Little Nightmares Review: The Sleeper hit that will keep you up at night

Little Nightmares is a stealth platforming soft horror game by independent studio Tarsier. You play as the character 'Six' who is trying to escape from a strange and frightening location simply known as "the Maw."

The Maw is a creepy floating installation whose purpose is not clearly explained. Six must sneak her way through the Maw to freedom while avoiding a variety of monstrous denizens. The game leaves you completely unable to fight the monsters in any way and by imprisoning the player in a child's body makes us feel helpless and increases our stress.

The monsters are very creatively designed and lend a 'dark fairy tale' vibe to the game. It's very much like viewing the world through a child's eye where everything unfamiliar is twisted and scary. I love this art style and I'd give it a solid 10 both for creativity and pure creepiness.

There is no written or spoken dialogue in the entire game. Everything we learn about the Maw and its residents is explained through the actions of the characters and the elaborate background design. The story telling is pure 'show; don't tell' and it is done expertly. The game doesn't reveal very much about where we are or why anything we see is happening and this has resulted in a vibrant fan community dedicated to puzzling out the meaning of what we see.

Six is forced to creep through a prison/orphanage policed by a blind monster, a nightmarish kitchen, and then a restaurant full of demonic guests before finally confronting the ostensible ruler of the Maw and making her escape. Each stage involves solving several puzzles and avoiding the monstrous creatures of the Maw.

The game is thematically obsessed with eating and hunger and there are strong hints of cannibalism in keeping with its dark fairy tale roots. Without a single line of dialogue the game actually tells a riveting and disturbing story that leaves the player wanting to know more. Although no DLC was originally planned for this game public appetite was sufficient to schedule 3 DLC releases which take us to new areas of the Maw and introduce new characters.

Little Nightmares is a stealth platformer with a focus on solving puzzles. Six must figure out how to manipulate her surroundings in order to proceed while hiding from the surreal monsters pursuing her. The monsters will chase you forcing you to hide until they loose interest. You can't usually out run them so a number of puzzles are based around how to avoid them; sometimes this involves sneaking pass them or finding alternate routes and sometimes you must distract the monsters by luring them into other rooms.

The puzzles are for the most part not all that challenging although there are a few tricky ones. More noteworthy is that you rarely find yourself wondering where to go or what to do next which is an impressive achievement in game design for a puzzle platformer.

The game's strongest asset is its unique art style and it's genuinely creepy atmosphere. This is a horror game for people who don't usually like horror games. There are no jump scares and no gore of any kind.

There are a few chase sections which are hair-raising while never being punishing. Playing as Six and running away from these hulking beasts really makes you remember having nightmares as a child and fleeing from some monster that was just behind you.

The game delivers its chills through surreal imagery and symbolism. The atmosphere is amazing and the game conveys the depth of depravity of the Maw without ever having to spell it out. The game's surreal visual style and masterful use of symbolism alone makes it worth a play through.

I don't honestly have much criticism for this game. The controls are a little awkward but that can largely be remedied by playing with a controller. The game never becomes too difficult because the checkpoint system usually deposits you pretty close to where you died. The checkpoint system requires you to light lamps and sometimes they blend into the background so you can miss them if you're not careful.

The game is pretty short at probably about six to eight hours but the addition of genuinely good DLCs helps alleviate that problem.

The first DLC has you playing as a different character called 'the Runaway Boy' who must creep through the Maw while avoiding a new monster, a water hag called the Granny. The DLC is actually quite good and well worth a play through if you enjoyed the original game.

The second DLC again features the Runaway Boy but was on the whole disappointing since the original's talented game design has lapsed in favor of non linear pathing which leave you wondering which way to go first and which puzzle you are currently able to solve. It also failed to include a new adversary in favor of recycling one from the original game which baffles me.

Little Nightmares has proven to be a remarkable hit with a four issue tie-in comic as well as an upcoming television series produced by Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers:Infinity War, Arrested Development) and directed by Henry Selick (James and the Giant Peach, Coraline, The Nightmare before Christmas). I am genuinely excited to see the upcoming additions to this new franchise.

This is an outstanding game and if you have a love for horror or the surreal I really can't recommend it enough. The final DLC is due out this February and I can't wait to return to the Maw.

Final Score: 9/10