Tarsier Studios continues to showcase a truly captivating talent in environmental and enemy design here and how that feeds into a consuming aesthetic but flounder in their multiple attempts to diversify the gameplay from its predecessor from the shoddy combat mechanics to the continued imprecise platforming and at times even detrimental bugs that hinder progress. These are issues the last one had but it seems to effect this one ten fold considering its loftier ambitions. This plays more like the rough DLCs of the first which also expanded on the simplistic gameplay albeit in bite sized hour long chunks on top of the base two hour game. Little Nightmares II takes about six hours to complete on its own and with each passing section that length is felt. The school and hospital chapters, while conceptually fascinating, are bloated and don't entirely serve the narrative outside of being thin Youtube React fodder. The "trial and error" structure is less so about learning what you are doing wrong than it is just following a needlessly stern script forced upon the player to deliver empty cinematic thrills. That coupled with the constant restarts due to elements inserted for shock value unbeknownst to the player makes for an irritating experience all in all. Little Nightmares II is just empty art despite its three dimensional areas and overtly symbolic characters giving the impression of depth. A lot of shallow window dressing for what? Unfortunately the "trial and error" design philosophy as it is executed here lends itself to a lot of pointless deaths and exceedingly frustrating portions and ultimately loses the intended impact. It is very much more of the same but just more of it and while I support the grotesque vision that this studio offers, its warped twisting of authority figures being as effectively creepy as ever, the overall product just feels cynical and even dated.