Little Nightmares 2 - Preview, tried the game demo

Today it was made available by Bandai Namco a short demo of Little Nightmares 2, the highly anticipated title of Tarsier Studios which will - again - put players in front of their nightmares, especially those of when they were very young. How many times did you hide under the covers as a child? Maybe on those nights when you just couldn't sleep, and the rain and lightning outside made the window panes vibrate with the wind whistling through the trees? Well, the fear of the moment was nothing compared to the nightmares that would chase you later in the night. The first Little Nightmares it stood as the fusion of all this, with little Six intent on saving herself from a more than hostile place, where huge diners were preparing to dine and take advantage of all the comforts provided by the place ... and its monstrous inhabitants. The success of the first Tarsier Studios title was really great thanks to the oppressive atmosphere created, to the simple but functional game mechanics, and to some clear reference to Japanese animation and culture (the deja vu about “The Enchanted City” by Studio Ghibli were not few). Little Nightmares 2, however, will see us wearing different "clothes": we will check in fact Mono, a very young boy trapped in what turns out to be a world distorted by the incessant hum from a distant tower.

The Child and the Hunter

The demo proposed to us puts us in front of a small excerpt of the game, inside a dark wood full of traps. Following our small steps we will make our way between them, until we reach a shack, whose discoveries inside will be chilling. During the first game phase of the demo, we will learn the basic movements that Mono has, from the classic walk, to the sprint, to the jump, to clinging to objects to climb and / or drag them, but also the possibility of carrying some smaller ones. So far there aren't too many differences from what we've seen with Six and the first Little Nightmares, if not the locations and a more marked "third dimension" of the seabed, even if some actual points are not essential for the continuation of the story. Pad in hand so the game turns out to be pleasantly streamlined, even if the difference between life and death (a simple retry, since we don't have a limited number of lives) will be made by your precision in actions, timing, and choices. .

As you can imagine, it is inside the shack, at the back, that you will encounter the horrible Cacciatore, but not before having taken a nice panoramic tour of his home and all the oddities that inhabit it (culinary and otherwise). Rag dolls in "daily" poses, furniture, suitcases, and of course instruments of death, all to weave a canvas of unhealthy restlessness as you seek an escape route.

The little surprise that the demo gives us is in showing us some small actions to be performed in two: in one of the rooms of the house, we will meet another little boy (or a girl? It is not very clear), with whom we will work together to create an escape route. Hence, many of the already known mechanics are "enhanced" by cooperation, such as pushing heavier objects, or getting higher by taking advantage of a well-aimed push of the companion. We know that this is not the final version, and that - as often happens - many puzzles have probably been simplified, both to not "spoil" the wait for the game, and to make this little test more smooth. The resulting simplicity is therefore almost certainly illusory.

A nightmare wait

Those who loved the first title, after the announcement of Little Nightmares 2, had to wait a long time to see it debut. It is a game that, although it does not translate into a mammoth work in terms of longevity and greatness, enjoys an overbearing charisma and which we can rarely enjoy within today's videogame world. The great wait, in all likelihood, will be rewarded with the quality that the brand has shown it knows how to deserve. We are finally here, and on February 11, 2021 the game will be available on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, while at a later time, also in 2021, versions optimized for PlayStation 5 ed Xbox Series X / S. Are you willing to get involved from the start by traversing this dark world of nightmares with Mono, and becoming Six's only beacon of hope? Inflate your chest, bring out your courage, and may luck be your mate.