Little Nightmares Reviews
The game is beautiful to look at from a distance but disappointing up close and ultimately functionless.
While Little Nightmares has an interesting premise and plenty of promise, the lack of a story, any definable characters and the frustrating save point system are just too much for the interesting aesthetic and standard gameplay to overcome.
A stellar atmosphere is not enough to save such a puzzle-platformer that completely lacks any sort of challenge. While the story of Six is a sad one, it's not for the fact that her adventure begins in a cage—but that the developer failed to find a way to make me care about it at all.
Transient, vague, and awash with macabre sights and sounds, Little Nightmares is aptly named. Its gameplay is rote and minimal but its skew of images will stick in your craw like the fleeting fragments of a nightmare upon waking. The rest will fade.
I enjoyed my short time with Little Nightmares, but I wish there was a bit more substance in its subject matter for me to care just a bit more. As it stands, Little Nightmares is a neat distraction, and I hope Tarsier Studios goes a bit further with the story and world they've built, because Little Nightmares goes in some interesting places. The fact that Six's hunger becomes insatiable by game's end raises a lot of questions, but the real hunger is that I wanted more that Little Nightmares wasn't able to deliver.
Little Nightmares is an excellent experience wrapped in a fairly frustrating game. The world that Tarsier Studios have constructed is excellent – trading on its dollhouse-like environments, terrifying antagonists and incredible audio to create an incredibly atmospheric and disturbing horror game. But this otherwise great presentation is let down badly by poorly implemented gameplay and a story that feels like it goes nowhere.
Little Nightmares is like the long, intense screech of a violin before the jump scare - except that the scare never comes and the sound eventually fades to the background. Yes, it's dark and moody, but after establishing the atmosphere it never evolves into something that's really worth playing.
Ben received a digital copy of Little Nightmares from Bandai Namco for review.
The art, in itself, makes Little Nightmares worth checking out. The story, the gameplay, and the length that come with it make it a bit harder to justify the price. As polished as the art and animation are, the other parts of the game feel like unfinished ideas. Little Nightmares deserves a look, but waiting for a sale might make more sense for many gamers.
Utterly terrifying and pants-wetting horror that must be experienced, even if the gameplay is a failure in most regards
Little Nightmares is the finest tidbit of creepiness you’re likely to have this year. It does many things right: it’s dark and unsettling, the gameplay is varied enough to keep players interested, and the style and presentation gives it a character all its own.
It might not be the most refined experience (something young Burton's films were often guilty of as well), but that vision, and the rare mastery over a horror many of us feel but struggle to articulate, makes this game frequently surprising, intense, and always sublime.
Little Nightmares is a "child must traverse horrifying and dangerous predicaments" simulator; something 'Inside' and 'Limbo' fans would find familiar.
Little Nightmares is an amazing experience, albeit there are some things that are left to be desired. However, for a first attempt by the studio that gave us Little Big Planet content, as well as Tearaway Unfolded, Little Nightmares is an easily recommended time-killing adventure.
Little Nightmares is visually stunning, but it does not really come up with very interesting puzzles, and it ends a little fast, leaving us a bit hungry.
Review in French | Read full review
If you liked Limbo and Inside, then Little Nightmares is definitely for you. Though its puzzles may not have you stumped for quite as long, its sinister world will consume your attention throughout its five to six-hour duration.
Little Nightmares is like a fledgling chef's interpretation of a gourmet dish: it looks the part and hits the spot – but it won't live too long in the memory once you've greedily gobbled it up. Outstanding presentation is paired with some forgettable puzzles and a slightly fragmented fiction, leaving a feast that will satisfy without ever really forcing your tastebuds to explode.
Inventive and disturbing puzzler with beautiful environments, Little Nightmares is well worth a look for fans of the genre looking for something a little different.