Started a game on stream, got grumpy… finished it 3 years later.
It must be some kind of record with me… or anyone, really.
I mean, I know it took me little over a year to finish my beloved Borderlands 2 (in its entirety) on stream, but this quite frankly, was taking the piss. It was one of those games I’d played a bit of, then put back into its case to live in what I call the “Game Shelf of Shame”… that game was Little Nightmares.
Let’s go back to early 2018 where I’d finally decided to give ol’ terrifying thing called streaming a go. Little Nightmares was one of the first games I ever tried to do on stream. In true me fashion, I died loads (pre-Botskie’s death counter) and eventually got grumpy with it afterwards. I just remember reading reviews and thinking the art style was adorable.
So, what suddenly made me want to revisit it? Little Nightmares II, its recently released sequel, was due to be released (and delivered by Amazon) on February 12th and I’d stupidly made a deal with myself that I’d finish it on stream before the new one arrived. By the way, the sequel is even more adorable… but maybe we’ll have more on that later.
The first game takes place on an “underwater resort that caters for the extremely wealthy and powerful elite” called The Maw. You play as a nine-year-old girl called Six, who wears a yellow raincoat and carries a lighter around with her. Throughout the game, you’ll be met with challenging puzzles to get past certain enemies such as the Janitor, and the Twin Chefs. Basically, you’re controlling Six in a game of hide-and-seek as she makes her way off The Maw.
I remember what made me grumpy when I first streamed the game three years ago, was a simply puzzle in the first level which involved Six turning a crank, which then lifted a cage and she then had to time her jump onto it to get to the other side of the room. A classic, early case of what I like to call “streamer brain” (d’oh!) kicking in.
Now, forgive me for this… but we didn’t play the entire game on stream. When setting up for the finale stream, I’d stupidly thought “oh, I’ll have a go at the penultimate level”. I’d ended up finishing it before I’d even set up OBS’ pre-stream countdown timer. We did the game’s final boss, the Geisha (or The Lady) within a matter of minutes. Then, we just sat through all the credits which involved seeing Six leaving The Maw and so, we loaded up the demo for Little Nightmares II.
By this point, I’d already finished the sequel’s demo before, but on the Switch — which was also my choice of platform for the sequel (the stream was played via Xbox) as Amazon was sold out of the adorable TV Edition on Xbox. That collector’s edition is absolutely adorable, by the way. Besides the game, it includes an art book (yes please!), some stickers featuring Mono and Six, the soundtrack (finally in a steelbook!!) and the best bit — a figure/diorama of Mono and Six reacting a pose/scene from towards the end of the game (no spoilers from me!).
So, Little Nightmares II. After Amazon originally telling me that my copy had been delayed by a week due to good ol’ Brexit (sigh), it thankfully arrived on the intended release day after all!
In this game, you’re playing as a little boy called Mono, who wears a paper bag over his head as he aims to get to The Pale City to shut down the signal tower which is giving off some very weird TV transmissions (so hard not to give spoilers!!). Partway through the game’s first level, an unfamiliar looking Six shows up and is about to help Mono climb onto, push things and solving some of the puzzles — just don’t mention the Teacher to me, she’s the worst level.
So, in conclusion, Little Nightmares II is just as delightfully haunting as the first game, even more so. I mean, I could’ve gotten the final boss finished a bit sooner if someone (looking at you, King Rob! ALL HAIL KING ROB!) hadn’t done a last minute stream on a Friday night… so, 3am was when I finally got the Switch out of sleep mode because I was too terrified that the game didn’t have a checkpoint if Mono had died.
But was it worth waiting three years to finish? Yes. Would I play it again? In the not so distant future, sure (achivements!!). I’m actually now, at the time of writing, re-playing the sequel because I’d missed a few of the game’s collectibles (Mono’s hats and glitching remains, Six has masks and Nomes in the first game).
Both Little Nightmares games have plenty of creepy, spine-chilling moments, but I definitely enjoyed it though and I’m glad I finally finished it as I’m endeavouring to get better at finishing off my backlog, thus ever prolonging my shame. Let’s not mention the fact that I still, to this day, haven’t finished Pokémon White… that’s probably a story for a rainy day.
So, is there any games you’ve forgotten to finish and recently thought “I’m dying to finish that!”?, let me know on Twitter! As ever, I stream on Twitch most Tuesday (7pm-10pm) and Thursday (7pm-11pm) evenings — don’t be shy, come say hai!
