Genre: Puzzle-Platformer, Horror
Players: 1
Playtime: 4 hours (Includes beating the game and finding a few secrets)
Little Nightmares invites players to run and hide in a world that is filled with unspeakable horrors and grueling imagery. It may be easy to make comparisons to games such as Limbo or the recent Inside, but Little Nightmares makes its own mark with a distinct style of suspenseful and stealthy gameplay mixed with bouts of frantic chases from unsettling figures. It reminds us of how strange and frightening the adult world can be through the eyes of a child. So if you enjoy playing games as small defenseless protagonists with a aesthetic art direction that feels like something from Nightmare on Elm Street mixed with Tim Burton, keep reading the pros and cons below as this game may be right up your foreboding alley.
Art Direction / World Building
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| The elongated furniture in this room is unsettling and impracticable...that is unless you have really long arms... |
The artistic styling that this game displays is an uncanny mix of realistic textures and unnatural touches. Elongated furniture and the grotesque folds of skin create a superb sense of unease in this mysterious world. The fact that all set pieces and rooms are built to such exaggerated proportions gives each room a doll-house like effect, which allows for very purposeful and clever camera framing. As such, moments of suspense and horror never miss a beat in this game, some of which will stick with you weeks after finishing the game. The camera work also features a rhythmic swaying throughout the majority of the game, which adds to the constant sense of unnerve and helplessness to every situation you run across in the game. Where ever it is that you are located in this game, your one constant solace will be to get out of this nightmarish abode. But it's exactly for this same reason that you will also be so captivated with this world.
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| Oh geez...those are some really long arms... |
Story
The story in this game, albeit simple, delivers a powerful punch with many moments of immense satisfaction as you overcome the twisted terrors that lurk these creaky halls. Much of the story is left open to interpretation as it is told through gameplay. So while it has a certain narrative it will tell, it will be up to the players to decide who these mysterious characters are and what are their motives. Without going into too much detail, I will say this game has a features a wonderfully unnerving character arc with an ending that is both unsettling and all too satisfying because of such.
Sound Design
The use of sound effects and ambient noise used in this game create the perfect atmosphere of tenseness and suspense. The creaks and moans of the dreary halls. The thumping of your heart as an ominous figure approaches your hiding spot. The haunting singing of a lullaby as foreboding events unfold. Even the absence of sound is used to dramatic effect to create a sense of impending dread.
Horror
We've already discussed many attributes in which this game demonstrates a masterful display of horror and suspense, but it bares just a little more discussion for just how well this is achieved through gameplay. This is horror not achieved through jump scares and grotesque gore, but rather through carefully crafted moments of dread and suspense. The horrors in this game often enter the rooms and set the stage for players to work up the courage to dare challenge. And even when they are hidden, the sense of danger is never far away. In this way, the horror presented in this game leaves a more lasting and ever-present impression.
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| So many shoes....there's probably something in there....I'm going to have to jump in there, aren't I.....oh geez... |
Controls
Little Nightmares is essentially a side-scrolling world with some added depth in its doll-house like setup. This works great from a design standpoint, but is also one of its few shortcomings. Too often did I fall to my death simply trying to walk left to right across a narrow platform only to instead walk off the ledge. This added degree of depth adds a lot of unnecessary setbacks and frustration, and could have been remedied if there had been more forgiveness in the controls. For example, they could have added a warning animation if you were about to walk off an edge to allow players the chance to react and balance back.
Linearity / Challenge
Let me start by saying I enjoy the occasional linear gameplay experiences, such as Journey or Flower. However, you can tell this game wanted to incorporate more puzzles and clever platforming / exploration, breaching into that puzzle-platformer genre. Unfortunately, while there were some good ideas here, they range from overly simple to misleading and confusing puzzles. So it's a shame that these ideas weren't able to be developed further to create a more challenging and thought-provoking puzzle experience. And with such a meticulously crafted world, it's also a shame that what is left is a mostly linear experience, as it would have been a great deal of fun to have a bit more exploration in your attempts to escape what could have been a horrific maze.
Little Nightmares has great ambitions to create a unique and creative horror game like none other, and on many fronts it well exceeds those goals. Through exceptional art, sound, and gameplay design, players are immersed in a narrative experience of pure suspense and intrigue. The puzzle solving and world exploration may leave more to be desired from this relatively short game, but there are enough memorable moments in this game to more than make up for such and leave a lasting and impacting impression.
If you have any questions or thoughts about this game, please feel free to comment and discuss below. Thanks. And happy gaming!
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