Little Nightmares (2017)

This game is essentially Limbo but in 3D. And that third dimension both adds to the possibilities and introduces myriad technical problems.

Basically everything I want to say was already said in this review. I just felt it was fun enough to give it 3 stars, not 2.

If the game were more polished, it could be great. But the clunky controls and long load times brought the experience well down.

The good news is, those are things that can be improved, so I’m quite hopeful for the sequel.

I would also add that I enjoyed the DLC story more than the main story in terms of gameplay, and the ending genuinely shocked me.

The graphics are horrifying where they need to be and beautiful where they need to be. A genuinely unique and characteristic style that does exactly what it's meant to.

There's no spoken dialogue in this game, so you won't be getting to know characters' personalities that way, but you grow fond of them regardless. I wanted to protect Six (and then I was proud of her, and then I was a little freaked out by her), the Lady is eerily beautiful, the Chefs are perfectly revolting, and the first time I saw the Janitor was a shock to the system in the best way possible in a horror game.

Controls can be a little finicky sometimes, but it was never enough to bother me -- only in the sense that some jumps may take a few tries to get the timing and angle right. I never found the 2.5D perspective unfair or misleading when it came to making leaps or deciphering where surfaces were, but a lot of people have complained about that so your mileage may vary; keep it in mind before you play.

Overall, I prefer the sequel story-wise, but this game has a little place in my heart. Additionally, note that the game only takes ~3 hours to complete, so I would personally feel a little cheated paying the current Steam price of £15.99 for it. I'd advise picking it up on sale.

Little Nightmares is another one of those games I can't believe I didn't play sooner. It's been sitting in my backlog for ages but I just kept putting it off. Not long after I started it up it was obvious to me that that was a mistake.

The visual style of this game is excellent. It's cartoony but twisted and experienced as though viewed through several layers of decay. The creatures inhabiting the ship our raincoat-wearing protagonist finds herself on are repugnant and vile to watch slink around in their dank rooms. The visuals nail this and then some, often providing little details for the player to latch onto and use to attempt to piece together some semblance of an explanation for what they're witnessing.

Though to be fair, I don't really want an explanation. For me, this is one of those pieces of horror that I think work best when you don't really know what's going on. Little Nightmares provides plenty of disturbing imagery for your brain to chew on as you make your way through the ship and I wonder if to have a better grasp of the story would lessen its impact somewhat.

The gameplay itself is very reminiscent of Limbo, another game I greatly enjoyed for its atmosphere and minimalist approach to storytelling. In Little Nightmares you'll often be solving puzzles, avoiding creatures that wish to Spirit you Away to who knows where, and sometimes both at the same time to progress. The environment facilitates some really fun and clever puzzles that never became frustrating for me. I was often entertained by the ways in which the game asked me to interact with its world to arrive at a solution. This all kept it moving along at a nice brisk pace, allowing just enough time to take in a setting before falling into the next.

Little Nightmares was ultimately a short experience but left quite an impression on me. I find not many horror games have a good handle on how to conclude their stories, but this one manages pretty damn well. It leaves a lot of room for player interpretation too, which is sure to please the "Game Theory" type of player. It's left me hungry for more, but preferably in a new setting with a different story to tell. I'll need to look into whether that's the type of experience the sequel offers before I dive into that.

Hey there, folks! Games like Little Nightmares are the ones that break my heart the most. You see that gorgeous box art, hear the hype, and think, “Oh man, I’m gonna fall head over heels for this the second I start playing.” Then you boot it up, and… oof, it’s a letdown that hits like a ton of bricks. Honestly, it stings, and this game left me more frustrated than fulfilled.

Now, before you grab your pitchforks over the score I’m about to slap on this thing, stick with me, dear reader. I’ve got some solid reasons why this game didn’t live up to the hype, and I bet you’ll nod along once I break it down. So, let’s dive in!

1. Story

The story here is a bit of a cryptic puzzle. There’s no dialogue—just a cinematic vibe where the environment tells the tale. You’re supposed to piece it together like some artsy jigsaw as you creep through the world. I haven’t touched the sequel yet, so I’m not 100% sure how deep my grasp of this universe is, but I’ll give it this: the story’s pretty cool. Well, almost. Here’s the catch—I only figured out what the hell was going on after watching an explanation video post-credits. Seriously, I’m wandering around, jaw dropped at all the wild stuff happening, but I’ve got no clue what it means. The eerie locations and freaky monster-things gave me some guesses that panned out, sure, but for most of the game, I couldn’t care about the story—or rather, it didn’t give me a reason to. It’s a shame, because there’s something fascinating buried in there.

2. Technical Details

Buckle up, because this is where it gets ugly. Little Nightmares is a technical disaster—hands down the biggest trainwreck I’ve seen in a while. It’s like I’m trying to run an unreleased GTA 6 on my Nintendo Switch. Who ported this mess? And how did the testers not go, “Uh, guys, this is broken—maybe don’t release it”? I’m still in shock. The controls? Unresponsive as hell. The loading screens? Agonizingly long. Half my playtime was spent staring at that dull screen, wondering, “What are you even loading, dude? What are we waiting for?” Sure, it’s polished on the outside—stunning graphics, killer art direction—but those technical hiccups made it feel like a slog. I was so excited when this game got announced, but man, these flaws sucked the joy right out.

3. Gameplay

Gameplay-wise, it’s your standard “solve a puzzle, hop some platforms” deal. I didn’t expect much depth here—most games like this don’t deliver that—and I wasn’t crushed when it turned out as predicted. But oh boy, does it have issues. The perspective problems are a nightmare (pun intended). I get it, 3D platformers often struggle with this, but here’s the kicker: every little misstep—thanks to clunky controls or bad angles—sends you straight back to that godforsaken loading screen. One wrong jump, and you’re stuck twiddling your thumbs for minutes. I’m not asking for Mario-tier platforming, but come on, devs—a little effort? A shadow indicator under my jumps could’ve saved so much grief. Without those sluggish controls and constant deaths, I could’ve breezed through this in 1.5-2 hours instead of the 5 it took me (and that’s being generous).

4. In Summary

Here’s the deal: Little Nightmares is a technical mess wrapped in a gorgeous package. The art design, music, and atmosphere? Absolutely breathtaking. I’m fascinated by this eerie world, no question. But those long loading screens, unresponsive controls, and perspective issues turned my excitement into frustration. This game’s short—clocking in at 4-5 hours—but it felt like a struggle I nearly quit halfway through. Without all the tech garbage, it could’ve been a tight 2-hour gem. Instead, it’s clear the devs rushed it out the door, leaving us with something average at best, disappointing at worst. The stunning visuals and creepy vibes got drowned out by the flaws, and that bums me out. Final score? A grudging 4.5 out of 10. I might give the sequel a shot someday, but after this letdown, I’m in no hurry.

Final Score: 4.5/10

Fantastic ambiance, immersive soundtrack and graphics that still hold up 7 years later; what's not to love?

Replayed the game several times and got all achievements just to show my appreciation for the game, oh and the reveal at the end of the DLC actually made my jaw drop!

Had a few CTDs especially during the DLC, and it wasn't because of my setup (for reference I can run RDR2 on ultra) but wasn't too bad considering the game starts up quickly along with frequent auto saves.

Like Limbo before it, Little Nightmares is a puzzle platformer about a fragile child trapped in a horrible world. Its style could loosely be described as moody eastern-european cinema. I'll get my positives out the way first but don't worry, this won't take long.

The game is gorgeous to look at, equivalent to the best stop motion films at times, but even more twisted in it's visual design with some of the enemies being particularly creepy and memorable. It certainly goes towards creating a moody and oppressive atmosphere.

The main character's yellow jacket against grey and often muted backgrounds is even reminiscent of Schindler's List, and the section with all the decaying shoes also invoked the Jewish holocaust. I've no idea if this was intentional but I guess that at best they thought, "hey, that Spielberg film was striking to look at and the holocaust was fucking miserable, let's shoehorn that into our Limbo ripoff in the vaguest most superficial way possible" (I guess that's my positives out of the way).

As to why the world is the way it is, or why it's populated by monstrosities who appear to be trying their hardest to kill or eat a small child, I've no idea, because the game doesn't tell me. There is no story to speak of and what can be read from the visuals is entirely speculative. Even Limbo, as vague and lacking in traditional storytelling as it was, had enough going on in the visuals and scripted encounters that I could hazard a guess as to what was happening (the title also helped). Ultimately, I felt no connection to the world of little nightmares, nor the child I was playing as. Speaking of playing, let's talk about the gameplay.

So that nightmare part is on the nose because little nightmares sure is a nightmare to play. Whereas Limbo had the good sense to keep its platforming to two dimensions, Little Nightmares has more of a 2.5D aspect as you can move up and down. This makes platforming a massive pain in the arse because you can't really gauge distance in either plane and the pov messes with your depth perception. This leads to lots of trial and error when attempting what should be simple jumping puzzles and it's not fun to play.

There are also lots of set pieces and escape type scenes in which you have to do the exact right thing or die, and it can get trying as you have to repeat the same bit of the game again and again. Luckily it's quite a short game, but I shudder to think how short it would be if I didn't have to trial run so many sections of the game multiple times.

So, nice to look at but it's all style over substance and utterly fails as a puzzle platformer. I'm so done with these pretentious, artsy, indie games, with stories so abstract and vague they'd make David Lynch shake his head in disgust. More like Little Shite-mares.

3/10

I just replayed it for the first time in 5-6 years, and my god does it hold up.

Visually, Little Nightmares is so captivating and perfectly executed. The atmosphere is incredible, and it also has a nice visual variety (as opposed to the sequel). It is total eye candy for a weirdo like me.

The gameplay is really great as well, with a combination of tricky puzzles and tense stealth sections. The environments you sequentially visit manage to ride the line between being legitimately scary while also being cute and whimsical.

I truly have nothing bad to say about it and I’m glad I decided to play it again! It has a clear vision with excellent execution, so I have to give that type of game a 5/5.

Little Nightmares, developed by Tarsier Studios, suffers from the unfortunate role of being compared to two other well known dark grim platformers. They are so similar that if someone told me that Playdead developed Little Nightmares, I would not have doubted it. I’m sure the comparison does not sit well with Tarsier Studios, it being a Swedish team while Playdead is located in neighboring Denmark and vice-versa. With all that said, Little Nightmares is a beautiful grim puzzle platformer with a confusing story.

You play as an unnamed girl wearing a raincoat. No dialogue is spoken, no words are written, but it is assumed that she wants to escape from wherever she is. You soon realize that the setting this girl inhabits is a bit strange. She appears to be a very miniature person with doors, chairs and books towering over her. The environment also shifts from side to side as if the whole world itself is on a rocking chair. You quickly find things get more grotesque when the girl passes by a noose with a limp body hanging on it, encounters mysterious dark leeches that ooze from the ceilings and floors and eventually meet gigantic disproportionate humans with large heads and tiny legs.

Most of the game involves navigating the girl from left to right. There are numerous doors to be unlocked, platforms to be crossed and enemies to avoid and several physics puzzles involving weight and momentum. There are a multitude of trial and error sequences where you will escape through the skin of your teeth that are fortunately buffeted by generous save points. There isn’t much innovation here and if you’ve already played a game in this genre, Little Nightmares will feel instantly familiar.

Some interesting quirks is that the game is visually dark so the girl can turn on her lighter at any time. Also due to the environment constantly swaying back and forth, the girl’s movement is affected. As an example, crossing a straight narrow walkway sounds as straightforward as holding down one cardinal direction. However it is easy to fall off as the speed and direction of the girl varies constantly. This wobbly movement takes some getting used to but I appreciated it because I had to pay more attention instead of mindlessly holding right on the left stick.

It’s hard to write more about this game without going into spoilers but even if I were to spoil the story it would not make much sense. The game is very abstract and interpretive with the only common theme being the sin of gluttony. The final act is especially confusing as there is a sudden tonal shift without explanation. Little Nightmares from a mechanics standpoint is perfectly fine. The graphics and sound design are equally excellent and immersed me in its creepy grim atmosphere. It’s the narrative that completely lost me. I’m left with more questions than answers and not in a good way. When I reached the credits, my most pressing question was: “What did I just play?”.

Little Nightmares is an atmospheric platformer well worth the three or four hours it takes to play through. Set on a Gormenghast-like passenger ship, you wake up as a small child, clad in a yellow raincoat, with no imperative other than to escape. In your way are a variety of gruesome inhabitants, much larger and more powerful than yourself, and imaginative puzzles that usually require just the right amount of effort to solve.

The game's backdrop stands out most. The game is visually stunning. The details are meticulous. Most rooms are stacked from floor to ceiling with objects, which builds a cohesive sense of a monstrous yet cramped sealiner. The characters too are beautifully crafted, and the game gives you opportunities to hide in a dark corner and observe them go about their business.

While visually maximalist, the controls are stripped to the bare essentials, and the puzzles make good use of them. While there are some standard setups to solve, a few of the puzzles were genuinely novel, and raised more than a chuckle from those watching me play.

Gameplay aside, the game didn't come together as a cohesive whole. I love games that leave the player to construct the narrative. However, Little Nightmares left me with unasked questions rather than unanswered ones. This doesn't spoil the game, though, as each scene exhibits a keen sense of timing, suspense, and fun.

A must-play for fans of platformers or short games, and a recommended diversion for everyone else.

A creepy and intense semi sides rolling adventure.

I found myself enjoying Little Nightmares more and more as I got deeper and deeper into the game. It had me on edge from beginning to end.

The game starts off and you don't really know anything. The game cleverly teaches you all the moves of Six in a way that felt natural. The beginning levels of the game felt a little harder than the ending levels. As weird as that sounds. The enemies I had to contend with and try to escape from in the beginning were far more difficult than at the end. That could be because I just learned how to play the game at that point but typically the game scales with you. Either way, it didn't feel bad, in fact, it felt right.

The whole game is just one entire freakshow. From the weird long armed characters in the beginning, to the chefs, and the Geisha; this game oozes style and creepiness in the beat possible way.

The game isn't to long. I've almost beat it twice now (working on getting all those Stadia achievements) and I have a little over 6 hours clicked. So if you are a fan of the creepy or even just atmospheric sidescrollers, you should definitely check this game out. I ended up thoroughly enjoying myself.

I started this game because I thought it would be a cute platformer. Boy was I wrong. It is nightmare fuel and a really tense couple of hours. I love short games so I had a blast with this one. The horror is what really surprised me, I did not know a platformer could be used in this manner to scare the player. The gameplay was not the only good aspect, the story and themes presented were portrayed in such a clear and beautiful way without uttering a single word throughout the entire game. I found myself thinking of Spirited Away a couple of times with the imagery and visuals. This is a great short game that gets its point across without losing focus or wasting the player's time.