Little Nightmares

Little Nightmares is a quick but fun platformer following the hero of the story named Six. The trailer of the game appears to be a scary game, but mainly revolves around grotesque images of humans throughout the game. Six is a 9-year-old girl who starts out trapped in a cage in an unknown place. Your goal is to escape, at least that is the way it starts out. With so many plot twists along the way (good ones) I won’t get too in depth about the story.

The controls for the game I found a little frustrating to get down. On the Xbox, sprint is X and that’s nothing I have ever seen before so it took some time to get uses to. Unfortunately the game is about 2 hours long, so if you don’t suck at puzzles you find yourself beating this fairly quick. I would die occasionally hitting the wrong buttons, but once I got the controls down the game controlled very well. What you told the controller to do, it did. Nothing was tricky about the movement in the game which I liked.

You are equipped with a lighter in the game triggered by tapping B or clicking in on the right stick. This lighter never runs out and often turns into your best-friend. Some areas of the game are insanely dark, making your lighter the only way for you to see. The lighter also serves a bigger purpose than just illuminating dark rooms. Along the way in the game you will find lanterns. These lanterns look unimportant until you walk up to them with the lighter. Six will light them giving you a save spot. I found this very handy when I encountered a tricky spot in the game (and there are a few of those).

Throughout the game, you will get hungry. It’s triggered at a specific time in the game so when it happens don’t worry, you will find “food” along the way. Without giving anything away, this was one of the more interesting parts of the game. Play to find out.

The horror aspect is something I would like to touch on. The game takes as I mentioned before, grotesque overweight humans and throws them at you as the enemies. A lot of the horror of the game comes with being chased. The enemies are hideous and creepy so having to run for your life from some of them can be a little unnerving. However, I never felt scared playing, so if this is someone that is worrying you about the game, then don’t.

One thing that I didn’t quite understand was the price point of the game. I beat this game in a little more than 2 hours. Once it is beaten there is no point in going back unless you want to get all the achievements. $20 for a 2-hour game seems a little high for me. Granted the game was good, but not sure if people will be turned away because of the price. I enjoyed the game I just wish it was longer. I started to feel connected to the character, something that is hard to do for game developers. However, the length of the game is perfect for the story that is told. Among my friends that also beat it, there is much discussion on our thoughts of what happened. It was quite interesting to see the different viewpoints the creators left open for imagination.

Little nightmares is a very good game. The story of Six is a quick one, but you gather everything you need to know as you move along in the game. Think you can brave your childhood fears? If so pick up Little Nightmares and learn about Six’s story.