Little Nightmares Review (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo & PC)

Little Nightmares’ infatuation with the Seven Deadly Sins is a masterclass that deserves to be studied. It is, in short, a powerful lecture on the woes of gluttony and the ramifications of its existence. Between greed and indolence, Six—a fitting embodiment for a sin, naturally—the series grasps the fundamentals of a gripping story that doesn’t require a fragment of dialogue to convey its message. It’s ugly, disgusting, yet, like a good meal, oh-so-more-ish and palatable. And it’s there, in the underbelly of a sinful void, where Little Nightmares lays the foundation for a disturbing tale of translucent dreams and ravenous souls, bleak morals and thought-provoking dilemmas.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, to which Little Nightmares openly responds with its own tapestry of voiceless horrors and grotesque arcs. It doesn’t tell you of its true meaning, but rather, it ushers you deep into a soulless void where disturbing and obscene caricatures paint a portrait of a world in which sins run thicker than water, and greed greases the hinges of a ship without moral values. At the heart of this canvas is a young girl—a yellow raincoat-sporting heroine named Six who, after awakening from a slumber aboard a monolithic vessel, decides to venture deep into the ominous depths and gradually remove its layers. A slender woman without a name; a million broken mirrors; a cabin of ravenous monsters with an undying appetite for meat and bone marrow; and a fiendish stomach ache that desperately requires substance.

Through the Looking Glass

From the moment you fill the not-so-present shoes of Six, you aren’t given an idea of where you’re going, or even what it is that you’re looking to accomplish. The only thing that pushes you forward, really, is the faint glimmer of a pocket lighter, a turbulent ship that rocks you closer towards an inner sanctum, and a morbid desire to consume the disturbing delicacies that idle deep within the heart of its dark corridors. Your stomach rumbles, yet the desire to succumb to your appetite remains oddly sheathed. Yet, the further you begin to wonder, the stronger your cravings become. A hunk of meat; a dying rat; a sprightly gnome embodying innocence. The Maw takes ahold of you, and it doesn’t let you go until you find the right jigsaw pieces and complete the puzzle. Who is the slender woman, and how exactly do you fit into her story? A lot of questions, but rarely enough answers to fill the pit in your stomach. But then, that’s Little Nightmares for you.

Over a short two-hour journey into the depths of Little Nightmares’ poignant world of portly thrills, a series of stealthy encounters, fetch quests and chases entice you to descend deeper and deeper. In each quarter of the vessel, you have an oversized foe of some sort—a chef, a janitor, and a cabin of ravenous guests with grotesque characteristics, to list just a handful. The experience, much like your usual corridor romper, invites you to traipse these Tim Burton-esque wards, complete linear puzzles, and tactically maneuver through various hostile environments. For instance, in one section you must locate various chunks of meat to churn out sausages, which, naturally, can then be used to create a rope to help you enter a new area of the ship. Granted, this is one of the peculiar puzzles that make up the journey, but then, to be perfectly honest, Little Nightmares is anything but ordinary.

Deep Within The Maw

While there aren’t any complex gameplay mechanics to master here, the game does require you to think outside of the box, so to speak. As a small protagonist in an oversized world where everything is a threat, you have the task of finding safety in unconventional places, as well as leaning on the environment to help you progress further into The Maw. For example, if you need to open a door, then you first need to find an object that can help you reach the handle, similar to how you might need to use both hands to hold a key. The point is, everything within The Maw is a lot trickier to navigate when you’re the smallest being in the room. That doesn’t exclude the nomes from the equation — but that’s an entirely separate matter.

Although Little Nightmares isn’t blessed with the gift of longevity, it does make excellent use of its time on the stage with a fluid and dynamic atmosphere and accompanying soundtrack. I won’t pretend that I’m not disappointed with its short campaign length, but, to give credit where it’s due, Little Nightmares does more than enough to keep you second guessing. What’s more, as it features collectibles and a generous bouquet of achievements and unusual challenges, it does boast some replay value, too. Again, it isn’t the longest game on the chopping board, but it is one that goes above and beyond to deliver a memorable experience that will make your skin shudder and your stomach rumble.

Verdict

Little Nightmares definitely delivers a masterclass in microscopic storytelling with its highly polished and disturbingly complex world of grotesque characters and subtle hints of sinful practices, contributing to an intense collection of memorable encounters and a thought-provoking plot that can keep ravenous heroes pondering their thoughts for hours after putting down the pad. It’s sickeningly wrong, yet oh-so-right. It is, for lack of a better description, a pocket-sized feast for the senses—a banquet of petite thrills and gluttonous pleasures that can and will keep you satisfied from the moment you embrace The Maw to the second you part ways with the underbelly.

Of course, if you’ve yet to sink your teeth into Tarsier Studios’ jam-packed ocean liner and feast on Six’s whirlwind endeavors, then take this as an opportunity to punch your ticket and climb aboard The Maw. To cut a long story short, if it’s a short yet endearing tale that tickles your cravings, then you won’t want to miss out on Little Nightmares.