The game that I am going to be reviewing today is one which caught me by surprise, and quickly became one of my favorite platformer games within recent years, it's called Little Nightmares. Little Nightmares is a horror/platformer, something which I haven't really seen too much before, which was developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco. This rad little horror game was released this last April on the 28th, and was made available to play on the Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC. The version of the game which I will be reviewing is the Playstation 4 version.
I hadn't heard too much about this game before its release, to be honest. I believe I was browsing around on youtube and one of the channels that I'm subbed to uploaded a video of a lets play of Little Nightmares. I had no idea what the game was but clicked on the video to check it out, and after about 4-5 minutes of watching them played I was really hooked and proceeded to head over to the PSN market and pick a digital copy of it up for myself. I can definitely say, I'm quite glad that I did, as I think this is probably one of the most interesting games I have played in 2017 and it captured my attention right away.
The game takes place on a grimy, dark, mysterious ship called The Maw. In this game we're put into the shoes of our silent main character, a nine year old little girl going by the name of Six. On board of The Maw are disfigured, horrifying looking creatures with the ship catering to most of all of their desires and whims, as sick as they are. The story begins with Six waking up in the dark depths of The Maw, choosing to try and escape the cruel enclosure, during which she experiences excruciating bouts of hunger that become more and more debilitating as time goes on.
As she makes her way upward through the ship, she encounters more and more creatures with most of them attempting to capture her in the hopes of devouring her. As she escapes from her pursuers, she gets a view of another ship docking with The Maw, showing huge obese figures boarding The Maw in a line for what appears to be a giant feast. These figures head to an oriental section of the ship which is overseen by a strange woman who is simply named The Lady, the presumed leader of The Maw.
The story of the game is divided up into 5 different chapters, with each of them having their own focus on certain aspects of the gameplay. You can expect these 5 chapters to run you about 7 to 8 hours total on your first run through. The first chapter is mostly a tutorial teaching you the controls of the game, and is a bit of a slow burn. Thankfully they don't hold your hand too much in this tutorial, leaving you to figure out most things on your own. There are some secrets you can get while playing in the form of collectibles which unlocks special artwork and another can slightly affect your ending of the game.
As with most platformer style games, the camera angle is in side scrolling fashion, though you can move around freely throughout your entire environment. The controls of the game are pretty basic for the most part, since there is no consumable items, combat or HUD. The controls do however allow you to crouch, crouch walk, sprint and single jump of course. (Can't really expect a nine year old girl to jump like some sort of a super powered plumber who likes abusing turtles, right?) You can also hold onto and throw smaller sized objects, as well as pull/push certain objects in the environment. There's also a lighter available at your disposal to give you a better look at what is around you, and you can use it to light lanterns and candles to keep the light going and also earn yourself an achievement.
The game controls very similar to how Little Big Planet had you control the character from that game, except this is more of a 3D landscape in comparison. Something which can get to be frustrating at times is that the camera angles you're given in some areas makes it really difficult to get a sense of depth in that environment. This has led to me taking some nasty falls occasionally either leading me to have to restart from the last checkpoint, or falling into the hands of a creature that has been chasing me. Although this can be a bit annoying, I think it helps elevate the sense of dread and being vulnerable while you play.
The lighting and the use of the shadows in game honestly gives it an unnerving and haunting atmosphere throughout. Combine this with the creepy creatures hunting you while you walk around, the excellent sound design and the fact that there is no dialogue in the game and you'll be feeling very tense and nervous while playing. While in the dark, you can't really make out what is around you or coming near you. And, once you've enveloped yourself in light you'll be questioning if anything has seen you and is coming. The game uses the horror elements its given so well, leaving you on alert almost the entire time you play.
As I mentioned the sound design briefly, let me talk about that more since I really thought it was utilized so amazingly well for this game. The majority of the game lacks any type of music, and uses very subtle ambiance for the most part, leaving you to focus on the sounds of what is going on around you. These sounds will be things like footsteps, the hauntingly creepy creaking of the ship and floorboards, the sound of your character breathing and the sounds of objects breaking. It makes the game much more intense and nerve wracking when you realize how significant those sounds can be, as making one wrong move or hitting on object can have you ending up in the hands of a monster that wants to eat you. Of course, you do get some fast paced intense music once you start getting chased, which is mostly there to let you know that you need to haul ass if you wanna stay alive.
Between the gorgeous graphics which are suited oh so well for the horror genre thanks to the shadow work and lighting, the superb sound design throughout, the creepy unnerving creatures waiting for you throughout the ship, and the disturbing story being told this game does pretty much everything right. I had a few little issues throughout, but nothing to really complain too much about. I guess my main thing with the game is that I wish the pacing held up the entire time, as it does slow down a small bit during the mid section of the game. The game ensnares you right away with its grim world and hair raising gameplay. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone interested in a great horror game, as well as a fun platformer.
Thanks for checking out my review! Hope you've enjoyed it!