Little Nightmares - Honest Opinion

First off, before diving into this I just want to address one thing : From this point on all Honest Opinion pieces will most likely contain heavy spoilers. These articles are going to shift to just discussing games/topics I would like to discuss and expand upon and I would prefer to do so without having to tread carefully around spoilers. So, that said, if you haven't played Little Nightmares and its DLC, turn away now because this game really should be experienced for itself first. 

What's Going On?

So the very first thing I noticed about Little Nightmares was it just drops you in. No real cutscenes, no text overlays, dialogue, nothing. In fact, there's none of that for the entirety of the game. Which is a gutsy approach, as it gives no purpose to the characters, setting, and any of the gameplay that's about to be experienced.

You start off as who we'll call The Girl, for lack of a better name. Actually, let's call her Yellow for her raincoat. So, Yellow starts off in the depths of a place and two things are very clear. 1. She wants to get out. 2. She's very hungry. Naturally, it's up to you to aid Yellow on her escape from wherever she is. Only...one more thing becomes clear just a few screens into this game : there are a lot of things and people that don't want Yellow to escape. 

The main game covers five chapters, spanning five different areas, each with their own feel and pace. Through each chapter, you'll face tons of platforming challenges and puzzles, all filling in this beautiful 2.5D space. Yellow can run, jump, crouch (to walk slow), grab things, and carries a lighter to gain some vision in the dark areas you'll encounter. 

You'll also meet the games baddies : a blind man with arms that would make Mr. Fantastic proud, twin chefs that seem determined to make Yellow their next snack, and The Woman, a tall figure in a Geisha-esque outfit that seems to be running whatever situation is going on around you. All of these guys will need to just be avoided until the time is right to attack, and each feels completely unique. For instance, since the blind one can't see you, you'll notice the areas are filled with surfaces that provide quieter travelling than others, which you'll need to stick to if you wish to avoid him.

How It Plays

The game plays as a 2.5D side-scroller with heavy platforming and puzzle elements. You'll traverse through many rooms and encounter tons of various objects which you may need to climb over, build up and around, crouch under, or flat out destroy. For the most part, each room serves as it's own self-containing puzzle that needs to be solved, but there do tend to be some instances where things will connect neighboring rooms with each other.

Each episode of the story will have you dealing with one of the "bosses", with the exception of the first episode. I had a lot of fun in these episodes, learning what Yellow could do and how it could work to my benefit. It's safe to say that a lot of the games puzzles fall into one of two categories. There's the easy ones that you can walk into and easily see what needs to done, and the trial and error ones which...should be self explanatory. I personally had more fun with the latter puzzles because more often than not, it was something extremely easy for a solution that I had over looked, and then naturally kicked myself when I realized what was going on. 

What's fun too is the bosses aren't always a constant threat to you in the episode. You won't meet them immediately, and when you do, they aren't a constant presence til the end. You'll have moments where you can escape from them, only to hear or see them come back a few rooms later and feel your gut drop. Be weary though, when they're around you, the gameplay definitely feels a lot more intense since you'll not only be trying to solve the same puzzles, but not get spotted by them at the same time. 

Yellow's Progress 

One thing that was fun to witness unfold as the game went on was Yellow's apparent deterioration. Or it might not have been, once the ending plays out. As I mentioned, there are moments when she becomes insatiably hungry. The first time, she appears to be near a cafeteria where a boy on the other side of a window tosses out a bit of food. The next time, the only thing available is a rat in a trap. Its the third event of this that serves as a big "holy shit" moment in the game. 

Yellow enters a small room with two things on the floor before her. A sausage, and one of the Nome's. As Yellow crawls closer, clutching her stomach, the Nome holds out the sausage as an offering. In the last moments, just before taking the sausage, Yellow lunges and devours the Nome instead. It paints a picture for the ending which has Yellow devouring the Geisha-esque woman. 

The best thing to me about the Nome scene is the fact of how shocking it manages to be. This is a game that hasn't displayed any text, no cutscenes, and not a single whisper of dialogue. So to find yourself so heavily involved in a character and the setting, that any type of event can draw that type of reaction...it speaks volumes for how amazing the game has done telling it's story. 

 

The Boy in the DLC

Little Nightmares DLC is what really sealed the deal on my love for the game. It's very common for game DLC's to extend the main game's story, and that's all fine and dandy. What I tend to enjoy more, are DLC's that take you alongside the main game, show you different things that transpired at the same time, or even the same events from a different perspective.

This game takes the latter approach, as you take control of a boy. At first you appear to be in a different location, with an area submerged under a lot of water, along with a new baddie that likes to stick under the water, knocking you from platforms. Eventually, you come across areas that you know from the main game, and you even lay eyes on Yellow once or twice, the first being after she's been kidnapped by the long armed fellow. 

It's the ending of this DLC that....there's just no words for how great it felt to watch everything unfold. It's one of those scenarios that isn't extremely obvious what's about to happen, but as it starts to unfold you start going "No...no it can't be...is it?' as it leads up to a big jaw dropping revelation. 

I won't reveal everything in this article, but what I will say is this. The Boy has his own showdown with the Geisha woman, and we learn that she has the ability to turn the children into the Nome creatures. 

Overall

If it hasn't become apparent from reading this, I loved every single moment of this game. Little Nightmares is one hell of an experience that you need to enjoy for yourself. But it's one that needs to be experienced fully with the DLC as well. Whether you pick it up on console or PC doesn't matter, just whatever you do, don't hesitate to get your hands on this game. I sincerely hope to see more from this in the future.