I'm so conflicted bc this is objectively a downgrade in many many ways from the first game, but I still did have a really good time. I was so immersed in the world that I didn't want the experience to end, but at the same time for almost 2 entire chapters I was having such an unfun time and wanted it to be over lol. So I have thoughts....
First things first. I think every one of my issues can be reduced down to this game being insanely buggy or poorly optimized. Considering this was never really an annoying or detrimental problem in the first game, I was truly baffled by how much I encountered issues lol. The biggest grievance wasn't specifically a bug, but was how sticky the playable character gets against the foreground camera/ invisible wall. The fact that we can move on the z axis meant that a lot of the time I was getting stuck on that front invisible wall, which makes Mono walk incredibly slow or just fully stop. This proved quite annoying during the many chase sequences, and honestly during some of the stealth sequences too. It was so easy to get caught, to the point that I almost would have preferred using m+kb to play this game over the recommended controller. On top of that, it was so much easier to get stuck on small ledges and objects, and overall there were ton of collision issues. Controlling mono was actively annoying as it felt like the game was fighting me, which is so odd bc I never had this problem with the first game. Like quite literally never had ANY of those problems.
My next issue, I don't even know if was purposeful or not, had to do with the lighting and camera. Again, it just seemed like they were actively fighting the player at times. Why during big enemy reveals, which are supposed to be these monumental moments that elicit fear or excitement, is the lighting completely obscuring the enemy's face and hiding all detail in their models? This was definitely the worst for the teacher and doctor, to the point where after playing through this game twice I still don't have a good idea of what their models fully look like. The camera didn't help with this issue overall as well. I really do like most of the camera work in the game, but why is the camera fighting me every time I enter a new room? This didn't help with the movement issues either tbh.
I do also have problems with the main enemies, which are arguably just as important in the little nightmares games as the protagonists. The main problem is that besides the thin man, all of the main antagonists are not particularly creative or interesting, in terms of design and execution. ESPECIALLY compared to the first game. The janitor's design is SO distinct and unique, instantly recognizable, and completely memorable. People obviously remember his long arms, and his blindness makes him unique compared to the other enemies in LN1. The chefs aren't particularly unique compared to other depictions of evil chefs, but they're still fun, full of character, and their interaction with the environment gives great moments of food-related horror. And the kabuki woman is such a juxtaposition from the other enemies, with her striking beauty and both literal and figurative height over everyone else. Her ease of catching us if spotted contrasts the difficulty every other enemy has trying to chase us.
For LN2, they don't give these enemies the same sort of memorable moments or designs apart from the tall man. I actually do like the trapper, but objectively his design is not particularly interesting or memorable. In spite of that, running through the wilds as he shoots at you is tense and such a fun idea for a chase sequence, and his death is memorable too. That's what makes chapter 1 so fun, and one of the best chapters in LN2.
The teacher and the doctor both are good enemies in concept, but the execution of those concepts fails. Neither have a particularly unique or interesting look, and I think their unique mechanics fail too. The teacher can... stretch her neck. Okay... It doesn't look particularly good, and there's so much more potential for body horror if her neck were just naturally extra long and folded in on itself. That would make her more memorable as a character, as that's what made a character like the janitor is LN1 memorable. Or I mean choose a different gimmick since having a stretchy neck is a little silly lol, even if I can get how they got to that idea. Strict teacher who sees everything, yeah there's potential but idk. Really I just think if she was modeled more interestingly, and actually lit in a way that emphasized her features rather than obscuring her in darkness most of the time, she would be a more effectively scary enemy. THE LIGHTING IN THIS GAME IS SO BAD. It creates mood and atmosphere, but sacrifices environment and detail. And a dark mood and atmosphere isn't inherently scary or unique. Give me the body horror and gore !!!! please !!!!
The doctor is equally unremarkable. Unsure why he crawls on the ceiling, but of all characters to have that unique gimmick, it really doesn't fit the doctor. Also again, his model is just simple, uninteresting, and poorly lit. He isn't unique, and none of his actions are unique within the LN universe or in any sense of an evil doctor. I truly think a lot of the grotesque body horror of LN1 was lost in this game bc of the lighting, like I couldn't have any sort of reaction other than "oh okay" when I saw him... bc I couldn't fully see him. He was just a fat, crawling man. That's not particularly scary lol.
I'll take this moment to say that ch. 3 OVERALL in many many ways was absolutely dreadful, and if I were to ever replay this game I would skip that chapter entirely lol. Flashlight controls have been spotty since the LN1 dlc, and yeah... still not great! And just an uninteresting, dull looking area. It doesn't feel particularly unique in the horror genre, and almost feels like a different (worse) game than LN. It's also difficult in a way that makes me think it shouldn't have been difficult lol, again bc of the controls, lighting, and camera. And this makes the whole thing feel a bit boring and annoying. I think ch. 2 has its issues too, esp with the needless combat (COMBAT DOESN'T WORK IN THIS GAME, STOP TRYING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.) but those issues definitely are worse in ch. 3.
Tall man amazing villain for the same reason as kabuki woman. The contrast of it all. Plus the sound + music + effect work with his segments TRULY made his sections scary and interesting. He's not a particularly unique character design, but the contrast works so well in this setting. The first time he comes out of the tv was truly terrifying, which doesn't happen very often for me anymore lol. Ch. 4 overall felt VERY fresh and fun after the slog of the previous two chapters, and with that villain made it the strongest chapter in the game I think. The tv gimmick works so well too, very fun and engaging puzzle mechanic.
I have no thoughts on ch. 5. LOL. Final boss was interesting, I'll give that to them, but I feel like ppl probably like it more bc of who the final boss is. Rather than the actual content.
Enemy a.i. also seemed a lot buggier than the first game, which wasn't terribly annoying but just added to my list of annoyances lol.
I'm over talking abt this game tbh. I probably have more thoughts but I'm tired. I think my issues are aggravated bc I fucking love this game, I was so enamored by this + the first. The potentials for this horror universe are insane, and LN1 was so graphically unique and the body horror in this style was insanely memorable and interesting. This was a let down, and yet when it was good it was so good it made me obsessed with playing more and wanting more. I want more so badly! Clearly I'm rating this decently high, so I have to have enjoyed it lol. I critique from a place of love <333
First things first. I think every one of my issues can be reduced down to this game being insanely buggy or poorly optimized. Considering this was never really an annoying or detrimental problem in the first game, I was truly baffled by how much I encountered issues lol. The biggest grievance wasn't specifically a bug, but was how sticky the playable character gets against the foreground camera/ invisible wall. The fact that we can move on the z axis meant that a lot of the time I was getting stuck on that front invisible wall, which makes Mono walk incredibly slow or just fully stop. This proved quite annoying during the many chase sequences, and honestly during some of the stealth sequences too. It was so easy to get caught, to the point that I almost would have preferred using m+kb to play this game over the recommended controller. On top of that, it was so much easier to get stuck on small ledges and objects, and overall there were ton of collision issues. Controlling mono was actively annoying as it felt like the game was fighting me, which is so odd bc I never had this problem with the first game. Like quite literally never had ANY of those problems.
My next issue, I don't even know if was purposeful or not, had to do with the lighting and camera. Again, it just seemed like they were actively fighting the player at times. Why during big enemy reveals, which are supposed to be these monumental moments that elicit fear or excitement, is the lighting completely obscuring the enemy's face and hiding all detail in their models? This was definitely the worst for the teacher and doctor, to the point where after playing through this game twice I still don't have a good idea of what their models fully look like. The camera didn't help with this issue overall as well. I really do like most of the camera work in the game, but why is the camera fighting me every time I enter a new room? This didn't help with the movement issues either tbh.
I do also have problems with the main enemies, which are arguably just as important in the little nightmares games as the protagonists. The main problem is that besides the thin man, all of the main antagonists are not particularly creative or interesting, in terms of design and execution. ESPECIALLY compared to the first game. The janitor's design is SO distinct and unique, instantly recognizable, and completely memorable. People obviously remember his long arms, and his blindness makes him unique compared to the other enemies in LN1. The chefs aren't particularly unique compared to other depictions of evil chefs, but they're still fun, full of character, and their interaction with the environment gives great moments of food-related horror. And the kabuki woman is such a juxtaposition from the other enemies, with her striking beauty and both literal and figurative height over everyone else. Her ease of catching us if spotted contrasts the difficulty every other enemy has trying to chase us.
For LN2, they don't give these enemies the same sort of memorable moments or designs apart from the tall man. I actually do like the trapper, but objectively his design is not particularly interesting or memorable. In spite of that, running through the wilds as he shoots at you is tense and such a fun idea for a chase sequence, and his death is memorable too. That's what makes chapter 1 so fun, and one of the best chapters in LN2.
The teacher and the doctor both are good enemies in concept, but the execution of those concepts fails. Neither have a particularly unique or interesting look, and I think their unique mechanics fail too. The teacher can... stretch her neck. Okay... It doesn't look particularly good, and there's so much more potential for body horror if her neck were just naturally extra long and folded in on itself. That would make her more memorable as a character, as that's what made a character like the janitor is LN1 memorable. Or I mean choose a different gimmick since having a stretchy neck is a little silly lol, even if I can get how they got to that idea. Strict teacher who sees everything, yeah there's potential but idk. Really I just think if she was modeled more interestingly, and actually lit in a way that emphasized her features rather than obscuring her in darkness most of the time, she would be a more effectively scary enemy. THE LIGHTING IN THIS GAME IS SO BAD. It creates mood and atmosphere, but sacrifices environment and detail. And a dark mood and atmosphere isn't inherently scary or unique. Give me the body horror and gore !!!! please !!!!
The doctor is equally unremarkable. Unsure why he crawls on the ceiling, but of all characters to have that unique gimmick, it really doesn't fit the doctor. Also again, his model is just simple, uninteresting, and poorly lit. He isn't unique, and none of his actions are unique within the LN universe or in any sense of an evil doctor. I truly think a lot of the grotesque body horror of LN1 was lost in this game bc of the lighting, like I couldn't have any sort of reaction other than "oh okay" when I saw him... bc I couldn't fully see him. He was just a fat, crawling man. That's not particularly scary lol.
I'll take this moment to say that ch. 3 OVERALL in many many ways was absolutely dreadful, and if I were to ever replay this game I would skip that chapter entirely lol. Flashlight controls have been spotty since the LN1 dlc, and yeah... still not great! And just an uninteresting, dull looking area. It doesn't feel particularly unique in the horror genre, and almost feels like a different (worse) game than LN. It's also difficult in a way that makes me think it shouldn't have been difficult lol, again bc of the controls, lighting, and camera. And this makes the whole thing feel a bit boring and annoying. I think ch. 2 has its issues too, esp with the needless combat (COMBAT DOESN'T WORK IN THIS GAME, STOP TRYING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.) but those issues definitely are worse in ch. 3.
Tall man amazing villain for the same reason as kabuki woman. The contrast of it all. Plus the sound + music + effect work with his segments TRULY made his sections scary and interesting. He's not a particularly unique character design, but the contrast works so well in this setting. The first time he comes out of the tv was truly terrifying, which doesn't happen very often for me anymore lol. Ch. 4 overall felt VERY fresh and fun after the slog of the previous two chapters, and with that villain made it the strongest chapter in the game I think. The tv gimmick works so well too, very fun and engaging puzzle mechanic.
I have no thoughts on ch. 5. LOL. Final boss was interesting, I'll give that to them, but I feel like ppl probably like it more bc of who the final boss is. Rather than the actual content.
Enemy a.i. also seemed a lot buggier than the first game, which wasn't terribly annoying but just added to my list of annoyances lol.
I'm over talking abt this game tbh. I probably have more thoughts but I'm tired. I think my issues are aggravated bc I fucking love this game, I was so enamored by this + the first. The potentials for this horror universe are insane, and LN1 was so graphically unique and the body horror in this style was insanely memorable and interesting. This was a let down, and yet when it was good it was so good it made me obsessed with playing more and wanting more. I want more so badly! Clearly I'm rating this decently high, so I have to have enjoyed it lol. I critique from a place of love <333