In recent times, I have really warmed up to games that don’t overstay their welcome. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, now remastered in glorious quarter-of-4K resolution, is a great example of designers understanding the appropriate scope for a project and delivering a game that is consistently engaging within that measured scope.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD comes with a solid visual uplift over the 3DS original. While it may not hold up next to current generation releases from the average AAA developer, the excellent art direction, coupled with new, detailed assets and richer lighting, make a relatively strong impression, considering the Switch’s computational insufficiencies compared to modern gaming systems. The thick cobwebs, afterglow from colourful ghosts and horror-appropriate, ambient lighting from candles and old chandeliers all combine to draw the player into the gothic yet playful atmosphere of the mansions.
From a gameplay perspective, what really stands out is the level of environmental interaction. Carpets can be rolled with the vacuum, flames on unimportant candles can be extinguished, random mounds of dirt can be cleared out—it is truly striking how interactive these levels are. Not only does it ground you in the world, knowing how much of it reacts to your actions, but it also encourages you to go exploring, since you are likely to find some kind of gameplay opportunity, even in rooms that fall outside of the objective path.
Paranormal combat appears to be less complicated than I thought. I was worried you would need to perform an ‘insert ghost defeating method here’ (I rarely consume horror content), but all you really need is a Strobulb flashlight to stun the ghosts, and a premium vacuum like the ‘Poltergust 5000’ to collect them. In all seriousness, the combat here is surprisingly fun. The gameplay loop of sucking ghosts up after stunning them, should theoretically get stale after a while, but the expressive animation work on the numerous ghosts, as well as the surprise factor behind the encounters which are often sprung upon Luigi, keep these fights engaging throughout. The game does an excellent job of varying the combat when it risks becoming repetitive—for example, when you reach the kitchen in an early level, the greenie ghosts are wearing sunglasses and can’t be stunned with the light until you suck the sunglasses off them first, completely reversing the regular loop.
The levels work well because they allow for the previously mentioned interaction, encouraging exploration by packing levels with fun distractions like a spinning toilet leading to a side room, or a ghost painting a portrait while another poses in front of the window. Of course, the visual improvements discussed earlier also help in boosting the horror-themed ambiance of the environment, as do the many puzzles, which require you to pay close attention to Luigi’s surroundings.
This early-game statue, for example, is not initially visible, so you need to figure out for yourself that there is a missing element in that location, use the coloured flashlight to reveal it, then acquire the key within it. I was stuck at this point for a little while, so the game does demand a solid level of player intuition at points. Or I just missed an obvious level design clue, which is a definite possibility.
Another element of Luigi’s Mansion 2 that really stood out was how charming it was. I am mainly referring to the ghosts here, as mentioned earlier their animations are very expressive, and give each ghost a unique personality. While the greenies are playful and tend to come in and out of battle, the red slammers are bigger and angrier, pumping their fists once discovered and coming after Luigi with reckless abandon. Due to their unique personalities, it is enjoyable to see these ghosts in action or peer through holes in walls to see them hanging out in their spare time, elevating them beyond simply being enemies to take down and making them feel like distinct entities with lives of their own. Mechanically there is a benefit to this as well, as the player is forced to vary their strategy depending on the ghosts present, as some enemies, like the blue hiders, tend to use ranged attacks and hide in corners, requiring a more aggressive combat approach to take down.
There is not much wrong with Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD in my estimation, although personally I would have enjoyed the inclusion of voice acting. Professor Elvin Gadd has a decent chunk of dialogue that could have been funnier had a strong comedic actor delivered the lines, although I am aware that the addition of voice acting could have ballooned file sizes or been inconvenient for global distribution. Still, it would have been a nice addition at this price point, even if the voice options were limited to English or Japanese only, with subtitles for other languages. I don’t speak Japanese, but I would have taken any voiced dialogue over the intermittent grunting that is currently included.
The other sticking point is the framerate. While it is one thing for Tears of the Kingdom to run at 30FPS, it is slightly puzzling to see a remastered 3DS title run at the same framerate. I wouldn’t say it’s a deal breaker, but it is yet another game showcasing the age of the Switch. Despite a bevy of anticipated games being revealed or receiving updates at the June 2024 Direct, one wonders how long it will be before gamers finally get their hands on a Switch successor, hopefully with some form of enhanced backwards compatibility, so these late-generation first party releases can be played at higher framerates or resolutions. I also find it more jarring given bigger releases on other platforms are consistently offering performance modes, and the price point on this release is directly comparable to a lot of those games.
With all that said, it is refreshing to play a release that attempts to be inventive, providing new or varied gameplay opportunities and puzzles at consistent intervals. It is a similar quality that I admired in Tears of the Kingdom last year, difference being Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD doesn’t require anywhere near the same level of time investment, making it an excellent pick up to beat in one weekend or as a palette cleanser between two longer games.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD offers a cavalcade of clever puzzles and dense mansions to explore, now packaged with a cleaner presentation. The resulting experience is a delightful tryst with the paranormal.
