Video games have the ability to transport you to worlds, unlike anything you’ve seen before. The horror genre has translated itself very well in the video game format. To put the player in the perspective of a character trying to make it out of a life and death situation has become quite popular for many horror games of today. Little Nightmares created by Bandai Namco Entertainment is yet another example of a game that manages to accomplish everything that is required to be in a horrific and dark experience
A nine-year-old girl wakes up on a mysterious vessel and is looking for a way to survive and make it out of the vessel before she is discovered by monsters and corrupted souls who want to feast on her flesh. All she has with her is a small flashlight and a yellow raincoat. She’ll need to be as stealthy and careful as possible if she ever wants to escape, but there may be a few horrific twists in the adventure that may complicate things further.
Right out of the gate, you are thrown into the story without knowing that much about what is happening and why we as the audience are focusing on a little girl wearing a yellow raincoat in a large vessel. The setup though is brilliant as the more you play through the story, you’ll be able to figure out your surroundings and the disgustingly horrible monsters that try to find and eat you. The goal for our hero is to get out of the ship alive while also dealing with many twists and turns that keep getting creepier and even darker than the last. Yes, you heard that right, this game is pretty dang dark as there are many times the story takes surprising chances in order to horrify the audience and I would say that they have succeeded to the point of leaving a memorable impression.
Gameplay is a mix between stealth and puzzle-solving in order to progress through the levels. In some ways, the gameplay can even be compared to Playdead studio’s Limbo where you’ll have to experience trial and error in order to finally figure out how to get past the monsters that lurk around every corner. Unlike Limbo, the environment is three-dimensional instead of a 2D sidescroller which gives the player an advantage when trying to hide behind objects or to get a good look at the location you find yourself in. the main player only has a few moves that include moving objects, running and using a flashlight to see in dark places. Even the gameplay from time to time will force you to stop dead in your tracks and throw a curveball in changing your pathway or doing something to your character when you least expect it.
The game’s visuals know how to make you feel like you are in an uncomfortable situation. For starters, the use of color in the background is very minimal to create a very spooky and almost vintage-like feel. The characters and background props feel like they have come from twisted stop motion films in the same vein as Coraline or The Nightmare Before Christmas. The monsters our hero comes across are disgusting and revolving in the best ways possible. The creators of this game did not hold back at all to create inhuman creatures that are as warped and far removed from anything natural. The game does not use any cheap jump scares as most of the scary visuals are in the way the game uses its atmosphere to creep out the audience
Little Nightmares is perfect to play for anyone needing a good challenge and a lot of scares. This game has an outstanding atmosphere with an emphasis on how many horrific ideas they can push toward the audience in order to get a reaction out of them. It may be short and have a few issues in storytelling, but when comes to horror games that push the idea of what you can accomplish with them, Little Nightmares definitely hits all the right notes and is guaranteed to make you think about what is and isn’t real after finishing it.
(Final Grade: A-)