"The scientific method doesn't exactly apply to paranormal phenomena, you know."
—E. Gadd, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD
A sequel that arrived more than 10 years after the 2001 original title on the GameCube, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon brought the series to the 3DS, predecessor of sorts to the Switch. In turn, more than 10 years after the 3DS release, the Switch receives a version of the game crafted to fit one screen instead of two. Rather than including a singular mansion as the title suggests, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD sees Luigi exploring multiple locations within Evershade valley. And instead of a continuous progression all the way through each location, this sequel features a series of mission-based levels which end with the returning E. Gadd teleporting Luigi back to a central hub. Each level can be replayed with all of the player's latest abilities so that they can achieve goals like finding hidden Boos or obtaining more currency for upgrades. Polarizing design choices like segmented levels do not thwart the game's superb execution, with Luigi's Mansion 2 HD excellently realizing its exploration, secrets, light horror elements, and ghost-hunting to provide a strong sequel with its own direction.
Production Values
As underpowered by comparison to the PS4 and Xbox One as the original Switch is, the lack of overt pixelation in the environments and character models reinforce how Nintendo tends to utilize the graphical capabilities of its own hardware better than many third party companies. Luigi, the Poltergust, E. Gadd's hideout, the distinctive ghost-riddled environments, and the ghosts themselves are a testament to the console's first-party visual dominance. Repetition in the colors and types of ghosts does give way to slightly more varied enemy types by the end of the game, but far more diverse are the buildings Luigi travels through.
The first and fifth (final) location have suits of armor with helmets that might turn to face you or that might aggressively extend their weapons, but the latter features portals to themed rooms that cleverly link to mandatory progression and collectible hunting. The second requires Luigi to navigate between two towers that have fallen into disarray. The third contains lots of clock imagery with some corresponding puzzles, while the fourth is a snowy, icy region with one of the most unique boss fights in the game, and, in fact, in many games from the extended Mario franchise. Despite the aesthetic differences of each area, a smooth framerate, vibrant colors, and clear animations persist across the entire game.
Gameplay
Like the first and third titles in the trilogy, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD relies on a very simple premise with effective execution: Luigi walks around the rooms (or exteriors) of a site, the camera fixed based on the room and his position in it, stunning ghosts and sucking them into the Poltergust, activating light or airflow-based mechanisms, and pursuing mission items as applicable. E. Gadd periodically communicates with him through a DS, or "Dual Scream", which the scientist asks if Luigi recognizes. As far as combat is concerned, wrangling ghosts is a regular part of the game. You have to stun the ghosts by flashing the strobulb and then pull away from them as they try to escape the Poltergust's vacuum effect. After a handful of levels at each location, a boss level unlocks, each with a pattern or weakness that brings out the troublesome ghost to be stunned and vacuumed up three times.
As he wanders around, Luigi can find concealed objects like chests or gargoyles that can yield money or other items. Upgrades are automatically implemented at the end of a level when Luigi amasses a certain threshold of money, and they thankfully have a very beneficial impact on the gameplay. Slamming ghosts with greater power to more quickly deplete their hit points, for instance, becomes a highly useful ability later in the game when ghosts often have significantly more health. While they impart no direct gameplay benefit, optional gems can be found scattered about, in some cases out in the relative open.
Each area has the same number of gems, with each set including the same shapes (a mushroom, a star, etc.). The color of each set is particular to the location. To access them, you often need to utilize the Dark-Light Device to expose invisible objects or activate green light detectors with the strobulb. Sometimes, you need to walk into a certain exact spot to easily see a gem (or to see it at all), and in other cases, you have to teleport to another dimension to engage in a quick minigame, like collecting eight red coins within a small amount of time. Also, each story mission other than boss levels has its own Boo. Capturing each Boo in a location unlocks a special ghost hunt mission tied to that area, where Luigi scrambles to catch ghosts in specific rooms as quickly as possible. While there are multiplayer modes in ScareScraper such as pulling in all ghosts on a floor within a time limit, the main pillars of the game are single player in nature, and the gems and Boos could provide some incentive to replay levels.
Story
After King Boo fractures the Dark Moon and makes the ghosts of Evershade Valley turn hostile, interrupting the research of E. Gadd, the professor summons Luigi. He tasks the green-clad ghost hunter to help him recover the pieces of the Dark Moon and hopefully restore the friendly dispositions of the ghosts. Hints surface that Mario has been abducted, with King Boo's presence becoming increasingly conspicuous as Luigi obtains Dark Moon fragments.
Intellectual Content
Some of the secrets like money and gems are genuinely hidden well, including in overhead areas that could be easily overlooked. The environmental puzzles, though they tend to be fairly straightforward, do at times match the aesthetic or broader themes of the area, a clever way to unify the locations and the in-game tasks. The most nuanced puzzles/tasks even span multiple rooms—still governed by the laws of logic first and foremost rather than actual or virtual physics.
And though such a thing is ultimately logically possible, I would love for the game to have explained specifically how the ghosts are situationally subject to electric shocks, able to fly into a wall only to slam into it; while the developers might not have considered much of the underpinnings and ramifications at all, it simply appears like the ghosts can enable themselves to become physical at the point of contact at whim, or that they are simply physical beings, their "bodies" comprised of ectoplasm, that can supernaturally phase through matter in some cases and be physically interacted with through the Poltergust in others. I know the Luigi's Mansion games are certainly not focused on exploring rationalistic truths about metaphysics, but very little is addressed about this issue (either way, nothing stop E. Gadd from making asinine philosophical claims about science later on!).
Conclusion
Oh, it is different than the GameCube entry that launched the series, yet Luigi's Mansion 2 HD is a triumph in its own right, as limited as scope of the individuals missions are on their own (you cannot access every room/item in a location within at least many individual levels). Luigi again, as also in the 3DS version Dark Moon and the Switch's own Luigi's Mansion 3, has the spotlight all to himself away from his more popular brother's shadow (for the most part). Many aspects from the quality graphics to the diverse environments to the literal hidden gems works in favor of this Switch remake. Even the boss fights, as repetitive as they are in some ways, still capitalize on environment-specific strategies that set them apart from the standard ghost catching. Someone who appreciates the idea of Luigi helming a light horror-esque game and never played Dark Moon on the 3DS can play the best version of the game so far on the Switch.
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