Little Nightmares III (2025)

It replicates the atmosphere, sound design, mechanics, and feel of the first 2 games but something felt wrong about this. I'm not sure what the story is with the development other than that a new team took over. I didn't follow the development at all and bought the game without thinking much of it when it came out because I loved the first two. If I'd followed the development or waited to see reviews I probably wouldn't have bought it.

I feel like Supermassive Games just took the assets and code that they inherited and slapped a new environment on it. I will admit that I really liked the environment and atmosphere, but it didn't do anything more than the first two games did. The monsters were cool, music was cool, visuals were cool. There was maybe one new mechanic that was a good addition (the doll).

It's a passable game but I can't rate it well because I don't think the developers had any good intentions with this. They made a sequel to a popular game not because they had anything to add to the world or story, but because they knew it would get attention as a sequel. They put in little effort to make any of the gameplay or atmosphere fresh because they didn't need to for people to play the game. They gave it a multiplayer gimmick that barely serves a purpose because they need some new selling point.

It also felt really short, like they felt that they had met the minimum threshold for the game to pass as a game. I don't think the puzzles themselves are a vital part of the gameplay, but they were certainly better in the first two games. The strength of Little Nightmares is the atmosphere, not the gameplay. But the gameplay was still better in the first two games.

Also the story pulls the "it was all a dream" on us? Really? Of the things that could have been developed or changed from the first two games, the type of world that was built was not one of them. There is something about reality and nightmares and abused children? I don't know or care.

I think I could have loved this game if the developers had a bit of passion. But let's not encourage mindless, unoriginal slop, which I regrettably did when I bought it

I was so shocked when I saw the steam reviews come in at 55% mixed. I thought “no way it’s that bad, even if they do the bare minimum it will still be a good game”

It’s that bad

It genuinely feels like AI tried to copy the Tarsier style. No creativity or soul or forward motion, just a cheap plastic copy of ideas already done. The creature designs are so bad, a creepy baby doll or a grandma with 6 arms? Where is the horror, the wtf-ness (yes that’s a new word). And the puzzles are as basic and brainless as it gets.

I wish I could give it something, but it did absolutely nothing for me. I played through the first two areas, but I felt I’d seen enough. The environments were not even remotely close to Little Nightmares quality or creativity. Everything was just so bland.

Trust the reviews.