Little Nightmares III (PS5) Review
Summary: New developer Supermassive mostly plays it safe adding some subtle yet effective twists to the spinetingling platforming series.
3.8
Drop Dead Fred
Little Nightmares III really leans into the little part of the title, to an almost Lovecraftian degree. The monstrosities in this latest edition of the unnerving horror series are truly colossal at times, ripping their way through tired edifices, clutching at our dual protagonists like cats clawing at mice.
Taking over from Tarsis, new developer Supermassive Games, no stranger to creating spooky experiences of their own, mostly plays it safe with this co-op-focused take on the panic-inducing platformer.
Players are swiftly introduced to dual protagonists Low and Alone, who awake next to a shattered mirror in a room full of luggage on some huge vehicle run aground in the middle of a desert.
From the outset, it does a great job of introducing the main mechanics the pair uses to help each other. Low, a timid boy in a Scaramuccia mask and a cape, has a bow he can use to shoot distant buttons and take out enemies from a distance. While Alone, best described as the bastard child of Sid Wilson from Slipknot and Drop Dead Fred, has a huge wrench for turning bolts and making those breaking noises we love so much.
Together, the pair must use their disparate but complementary skill sets to survive another series of startling set pieces while being pursued by a cast of grotesques best described as literal nightmare fuel. But then I guess that’s the point.
Though the gameplay is mostly a retread of what you’ve seen before in the series. With our fragile heroes swinging off levers, desperately running from grim metaphors for childhood trauma, and scrambling through a vast and uncaring world with an overbearing, oppressive atmosphere that radiates in every frame, that’s no bad thing.
It may not innovate until the latter half of the game, at which point Little Nightmares III really hits its stride. However, the basic formula and setting remain a compelling one, and Supermassive has nailed the unsettling tone and thoughtful environmental storytelling that make the series such a treat to play.
Unfortunately, some of Little Nightmares’ more irritating habits persist. Enemies’ ability to grab you as soon as you so much as take your finger off the sneak button, incredibly tight timing windows, and the series’ reliance on trial and error are still prevalent throughout Little Nightmares III.
Though thankfully, checkpoints are still plentiful, and nothing feels like failure so much as a bump in the road. It treads an incredibly fine line between tense and thrilling, and tedium. When it all falls apart and you’re stumbling about trying to figure out how to get past a particularly annoying enemy or poorly signposted set piece, the momentum goes straight in the bin.
However, when it all comes together, when you glimpse something moving out of the corner of your eye, when your pad starts rhythmically pulsing in your hands. The music swells. Some abomination comes crashing into the room. You break into a sprint. It gives chase, vicious and unrelenting. You jump pits and slide under barriers before diving into an elevator. The gates slam shut. You’re safe. But you can still hear a rumbling in the vents. The nightmare persists, but it’s over for now: It’s this sense of relief and jubilation after successfully finding a tiny moment of respite that you’ll constantly cling to, and it demands you keep pushing forward.
The one thing that did irk me, though, was the lack of local co-op. Supermassive has said that it’s to help maintain the horror and isolating atmosphere of the game. However, I would argue that having the other player speak to you over a mic, guiding you through each section like air traffic control, is going to ding the atmosphere more than both players sitting quietly in the same room with the lights out and the surround sound turned up. But at least they had the sense to include a Split Fiction-style friend pass, so you can at least drag a friend along for the ride, even if you’re not in the same room.
Final Thoughts
Little Nightmares III, ultimately, is just more Little Nightmares. It doesn’t try to reinvent the series so much as take its solid core of physics-based platforming, panic-inducing chase sequences, and quiet, unsettling horror that gets more grim the more you think about it, and add subtle twists and tweaks to the formula.
The new focus on cooperative play adds a nice twist to the proceedings, and the focus on a pair of characters who clearly love each other brings some welcome warmth and levity to the otherwise oppressive proceedings. But the lack of couch co-op is a misstep.
Regardless, Little Nightmares III is still a decent addition to the series thanks to creative level design, another strong rogues gallery of villains that make your skin crawl, and some subtle yet effective twists on the established formula, even if the best parts are mostly in the back half.
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