Little Nightmares - Review

More than just a horror game – a review of Little Nightmares. 

I love an indie game. Some of my favourite games of all time are indies. Indie games are often unique, full of the hearts and souls of the developers involved, interesting art styles and heartfelt stories. Whilst Little Nightmares is something a bit different, I absolutely loved it.

Little Nightmares is a horror, puzzle, platform game, in which you play as Six, a child in a yellow raincoat navigating a terrifying world. There are no weapons or battles to be won as you must rely on stealth, hiding from the creepy and murderous creatures that surround you. This isn’t a game full of high-octane fights or cheap jump scares, instead it relies on the creeping tension as you wait to be caught.

Despite the lack of text and dialogue, Little Nightmares does an incredible job of revealing the plot over the five or six hours it takes to play it to completion. You’re inside The Maw, a facility with a dark purpose, although you’re never directly told what that purpose is. Speaking of dark, be prepared for it, as often the only source of light you’ll have is the lighter that Six carries, playing on the fear that something evil could be lying in wait for you.

Each area you enter is different from the last, revealing more and more horrors for this seemingly helpless character to escape, and each room sways with a slightly sickening ship-like quality. The angle you play from really adds to the creepiness, with the 2.5D quality giving you the feeling of being an unobserved spectator in your own game. If you’re watching everything play out from the shadows, doesn’t that mean that someone else could be watching, too?

The sound design of Little Nightmares adds even more unease for the player, with creaky floorboards and nasty, squelching piles of…well, you’d probably rather not know. Every element of this game is disgustingly detailed, with grotesque surroundings and creatures around every turn.

The puzzle element of this game helps to keep it from becoming repetitive. Whilst there are times when stealth and speed are vital to survive, other times puzzles block your path and add an interesting element to a short playthrough. Sometimes it’s a perfectly timed jump, other times it’s throwing something at a button, but it’s always accompanied by the creeping feeling that something will happen the moment you finally solve the puzzle.

It’s a good thing that Little Nightmares has auto save, because you will die, often. Trial and error is an aspect to this game and sometimes failing is the only way to learn. For the most part, loading times aren’t too long and it autosaves enough that you’re rarely having to replay much to get back to where you were, so rather than finding my repeated deaths frustrating, they added to the challenge and made it all the more satisfying once I’d finally complete a section.

As I mentioned, this game is quite short, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Whilst I would have loved to explore more of The Maw, and I’m certain there could have been more to see, I actually think this game works best as a short, creepy experience. More than once I’ve played it through in one sitting and being able to do this allows the fear and the tension to build more and more until you’re well and truly creeped out.

This is a truly grim game in many ways, from the designs of adversaries such as the grotesque Butcher to unsettling rooms full of sleeping children. A moment of pure horror which has stayed with me comes in the form of an unsettling call back to the Holocaust, a room full of discarded shoes which you must essentially swim across as something, some unknown horror, chases you through the room. You never see what it is that’s chasing you even if it catches up with you, adding to the uncertainty and terror. This is one of the most unsettling, creepiest moments in any game I’ve ever played, and I say that as someone who played Outlast.

The only real issue I have with Little Nightmares is a small one. The 2.5D element is interesting, as it allows Six to explore all directions, which leads to some creepy discoveries, but it can lead to moments of frustration when platforming. It’s so frustrating trying to line up the perfect jump repeatedly before plunging into the darkness below you. This frustration is minor however, with the game more than making up for it in its animation, sound design and tension.

The rooms inside The Maw may be creepy, but they’re often to be used to your advantage, as you scramble across shelving or clamber up chests of draws to escape or avoid a pursuer. The rooms are often just a little bit wider than the camera allows you to see, giving you the impression that something may be lurking in the dark corners, just out of sight and waiting to pounce.

This game is one that really plays on childhood fears. The monster under the bed. The creaking floorboards as some unknown creature moves towards you. The dangers of a world too big for a small child to navigate. Whilst Six is certainly no ordinary child and exhibits some…interesting…behaviours, you do feel like a child who has been thrown into one of her own nightmares from which she can’t wake up.

Whether you’re relying on wit, stealth or speed, Little Nightmares is a short but exceptional journey through an increasingly creepy landscape, full of gruesome creatures and dark clues to the horrors that are taking place. You glimpse the awful things happening around you, horrifying glimpses into your fate if you’re caught, as you quietly creep past those who would happily grind you to a pulp or smash your body into pieces. Little Nightmares is, overall, a must play for fans of the gruesome and macabre.

Written by Tam Page

Posted by Mr. Tomney

Share Article: