Monster Chasing with Lysh

As previously explained, my blog is about monsters and creatures. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the popular image that comes to mind is probably some sort of inhuman being or something hiding under your bed (which is why Frankenstein was a great introduction). Today we’re going to continue forming that image by looking at Tarsier Studio’s Little Nightmares II.

Please note, this post contains spoilers for the 2021 video game, Little Nightmares II. The story of Little Nightmares II is essential in understanding our focus monster, so there will be two sections to this post; the story and the analysis.

Tarsier Studios’s Little Nightmares is a horror adventure puzzle platformer released in 2017 across all gaming platforms. You play as Six, a small, yellow raincoat adorned child who is making her way through a ship called the Maw, presumably to escape and get to safety. The monsters in this game are grotesque adults; if Six is caught by any of them, it’s game over.

Though great, Little Nightmares feels like a twisted fantasy. We travel with Six through an unfamiliar landscape, trying to escape unfamiliar beings. The player can travel through the Maw and keep it at a safe distance. We are able to play through the game and take it for what it is: a video game. In Little Nightmares II , Tarsier Studios decides to unfold this idea. They ask, “What happens if we bring our protagonists and the player to environments that are more intimate and personal? What if we force the player to reflect on everyday situations we live through?” Little Nightmares II is about how grief and isolation can steal the light out of a person, transforming them into soulless and dull monsters.

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In Little Nightmares II, we play as Mono, a boy who wears a tan trench coat and a paper bag over his head, and accompanying and helping us in our adventure is Six (from the first installment). The game starts with Mono escaping through a forest from a being called The Hunter. As the player and Mono succeed in evading The Hunter, we notice the landscape changing from the forest to a cityscape. This is the identifying factor that Little Nightmares II is shifting from the fantasyland of the Maw, and will take place in more familiar landscapes. Please note, in the world’s timeline, the second installment occurs first then the first story occurs after, but here we will be observing how Tarsier Studios presented the story to us.

At this point, you may be asking, “Okay, Lysh, I understand, but where are the monsters!! I yearn for the monsters!!” and I get it. I promise this background is just to support the transformation we see unravel at the end of the experience. For this monster exploration, you’re going to have to wait for it.

Once getting to the city, Mono and Six explore battered houses, elementary schools, and hospitals. These locations are all identifiable to the player; we have all been to these locations (if you have not been to a hospital, you’re most likely familiar with them). These locations should be safe spaces for children but are often sources of immense anxiety. For Mono and Six, these locations are the latter. For the two protagonists, their safety is each other.

Mono and Six escape porcelain children who bully and attack them, a strict, worm-like necked teacher who whips the children into shape, severed hands, hospital-gown clad mannequins, a spider-like doctor, and zombie-like adults who are occupied by television screens. Travelling through these stages, we see the children comfort each other in vulnerable moments; Six even saves Mono from getting sucked into a television that has entranced him. All of this is to say, the two children create a bond, and the player really believes they’ll be able to survive it together.

In the last act, Mono and Six are constantly pursued by the monster called The Thin Man. I hesitate to identify him as human because even though his physical body is humanistic to an extent, his glitchy movements, stretched-out limbs, and his ability to travel through televisions tell us he’s something else. Could he have been human once? Maybe, but when we encounter him, he’s far from it.

We see Mono release The Thin Man from the television and this is where the tragedy begins. The Thin Man is a grotesque monster that leaves distorted television-static shadows of the children he steals, and Mono see this happen to Six. With his newfound bond, the only option for Mono and the player is to save Six by confronting The Thin Man.

Major spoiler warning as we jump to the end of the game. After confronting The Thin Man head on, Mono gets transported into the surreal world of the looming radio tower and continues searching for Six. We’re confident the children will reunite because of the hardships they’ve already worked through together. There is no way Mono fails! And, he doesn’t, but when we find Six, she is transformed. A monster of the friend we once knew.

Mono does everything he can to save Six and reverse this transformation. Her music box, a symbol of her safe space and childhood, needs to be destroyed for her to come back to reality. After Mono succeeds in destroying the music box and Six’s transformation is reversed, the surreal landscape starts collapsing and threatens to take the children down with it. With limited time, the children race to the exit. When they find it, Six reaches the exit first and the only thing between Mono and freedom is a gap in the collapsing bridge. Mono jumps the gap and misses. Six catches him, holding Mono as he’s suspended in the air.

Then, she lets go, pulls her arm away, and watches Mono fall into the depths of the collapsing radio tower.

Crushed. Not crushed physically, but the trust and bond between Mono and Six is decimated. In the next scenes we see Mono alone, in a bubbling and gore-like room with eyes in the floors and walls staring at him. He sits on a lone chair, being watched and riddled with anxiety. While the player watches Mono and Six build their relationship, the player also starts creating an attachment to Mono. We know what it’s like to feel overwhelmed and attacked by the world, and we want to protect Mono from it. But we can’t. And we are forced to watch him sit in the chair alone in an empty room. Growing. And growing. And growing. While he’s growing, the colour is also removed from his world; the pink spotlight slowly turns into a bluish-grey over his grief-stricken transformation. The player has no choice but to watch him transform into The Pale Man.

So, there it is, our monster today is the child we’ve grown to love and wanted to protect over the playtime of Little Nightmares II. It was important to build the story before exploring Mono’s character and exploring the reason for his transformation.

Little Nightmares II is ultimately a story about grief and how grief affects people. During the story we watch two children transform into monsters and they are both presented in different ways. Monster Six wants isolation, whereas Mono is forced into it. The player sees Mono thrive in companionship and finds solace in it. Little Nightmares II asks, “how do we navigate grief on top of all the fear and anxiety already in the world?” Unfortunately, the answer is that without support and companionship, we don’t. We become soulless shadows of what we once were.

In my previous blog post, I explore the idea that because Frankenstein’s creature isn’t exactly human, his grief is his own, but through Mono, we learn that the ability to hold grief isn’t always liberating. In this case, I think it’s safe to say we’d rather not have Mono grieve. Mono explores these horrific landscapes with someone he has created a bond with, perhaps believing that the world doesn’t have to look so bleak, just to be proven wrong at the end.

It’s important to consider that Frankenstein’s creature is a reflection of ourselves, the worst parts and the most vulnerable. The creature has never been human. For Mono, this is different. Mono’s humanity is stripped away, and he is left with a body that becomes a horror story for children. Mono’s story may be the worst version of a coming-of-age story. The “little nightmares” in this installment are the mundane things: schools, hospitals, and heartbreak.

Even though the protagonists in Little Nightmares II are children, I’d argue the lesson of humans needing companionship and compassion is directed toward everyone. The player, regardless of age, is supposed to be devastated at the end and I think this ending pushes the player to reflect on their own relationships. The game begs its older player-base not to let their own light go out because navigating this world full of grief is hard enough without us making it harder for each other.

Thank you for getting through this monster of a post, especially compared to my previous one. I really appreciate it! As we continue exploring different kinds of monsters, let’s keep an eye on the role of grief in the transformation, creation, or the framing of these monsters.

Little Nightmares II is clearly a story I hold with me to this day and the characters mean so much to me. I’d love if you told me in the comments one story that has made a lasting impression on you!

Again, thank you for reading, and remember to stay curious.

See you later,

Lysh

Featured Image Credit: Tarsier Stutdios. (2021). Little Nightmares II. [Video Game]. Bandai Namco.