Review : Little Nightmares 3 : The Horrors Persist

After Tarsier Studios was acquired by Embracer Group in 2021, they were no longer able to work on their baby, Little Nightmares. Their eerie, grotesque, diorama-looking baby that resonated with spook enthusiasts. But time marches on, and a new developer stepped up to take the reins, as determined by the publisher and owner of the IP, Bandai-Namco. Having dabbled in the Little Nightmares 2: Enhanced Edition before, the choice was obvious: Supermassive Games. As a studio well-known for its Choose Your Own Adventure horror cinematic narratives, however, it seemed like an odd choice at the time for those with no context.

Now delivering a third entry of a franchise not their own, Little Nightmares 3 lands somewhere squarely in the middle of the road. Not entirely pushing the series forward in any way, but still firmly rooted in what made them so synonymous with childhood anxieties. Introducing a brand-new story, characters, and online co-op mode, longtime fans could be panicked by the new directions this entry is taking. The result does remind us why this nightmare-inducing saga is so beloved, but it might not surprise those who fervently praised the previous games.

Hunger Pangs

Before I go on any further, I would like to explain what Little Nightmares, first code-named “Hunger,” is all about for the uninitiated. As fundamentally a 2.5 puzzle platformer, the games have you taking control of tiny human beings escaping by the skin of their teeth from decaying humanoid adults. Every narrative beat is told through body language due to the game not uttering a single line of dialogue. With massive environments that beg players to think outside of the box, there is usually a fair amount of climbing, moving boxes, and hiding to move at the right moment to progress to the next section. Although this might sound meager on paper, it is the sinister atmosphere that leaves a lasting impression.

Cannibalism, telekinesis, abuse, you name it, this series likely has these horrific themes in one way, shape, or form. And then there are the “bosses” of each chapter. I write that in quotations as you do not fight them via conventional means so much as run for your dear life as they trample erratically behind you. Being the most memorable of encounters in each video game, Little Nightmares 3 has these in spades as well. It must be noted that most of the sequences do feel like a rethread of 1 and 2 rather than a brave step forward.

Better Together

Expanding on the co-op elements which roughly originated in the second entry via an AI companion, Little Nightmares 3 has two new characters, each with their own tools that define them: Low, a young boy with a bow and arrow, and Alone, a fiery girl with pigtails and a wrench. Most of the puzzles confronted were to hit a target with the bow, break glass with the wrench, or have both characters pull a lever or wood board. In the heat of the moment, that is, while being hunted by one of the many spine-chilling monsters, this becomes more thrilling. Sadly, this was usually hampered by the lack of an intuitive second-in-command.

The AI is not usually that smart. There were plenty of instances in which the character with the bow had to shoot at a rope for me to progress, and they simply didn’t. I had to go back to an earlier checkpoint and repeat the actions in hopes that this computer-controlled puppet could do what needed to be done. Because there is more emphasis on working cooperatively overall, I must imagine playing in online co-op to be much better. To the AI’s credit, there are crucial moments where a target must be hit that were done automatically, whereas a person would have probably missed on the initial try.

That said, unlike other horror games where combat overstays its welcome, Little Nightmares 3 shows a more restrained approach. Usually, a mix of one character stunning the enemy with the bow and the other pulverizing them with the wrench, there are no more than four foes to fight in any given scenario. This challenges the predictable MO of hiding or running, and proves a satisfying, albeit short, change of pace.

Persistent Problems

The same issue that propped up in the previous games is prevalent here. In one of the many chase sequences, there is only one way to survive the nightmarish encounter. That is, by running exactly where you are supposed to while climbing and removing wood boards within the scripted timeframe, or they’ll catch you, and it’s back to the checkpoint. Little Nightmares has always functioned this way, and it works. The built-up tension of trying to run for the first time away from a horrid melting humanoid is special. But by subsequent times, all the thrill has been deflated, and there is only the focus on knowing how to exactly progress onto the next set piece.

There is nothing wrong with that, but I do wish the approach to the massive tension created would be presented differently. An option to skip a failed scene after several attempts could go a long way, or even a quick time event that could prevent you from being grabbed by the ghouls behind you. In the end, we are left with brute forcing our way through flimsy platforming, hoping for the best in an otherwise remarkable atmosphere.

The More Things Change

Little Nightmares 3 is set in the same universe with vaguely similar themes. Traversing through schools, factories, and a county fair, each intricately designed area ties the innocence of these traumatized deuteragonists to the gluttony and narcissism that too often takes hold of adults when not put in check. It respects the staples of the series, from the kids sitting in fear when you just died to the brief moments of respite when barely surviving a level with the kids holding each other tightly.

Supermassive Games understands what the franchise is, but in the process of retreading its eerie concepts, it ended up making a facsimile of it. Putting these tiny beings through increasingly repulsive circumstances, it is a fair horror adventure to share with friends during the spooky season. Little Nightmares 3 is exactly what it says on the tin: more Little Nightmares. Over the course of its four chapters, it emulates what made the series great, but fails to live up to the potential its predecessors achieved.

Thank you to our PR partners and Bandai-Namco for the review access to Little Nightmares 3. You can find Seasoned Gaming’s review policy here.