Little Nightmares 2 is a solid follow-up to it's predecessor. It's safe to say if you enjoyed the first game or if it seemed interesting to you, then this title will certainly deliver on all of that game's strong points. However, the game still suffers from some of the issues its predecessor had, and its new ideas also carry their own flaws. Depth perception is still a problem and it occasionally messing up your platforming will be an issue here just as in the last game. Which will also contribute to potentially getting stuck on bits of your surroundings as you're trying to escape some of the game's monstrous enemies. Those enemies also don't always behave or move in a consistent manner, leading to occasionally frustrating deaths during stealth or combat segments. But by far the game's biggest issue is that of conveyance. Little Nightmares 2 has a repeating issue of not making it clear what you're meant to do to solve a particular puzzle or challenge. This leads to trial and error where error usually means death and repeating larger than necessary portions gameplay. Puzzles or encounters will occasionally end with an 'Oh how was I supposed to know that?' Rather than an 'Ah I've got it!'. I'm also not a fan of how one of the game's unlockable hats, which was a pre-order exclusive, remains in the unlockables menu. Potentially leading to players wasting their time searching for something that's not actually available. I also encountered a number of bugs during my playthrough. Getting stuck early on while trying to pick up a crank lever, general issues with picking up objects, enemies sometimes having their AI act strange or warp about slightly, and unloaded parts of the map not being hidden well enough. While Little Nightmares 2 undoubtedly has very impressive visuals and atmosphere, sound design, and core game feel, it his tarnished by the issues mentioned above. And perhaps because of the game's more ambitious nature it manages to feel like an improvement and a regression over the previous entry. All that said, it still remains very worth your time despite these issues.
Fights in Tight Spaces is undeniably fun and stylish to boot. Building your deck each run and learning to adapt keeps the game fresh. The missions offer a little bit of variety as well if you can be asked to do more than just punching dudes in increasingly flashy ways. The only major downside is that the final boss is far too difficult and dependent on luck. Classic Plus should be the only difficulty you choose, and solely for the reason of not wasting hours of progress only to get to the ending and losing because of random card pulls mixed with random enemy spawns. If you cam get this game on sale I'd say it's worth it for sure, but be prepared to pull your hair out on higher difficulties after spending hours on a run only to have it come to a rather cheap and anticlimactic end.
Sable is an incredibly serene experience from top to bottom. More interested in presenting you with a compelling sense of exploration and delightful character interaction rather than any kind of challenge. Exploring the alien world and uncovering more about its secrets will feed your sense of curiosity while still leaving you with plenty to ponder. And the sense of customization and dialogue options will make your playthrough feel unique without overwhelming you. The genuinely emotional coming of age story will leave you pausing towards the end asking what you truly found most meaningful. The climbing system and hover bike riding while simplistic, form a strong core for the game's main loop. Even if the open nature of the game might end up causing you to miss things that you'd have preferred to find sooner. It's not all sunshine and sand dunes however. The game suffers from a number of bugs, and while none of them game breaking, here are just some of the ones I encountered: -Frequent audio stuttering. -Frequent performance stuttering when riding my hoverbike. -Gaps between objects and terrain geometry. -My bike getting stuck inside a building after a quest. -Characters falling through the ground. -And finally the most annoying one, Sable disappearing off her bike while I was riding it, and reappearing in a different location while my camera and controls remained on the bike. Making me unable to see my compass markers and eventually forcing me to get off and remount the bike to get the terrain to load properly. None of these broke the game and even the final bug I mentioned was easily solved by just dismounting my bike which caused Sable to appear right next to it like nothing happened, but it's annoying when this game does so much to provide an immersive experience only to have it harmed by these issues. Overall though, the game overcomes it's janky elements to still remain steadfastly worth your time if you are looking for a laid-back adventure.
The core idea of parkour and combat starts off fun, but the game quickly devolves into a frustrating slog of entering shooting galleries completely unarmed while the terrible level-design leaves you completely clueless on where to go. This is a game that doesn't really get fun until you've played through it enough times to overcome the extremely abrupt deaths and visually muddled mess of pathways. Do yourself a favor and skip this title in favor of jumping directly to Catalyst.
