Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes Review (PlayStation VR 2 & PC VR)

Little Nightmares’ monolithic universe has just gotten a whole lot bigger. Altered Echoes, the VR interlude that serves as a continuation for Six’s post-Little Nightmares 2 arc, which also introduces “Dark Six” to the beacon of light, invites us to tread a little deeper into the perplexing world of a wretched fever dream—a gloomy reality in which echoes blur the lines between reality and two distinctly conflicting stories.

In an attempt to shed just a smidgen of light on past events pertaining to Six’s tale and the aftermath of the Thin Man’s daunting journey, Altered Echoes steps in to bridge several important gaps in the timeline. Six, now severed from another version of herself, is given the harrowing task of scratching further into a reality that obscures the truth and actively keeps her from reuniting with her primary vessel. Alone, and with a newly established Pale City to explore, Six sets out to tempt fate and wade through the darkness in the hopes that something will drag her back. With this, we have the bridge that formally connects the first two chapters in the Little Nightmares series. Ignore the third chapter in the timeline; it isn’t relevant here.

While it’s no secret that Little Nightmares shares a tie with some rather confusing plot points and elements of an almost otherworldly kind, Altered Echoes does make an attempt to lather context into the narrative, with a well-overdue sequence that illuminates Six’s role in the Pale City; specifically, the aftermath of the abduction and the severing of Six’s personality—an act that was initially caused by The Transmission. And it’s here, at the door of a newly contorted version of the Pale City, where Altered Echoes looks to provide the glue to fabricate the image and illustrate the greater picture. Don’t get me wrong, it still has a ton of subtle tones that require you to think outside of the box — but it serves its purpose as the rightful component in an otherwise perplexing mechanism.

Altered Echoes, similar to the previous entries in the Little Nightmares saga, tasks you with navigating a series of dimly lit corridors and peculiar quarters in the Pale City—a task that, at least for the most part, requires you to stealthily focus on outmaneuvering strange creatures, as well as solving logical puzzles to progress deeper into the world. Rather than having you operate on a 2.5D scale, however, Altered Echoes opts for a more intimate approach, with a virtual reality experience and a universe that’s double the size and even more disturbing than previous versions. As Six, you have no real power to swagger about; you just have a fickle black hood to peek out of and two tiny feet to carry you through the nightmare.

From an atmospheric perspective, Altered Echoes clearly delivers a strong and compelling narrative, with its clever use of visual and audio cues serving as the backbone for a truly immersive experience that can keep you second guessing every moment as you gradually tiptoe through the motions. And in VR, it hits you like a freight train — that feeling of being alone and without the helping hand of a companion. The world is larger, as is the residents of the Pale City that stalk your footsteps. Like Among the Sleep, you have no broader vision of what you can accomplish as the smallest individual in the room. Rather, you’re just a child who has no major survival instincts. And to be honest, Altered Echoes captures this feeling incredibly well.

As luck would have it, Altered Echoes doesn’t lean on old habits to reconstruct a familiar location, nor does it drag former enemies out from beneath the ashes to create a similar experience to what we previously saw in Little Nightmares 2. Granted, it does yank on a few familiar strings, which includes but is not necessarily limited to the gluttonous guests from the first episode and, of course, the irritatingly flexible school teacher from the second. But, fortunately, Altered Echoes does introduce some fresh meat to the table—a train conductor and a photographer, for example—who each occupy their own portion of the game, with character-locked puzzles, stealth sections, and, more importantly, chase sequences.

Suffice it to say, Altered Echoes isn’t a simple rehash of past exploits. No, it’s an entirely separate world with new characters, locations, and questions. Do these questions often receive ribbon-tied answers? Not necessarily, no. But then, that’s one of the major points that Little Nightmares vies to convey during its short time on the block — to make you question just about everything that you encounter along the way as you desperately search for clues to establish context. And you know what? It does it remarkably well here. Sure enough, it feels like a Little Nightmares game; it doesn’t disclose the full details, but instead opts to keep you rolling about in the dark and following all sorts of breadcrumb trails.

Thanks to that ever-famous Little Nightmares visual charm and oh-so-ominous presence, Altered Echoes stands tall as a genuinely terrifying chapter in the series. As a virtual reality haymaker, it makes for one of the better games of its kind, more so given that it puts you behind the veil of a seemingly innocent child in a larger-than-life universe rather than a fledgling hero in an action-packed society. It’s still a rather short experience, but that’s to be expected of a Little Nightmares sequence, to be fair. At least, for the most part, it doesn’t attract motion sickness or force you to take unnecessary intervals to break up the adventure. That’s a huge plus in my books.

Verdict

Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes’ voyage back to the gloomy boroughs of the dreaded Pale City brings about a fresh and harrowingly beautiful lick of paint to an otherwise familiar world, with more creatures to confront, tougher puzzles to master, and even more twists and turns to ponder over a short but incredibly well-crafted journey through the VR headspace.

It goes without saying at this point, but if you are a die-hard fan of the Little Nightmares series and have yet to thread the needle between the perplexing plot points that were intentionally left behind by past installments, then you should definitely check out Altered Echoes, if only to establish the bigger picture. Otherwise, I’d just recommend it for the world alone, as well as its fresh host of monsters and puzzles that it sews into the Pale City tapestry. Either way, I can solemnly say that, if you own a VR headset, then you should consider adding Altered Echoes to your to-do list. You can thank us later.