suddenly growls with hunger, setting the events of the first game in motion.

## 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.

## Development

The game was first announced at Gamescom 2019 as the sequel to *Little Nightmares*. A demo for the game was released on 30 October 2020.

On February 20, 2021, Tarsier, which was acquired by Embracer Group in 2019, announced that they would not continue making *Little Nightmares* games, but publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment expressed an intent to continue the franchise in the future.

## External Links

* Little Nightmares II on the Little Nightmares Wiki