Much like the original, Little Nightmares 2 is a side-scrolling platformer that has you interacting with your surroundings to duck under, climb and swing over the many obstacles blocking your way. It's a game of survival in a world where anything and everything can and will kill you.

Unlike the original however, Little Nightmares 2 is far more brutal and Mono is a tiny force to be reckoned with. He's a badass through and through, and where survival was key in the original, Little Nightmares 2 gives you the opportunity to fight back against many of the evil and grotesque horrors that lurk around every corner.

Where as before it was just about surviving, Mono has access to Hammers, Axes and even a Ladle to truly ruin his enemies days, made abundantly clear by the explosive end to the first chapter. Of course this is done in the true spirit of Little Nightmares 2. This isn't an action game where you collect and wield a number of weapons to go on a mass rampage - it's Survival Horror at its finest and while you can grab and drag these weapons around, swinging and smashing to your heart's content, it's very rare you have to. Jumping and climbing to high vantage points, out of reach of your enemies, or even just running away can be just as viable as bonking a few evil and hyperactive porcelain school children over the head.

That aside, it's been a while since I've played the original Little Nightmares, but I seem to recall having to manually carry the keys you'd find directly to their corresponding locks. This is no longer the case however, as while keys are still required to access many areas of the game, Mono will now automatically store any key you find within his little Trench Coat, so carrying 'key items' is no longer a chore.

Another change, this time with the core mechanics of the game is that you'll now have help right from the very get-go, in the form of an AI controlled companion. The main thing to take note of here is that there is no character switching, with Mono being the sole protagonist of this adventure. Instead, you'll be working alongside your AI controlled companion, adding a new dynamic to the game, which thankfully only adds to the experience. I also feel Tarsier Studios missed a great opportunity by not adding co-operative play here, but like the original, Little Nightmares 2 is a rather short game with only five chapters and I'd take a highly polished single-player experience over a tacked on multiplayer experience any day, and Little Nightmares 2 is an absolutely fantastic experience.

Back are the unlockable 'hats' from the original, and if you pre-ordered the game you'd have likely been given the Mokujin hat (as made famous from the Tekken series) as a pre-order bonus. While it's entirely optional, there are a good number of these hats to discover, with my personal favourite being the Teddy Bear hat, which is a vast improvement from the paper bag you wear at the start of the game. I also use the word 'hat' lightly, because they're more full-faced masks, but there are plenty to suit your needs.

In addition to this, you'll stumble across a number of glitches (shadowy ghost figures) throughout your adventure and while you're unlikely to find them all in your first run through, be sure to collect them all for a super secret ending that you won't want to miss.

While Tarsier have made a number of subtle changes to the way Little Nightmares 2 plays, these differences are virtually unnoticeable and only add to the experience. It's clear that Tarsier have paid close to attention to what worked well and what didn't in the original, because Little Nightmares 2 has been refined to the point of perfection and truly feels like a natural evolution to the original.

With plenty of puzzles (some of which will really make you think) and horrifically twisted enemies to encounter, outsmart and escape, Tarsier have crammed a ton of enjoyment into this great little adventure. Little Nightmares 2 starts off with a bang and only continues to intensify the further you progress through the game. I wish I could share all of the twists and turns, and even list my favourite segments of the game as there are some truly fantastic moments that will simply leave you in awe, but at about 6 hours in length, Little Nightmares 2 is a game you should 100% experience in its entirety for yourself and part of the fun is not knowing what's to come.

Overall, Little Nightmares 2 absolutely oozes with charm. The world and character designs are both fantastic and horrendously creepy in all of the right ways, while the monsters are just as horrifying, if not more so than the original, and are guaranteed to have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Little Nightmares 2 can be incredibly tense, but is often so creatively imaginative you can't help but fall in love with it. It's ironic that a game titled 'Little Nightmares 2' plays like an absolute dream, but there's never a dull moment to be had and this sequel is arguably the best adventure yet.

Lastly, I'd like to thank our friends at Bandai Namco once again for providing us with the Digital Deluxe Edition of Little Nightmares 2 on PS4. As an absolutely huge fan of the series, if I wasn't a Journalist I'd have snapped up the Collectors Edition for the diorama of Mono and Six alone, but I just cannot recommend this game enough.

Little Nightmares 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S and X, Nintendo Switch, Android and Stadia.

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