Little Nightmares Review

Occasionally, a game comes along that refuses to let a concept as restrictive as genre bog it down. Little Nightmares is one of those projects. Blending various different styles, Tarsier Studios has created a gorgeous platformer, filled with puzzles and soaked in grotesque imagery.

Horror is a niche genre that tends to focus on fostering a tense atmosphere over gameplay. Puzzle-platformers are typically the exact opposite. Consequently, few of the former try their hand at the latter. This makes Little Nightmares incredibly unique, but is it a great game?

Story

Split into five chapters, Little Nightmares centers around a starving young girl named Six, who seeks to escape from a strange prison run by even stranger people. Little Nightmares may evoke memories of Studio Ghibli’s phenomenal Spirited Away, though the tones and premises differ. Both properties blend the fantastical with a hint of reality to create an almost dreamlike state of wonder.

Little Nightmares’ story primarily takes a backseat in support of the game’s surreal tone, but Six’s journey produces truly intense and traumatic moments. Chapter 4 is particularly effective, at least when it comes to the horror aspect.

In fact, Little Nightmares works best as a pure horror game. In truth, the adventure is not conventionally scary. Due to its 2.5D platformer nature, Little Nightmares cannot quite replicate the level of immersion found in games like Resident Evil 7 or Dead Space. That said, Little Nightmares is unrelentingly intense. There is seldom a moment when Six feels safe.