Review: Not Tonight 2 (Nintendo Switch)
An incredibly worthy follow-up to its post-Brexit prequel, Not Tonight 2 imagines the dystopian future of the USA should today’s more corrupt, bigoted, and hypocritical capitalists secure even more power. The game goes hard from the very beginning, refusing to pull any punches even from the opening beats of the story.
Not Tonight 2 follows a group of young friends who ring in the New Year with a protest against the government’s oppressive approach to rule. Eduardo Suarez is abducted and dumped in a gulag to be deported within a month unless his friends can find the documents proving his right to stay and deliver them in time to the guards. The group then splits up in different directions to track down his passport and family tree, taking on gig work via door security casual job app Bouncr to afford the costs of the journey.
The gameplay is familiar to anyone who has played Not Tonight, with a simple enough bouncing job kicking off the game to reacquaint you with the rhythm of it. As you progress, the requirements to grant access get more complicated. This begins with the obvious guest lists and other additional factors to look out for. It then escalates to make the gameplay itself more complex, giving you rhythm-based tickets requiring you to click along to the beat. As the game ramps up to its climactic finish, you work the door for an obvious cult and have to decide whether or not to drug their chosen ones.
The narrative is darkly funny and hugely insightful. You follow each of Eduardo’s friends in turn as they set off on different journeys to help him. They head in opposite directions, travelling across the country to find the documentation he needs. On their way, they meet a variety of people impacted by and reacting to the sharp fascist turn the country has taken.
As well as earning money via your Bouncr gigs, you are also rewarded by a mysterious organisation when you engage well with the other characters you meet. Not Tonight 2 puts you in a number of ethically ambiguous situations where you need to make a moral choice about what to do. At multiple points, you have to choose if you’re going to break the rules to help someone you’ve met and care about, whether that means reuniting your uncle from his estranged (but still beloved) ex-wife or allowing someone desperate to get home access to a location from which they’ll be able to smuggle themselves out of the US.
The story is absorbing and profound, pulled together by the strength of the friendship between the core characters. Not Tonight 2 engages incredibly well with the social and political issues facing not just the US, but a lot of the rest of the world right now. It doesn’t feel particularly heavy-handed in its messaging, but also doesn’t shy away from holding the real world accountable. It reinforces the value of community and solidarity in a cruel world, delivering a serious message with a creative, clever and darkly funny plot.
