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The opening of Little Nightmares 3 should be striking. A familiar corridor gives way to the sprawling desert of the necropolis. In the midst of a dried-up ocean, our new protagonists push on into the horrors lurking in this unfamiliar land. However, despite offering a gorgeous visual feast, Little Nightmares 3 will prove to be as barren as this very desert.
Little Nightmares 3 is the third entry in the atmospheric puzzle-platforming and stealth horror game franchise of the same name. Now with Supergiant Games at the helm, Little Nightmares 3 is an attempt to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors. However, despite the bold inclusion of multiplayer, the game finds itself far smaller than the shoes it has to fill.
All the small things
Little Nightmares 3 takes its sweet time when it comes to putting you on edge. As we explore this gorgeous desert necropolis, we are treated to glimpses of the first actual foe: a giant baby. This creature is horrifying in concept; it’s able to turn the outermost layer of a person to stone, leaving them petrified yet alive. A strong start so far.
However, the mechanics soon undercut any sense of tension. The baby’s gaze is clearly telegraphed. Successfully avoiding the eyeline of this infantile abomination, and you’ll find the horror undercut. After surviving the infant’s signposted attacks, they feel ineffectual in hindsight
Fail, and you’ll find yourself more frustrated at your own inability to avoid the petrifying gaze rather than unsettled at the fate of your on-screen avatar. What’s more, deaths here cause you to hemorrhage significant progress, compounding the sense of frustration.
What’s true in this opening segment is true for much of the rest of the game. In Little Nightmares 3, mechanical design undercuts horror. Predictable chase sequences and uninspiring scares dominate the experience.
While the title lives up to the visual legacy of its predecessors, the stakes, danger, and sense of fear all feel deflated. Foes that would have slaughtered you on sight in Little Nightmares 1 are now non-hostile and used as set dressing. The world feels defanged, sanitised, and bereft of the sense of dread that made the original Little Nightmares such a success.
The monsters in Little Nightmares 1 and 2 were notably human in aspect. This allowed them to tap into a sense of the uncanny. By contrast, in Little Nightmares 3, the monsters take unfamiliar shapes and feel less grounded in this tradition. This makes for a forgettable experience courtesy of design that doesn’t build on the successes of previous titles.
Two’s company
Little Nightmares 3 has clearly been designed with co-op in mind. This is best shown through the character’s unique abilities, in gameplay, Low can use their crossbow to hit far away targets while Alone has a wrench for destroying more close quarters obstacles. In co-op, this presents an effective, if simplistic, way to keep both players engaged.
However, co-op features are entirely relegated to online multiplayer. This means that nights of fearful couch co-op are off the table. While interactions with your partner of choice over the internet can still be rewarding, this is a serious impediment, especially for those looking for an intimate Autumn fright with a friend or loved one.
Given that the levels were designed for co-op, if you cannot rustle up a co-conspirator, you will be relegated to using an AI partner. This is a frustrating undertaking. Since protagonists Low and Alone boast separate abilities, all of which are vital for negotiating Little Nightmares 3’s levels, you will always be reliant on the AI if you’re playing solo.
The AI is often oblivious, leading to awkward pauses in gameplay as you try to coax your virtual partner into figuring out what to do next. This even caused a hardlock in my playthrough, requiring a reset and costing me 20 minutes of my life.
Lore snore
At the third entry in the Little Nightmares series, Little Nightmares 3 is the inheritor of a legacy. However, fans of the series will be disappointed to learn that there is little sense of continuity in Supermassive Games’ latest.
The enemies and references here are literal hollow imitations. They seem artificially curated to create a sense of connection to the larger series while belying the central narrative’s conceptual distance from the series’ roots.
Unlike Little Nightmares 1 or 2, which immersed players by getting them highly familiar with one evolving setting, Little Nightmares 3 has you jump between different locales, giving the story a listless, untethered feel.
What’s more, to understand the wider context of Little Nightmares 3’s central story, you’ll need to listen to an honest-to-goodness companion podcast. Without the podcast, the tale feels fractured and difficult to parse.
The messaging is clear, the interest is mainly in creating a franchise and not in creating a truly unique horror experience. This scatter-shot approach is dissatisfying and undercuts the experience as a whole.
As a final note, Little Nightmares 3 will set you back $40 (£35). This is a game that will take most players five and a half hours to complete. It simply doesn’t feel worth the investment.
The situation Supermassive found themselves in with Little Nightmares 3 is unenviable; they had big shoes to fill. Giving the game space to stand on its own two feet would have been a smart move; however, rather than let Little Nightmares 3 stand on its own merits, Supermassive Games seems intent on offering a fragment of a wider franchise rather than a complete, internally consistent experience.
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