54°F
weather icon Mostly Clear

Tarsier Studios ready to give gamers a new nightmare

It’s been more than three years since gamers were introduced to the world of “Little Nightmares.” The horror platformer became a critical and commercial hit, selling more than two million copies since its release in 2017.

Now, Tarsier Studios hopes to take gamers into a new nightmare in “Little Nightmares 2,” which will be released on Feb. 11.

“Hunger was a core theme of the first game,” senior narrative designer Dave Mervik said. “There was literal hunger, but also the ideas of greed, consumption and success as well. This game is about escapism in its many different guises. The things you do to occupy yourself, how you run away and hide from the world.”

The first game centered around the character of Six, while its sequel introduces a new character named Mono.

“Little Nightmares was always about the world and the kids that are taken there and the things they have to survive,” Mervik said. “What we weren’t really prepared for was how iconic Six was going to be and how loved she was going to be with fans.”

That meant that for the sequel, they had to find a way to both honor fans’ feelings toward Six while still pushing the story in the direction they wanted.

“You can’t ignore that people are invested in this character,” Mervik said. “This is the tale of Mono, but it’s also how his tale intertwines with Six. The cool dynamic now is you don’t get to control her destiny like you did in the first game. Her life is completely out of your hands. This is about Mono. There’s an interesting chemistry you get just by shifting focus onto this new character.”

“Little Nightmares 2” will introduce new locations and new game mechanics, including combat. But don’t expect that to turn Little Nightmares into an action platformer.

“What we’ve tried to do is not lose sight of what mattered to us for the first game,” Mervik said. “The goal is still the same. You are a kid in a world that hates you very much and you’re just doing your best.”

And everything in the world is crafted to give players a sense of dread and helplessness.

“You can’t help but feel alone,” Mervik said. “Everything dwarfs you. You don’t even get to talk or understand what people are saying. It’s just primal fear to survive.”

With the sequel about to hit stores, Mervik said they are excited to see people soak in more of the “Little Nightmares” world while overcoming a game that refuses to hold gamers hands.

“There’s such a fear of people not seeing all the content that they paid for, so you have to tell them everything,” Mervik said. “You can’t risk people not knowing what to do. That’s not how it was growing up. You felt like a player and you felt like you were being asked to think about the story as well because it wasn’t just spoon fed to you. That’s what we wanted to do.”

“Little Nightmares” was a relative surprise when it was released. That’s no longer the case, but Tarsier Studios hopes to show the world that “Little Nightmares 2” is ready to spook gamers all over again.

“You hope people still feel that you respect what they fell in love with,” Mervik said. “That we haven’t just said, ‘Let’s shovel out some more stuff.’ You want people to see the same love and attention to detail that they saw in the first game.”

Contact Lukas Eggen at leggen@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Follow @lukaseggen on Twitter.

THE LATEST
Emmy, Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr. dies at 87

He won his Oscar for his performance as the intimidating Marine drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman” opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger.

Top 10 things to do in Las Vegas this week

The Aviators’ home opener, the Punk Rock Museum’s anniversary show and National Pita Day deals top this week’s lineup.