History VideoGame / LittleNightmaresII

* ((Bizarrchitecture}}: The Nowhere is an example of this in general, but the Signal Tower is an especially clear example.

** The ''entire'' universe as well. From the moment Mono is first introduced to the player teleporting through a TV in the middle of the Wilderness (from who-knows-where, mind you), it is evident that something really terrible happened to the world. There are gigantic cracks and crevices in the ground, as if restructured from a cataclysmic event, and it appears very little life remains in the forests, all of which are dying and shedding leaves. After crossing over a toppled bridge, Mono comes across what appears to be a net overhanging with the limbs of corpses belonging to ''dead people'' that were no doubt captured and left to die by the local Hunter. After Mono and Six escape the Hunter and travel into the Pale City, the ambiguity of whatever happened to the world become much, much worse, and much more frightening. The city appears to be completely abandoned, and rooms and windows have even been boarded up, suggesting that whoever used to live here ''tried to keep something out''. The buildings are collapsing in on themselves and falling apart, and much of the original infrastructure has become lopsided and irregular from ''something'' a long time ago - very likely the Black Tower at the heart of it all. In the School, Mono and Six see an abandoned playground where no children roam and a lone see-saw sits vacant and untouched, with the front door having been locked a long time ago. Only a bunch of tied-together bedsheets allow the duo to climb into one of the school windows, but upon finding that all of the "children" inside are hollow porcelain constructs devoid of empathy, ''what remaining human had been forced to escape this place, and what happened to them?'' In the Hospital, there are schedules that appear dusty and fading with age, and many of the prior patients have been abandoned to rooms which were similarly boarded-up or concealed with metal bars, suggesting that The Doctor may not only have not always been the only staff member of this place, but that whoever else worked here knew that what he was doing to his patients (replacing their limbs with mannequin parts that are ''still alive'') was incredibly disturbing and depraved, or even worse, that The Doctor ''himself'' was frightened by what he created. Upon getting to the rooftops, the post-apocalyptic nature of the Pale City becomes all-too real, and the few remaining inhabitants of the City have lost their faces from staring endlessly into the TVs scattered in every surface and even irregularly hanging outside from telephone pole cables. Despite having no autonomy or desire aside from watching TV, they are wearing normal clothes and the female Viwers are even wearing eerrings, suggesting ''these used to be people prior to whatever corrupted them''. When Mono is being chased by the Thin Man, he even passes through the ruins of a subway station where it appears as though those who were traveling for work left their clothing and briefcases behind, as if they had just inexplicably disappeared. Similar abandoned clothing and items can be found on benches and even inside of a bar Mono and Six enter where everyone who was having a drink vanished without a trace.

* ArcVillain: Each chapters has its own main villain, respectively, the Hunter, the Teacher, the Doctor, the [[spoiler:Thin Man]] and finally [[spoiler:Six]].

* ShoutOut: After escaping the School, Mono and Six trudge through a rainy street where [[Film/It2017 there's a paper boat Mono can pick up close to a large storm drain.]]

** '''Chapter 5:''' The Signal Tower [[spoiler:is a gargantuan combination of an [[EldritchLocation Eldritch Location]] and [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abomination]]; whose true form is that of an endless mass of flesh-like goop and [[ArcSymbol giant eyes]]. Six backstabs Mono by letting him drop to the tower’s bottom - dooming him to imprisonment… and growing up to be the Tall Man. Heavily implying that time and space have no anchoring in the world of ''Little Nightmares'']].

!! Spoilers for ''VideoGame/LittleNightmares'' will be left unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

** [[spoiler: When he first meets her in the signal tower, Monster-Six is not immediatly hostile to Mono. If he gets too close to the music box, Six just shoves him away without hurting him. It's only after Mono takes the first hit at the music box that Six will go in full rage mode and will kill Mono if she catches him]].
* BewareTheQuietOnes: The Thin Man. While almost every boss so far in the franchise has a penchant to scream, flail and rush at the protagonists, the Thin Man won't even go as far as to run to get them, even though he will still take advantage of his capacity to teleport for short distances. [[spoiler: Even his "capture" animation is one of the overall less violent ones and leaves many doubts on whatever he really wants to kill Mono or not, given that he very obviously didn't kill Six after having captured her]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: Several factors makes this game way more depressing than the first. The lack of precise direction, the bleakness and vagueness of the setting, the feeling that you are running head on into danger rather then escape from it, [[spoiler: and or course the fact that Mono gets an incredibly harsher ending when compared to Six's in the first game, even though he is an unquestionably more heroic character than her]].

** This also applies to some of the monsters you encounter, who do not relent in their pursuit of you once they have you pegged. Special mention going to the Hunter and the Thin Man, [[spoiler: who spend almost the entirety of their screen time relentlessly chasing down Mono and Six until you are forced to kill both of them. Fittingly averted by the only main antagonist who will always survive, the Teacher, as she stops following you around after you manage to leave the school.]]

** In the Hunter’s shack, you have to find something to break the door down to reach Six. If you try the nearby meat cleaver first instead of the axe, the handle will snap off.
** In the science lab of the school, you have to sneak past the Teacher placing a heart in an anatomical model. If you manage to grab it and get out of sight while she’s turned around, she will go through a unique animation briefly looking for it.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Similar to the shoes storage scene in the first game, the [[spoiler: incinerator scene that ends the hospital chapter will easily give players a [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust very distinct eerie feeling]], expecially for those who will decide [[WhatYouAreInTheDark to switch]] [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential it on]]]].

* FutureSelfReveal: [[spoiler: The Thin Man is Mono's future self.]]

** The Teacher looks relatively human in appearance... until it is shown that she has the ability to [[LongNeck extend her neck]] [[https://youtu.be/jVQn9jSgqAY?t=66 to great length]] and [[https://youtu.be/TP_BJJm-n0g?t=54 twist it around.]]

** Televisions are the primary one, being the obsession of the twisted Viewers and even Mono, who has some degree of control over them and can later use them as portals. [[spoiler: They're also useful to the Thin Man, and are controlled by the mysterious Signal Tower.]]

--> It's not murder if they're bad people... Right?

* TheWindowOrTheStairs: At the end of the hospital chapter, the option of [[spoiler: not turning the incinerator on while the doctor is trapped in it may be really this, because, arguably, a slow death by starvation may be even worse than being roasted alive. It's still possible that the doctor would eventually be able to burst the door open though]].

* VideoGameCaringPotential: An achievement is unlocked for [[spoiler:holding Six’s hand for [[ArcNumber six]] minutes, which, despite its prompt in Chapter One, is never actually required to move on. Another can be unlocked by "speaking" to her twenty-six times.]]

** '''Chapter 4''': [[spoiler: The Tall Man was the subject of Mono’s recurring visions; Six is abducted by the Tall Man; and Mono gains frightening [[RealityWarper reality warping]] abilities (presumably from his exposure to the otherworldly television sets) which he uses to vanquish the Tall Man]].
** '''Chapter 5''' The Signal Tower [[spoiler: is a gargantuan combination of an [[EldritchLocation Eldritch Location]] and [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abomination]]; whose true form is that of an endless mass of flesh-like goop and [[ArcSymbol giant eyes]]. Six backstabs Mono by letting him drop to the tower’s bottom - dooming him to imprisonment… and growing up to be the Tall Man. Heavily implying that time and space have no anchoring in the world of ''Little Nightmares'']].

The game takes you outside the horrors of the Maw and into the horrors of what's beyond it. You play as Mono, a young barefoot boy wearing a brown paper bag over his head, joined by Six as an AI-controlled companion. Together you must traverse the Pale City, a vast, monstrous, and incomprehensible metropolis distorted by the humming transmission of a distant signal tower, and confront what lurks within it.

* Wham Episode:

** '''Chapter 4''': The Tall Man was the subject of Mono’s recurring visions; Six is abducted by the Tall Man; and Mono gains frightening [[RealityWarper reality warping]] abilities (presumably from his exposure to the otherworldly television sets) which he uses to vanquish the Tall Man.

** The Hunter is eventually shot to death with one of his own rifles.

''Tropes applying to characters can be found on [[Characters/LittleNightmares the character sheets]].''
----

* KarmaHoudini: The Teacher, [[spoiler:unlike others [[ArcVillain arc villains]] is not killed at the end of her chapter. Instead she is simply fled from, and since she has no interest in leaving her school, she simply stop her chase]].

* OminousMundanity: The Thin Man. He looks just like a regular SharpDressedMan but this only makes him creepier than the more monstruous antagonists.

%% ** Some of the ways that Mono can die throughout the game are... nasty, to say the least.
%% Zero-Context Example.
%%

** The end of the game. [[spoiler:Why does Six betray Mono and let go of his hand, when she could easily have pulled him up with no delay to her own escape? Does Mono turn into the next Thin Man, or is he stuck in a StableTimeLoop making him the Thin Man's younger self? Given that Six helped the Girl in the Raincoat even ''after'' the latter had locked her out of a safe room when both were being chased by The Pretender, it's likely there is more to this than simple opportunism.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Similar to the shoes storage scene in the first game, the [[spoiler: incinerator scene that ends the hospital chapter will easily give players a [[TheHolocaust very distinct eerie feeling]], expecially for those who will decide [[WhatYouAreInTheDark to switch]] [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential it on]]]].

** While the Doctor can [[spoiler:be incinerated inside his own incinerator with the door is closed during the process so that you don't actually see him being burned to death. [[SoundOnlyDeath (But you hear it. Very clearly.)]]]]

* MurderByCremation: While [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential optional]], you can pull the lever that activates the hospital's crematorium, burning [[MadDoctor the doctor]] alive while Six warms her hands on the furnace (she was cold and caught in the rain).

''Little Nightmares II'' is the suspense adventure follow-up to ''VideoGame/LittleNightmares'' developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco. It released for PC, PS, Xbox, Switch, and Stadia on February 11th, 2021.

* TheWindowOrTheStairs: At the end of the hospital chapter, the option of [[spoiler: not turning the incinerator on while the doctor is trapped in it may be really this, because, arguably, a slow death by starvation may be even worse than being rosted alive. It's still possible that the doctor would eventually be able to burst the door open tho]].

* TheWindowOrTheStairs: At the end of the hospital chapter, the option of [[spoiler: not turning the incinerator on while the doctor is trapped in it may be really this, because, arguably, a slow death by starvation may be even worse than being rosted alive. It's still possible that the doctor would eventually be able to burst his way open tho]].

* MurderByCreamation: You can burn the [[MadDoctor doctor]] inside the crematorium.

* [[StealthSequel Stealth Prequel]]: [[spoiler:The secret ending seems to confirm what [[{{Foreshadowing}} numerous details throughout the game imply]]: that the events of ''Little Nightmares II'' actually take place ''before'' those of the first game, contrary to its advertisement as a sequel. Six escapes the Signal Tower and emerges from a benign television only to be confronted by her mysterious shadow self from the first game, which now clearly resembles the Glitching Remains created when souls are snatched through the [=TVs=]. The shadow indicates a flyer in the foreground advertising the Maw before disappearing, and [[HorrorHunger Six's stomach begins to rumble]].]]
* StupidEvil: [[spoiler: Possibly, depending on your interpretation of the ending. If you interpret that Six drops Mono intentionally and with sociopathic/villainous/apathetic intent, the entire game has had sections that only ''two'' people could have gotten through and she has ''no'' idea what's on the other side of the portal. For all she knows, she could go through it and there is a plain room with cement walls, no objects inside, and an opening that can only be reached ''with the help of another person.'' If she dropped Mono just to save herself, she could very well have massively screwed herself over getting out or getting to the next objective.]]