Little Nightmares

Little Nightmares
Developer(s) Tarsier Studios
Publisher(s) Bandai Namco Entertainment
Producer(s) Henrik Larsson
Oscar Wemmert
Emma Mellander
Designer(s) Dennis Talajic
Programmer(s) Niklas Hansson
Mattias Ottvall
Artist(s) Per Bergman
Composer(s) Tobias Lilja
Engine Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Release
  • WW: 28 April 2017[1]
Genre(s) Puzzle-platformer
Mode(s) Single-player

Little Nightmares is a puzzle-platformer horror adventure game developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game received generally positive reviews upon release with critics praising the atmosphere, graphics, sound, and storyline, but criticism was aimed at the game's checkpoint system, long load times, and short length.

Plot

A hungry nine-year-old girl named Six is trapped in The Maw – a mysterious vessel catering to the whims of sick and powerful creatures. After waking up in the lower depths of the Maw, Six decides to escape the harsh confines, having regular moments of excruciating hunger. Whilst ascending, she soon becomes stalked by the long-armed blind Janitor of the Maw, who has been capturing children and sending them on an overhead hook conveyor belt. She eventually becomes trapped by the Janitor after being lured by food, though she manages to escape. After evading the Janitor by cutting off his arms with a door, Six follows the conveyor belt upward, to a large kitchen operated by the grotesque Twin Chefs. After another bout of hunger, Six is forced to eat a live rat. The Chefs are preparing a large feast, and attempt to kill Six whenever she enters their line of sight. After managing to evade them, she finds a way out of the vessel.

Six observes a boat ferrying large and obese suited Guests, who lumber to the Japanese-style dining area of the Maw, overseen by the Lady, the supposed leader of the Maw. After wading through the feast and the Guests themselves, Six has another bout of hunger. When one of the Nomes, the recurring inhabitants of the Maw, offers her a sausage, Six eats the Nome.

Six makes her way further upwards, entering the Lady's quarters. The Lady lives very lavishly in an elegant home, with many broken mirrors throughout the rooms. Chased by the Lady, who displays magical powers, Six finds a mirror that she uses against the Lady in a battle. Defeating her, Six approaches the Lady and eats her, and by doing so, gains her magical powers.

Going downstairs to the dining area, Six walks along the tables with strange black particles swirling around her. As the Guests notice her presence, they attempt to eat her, but suddenly convulse and die as Six walks on. Six approaches a large door with an eye encrusted upon it, revealing a large staircase leading to the outside world. As she leaves the Maw behind, a few Nomes approach the door.

After the end credits, Six is seen sitting by the entrance of the Maw, presumably awaiting rescue. Meanwhile in the background a foghorn from an approaching ship can be heard.

Secrets of the Maw

A trio of DLC levels that offer a "different perspective on Six’s adventures" are planned. The first one was released in July while the second and third ones are expected to be released in November and January, respectively.[2]

The Depths

A young boy, identified as "The Runaway Kid" or just "The Kid", wakes up from a nightmare involving him swimming in darkness before being dragged underwater. After leaving the nursery, he spots the Janitor chasing one of the escaping children. The Kid follows a girl who is also fleeing, but she disappears and leaves her flashlight behind which the Kid takes.

The Kid finds himself in the Depths of the Maw which are heavily flooded and he has to make his way by hopping on floating platforms. The Depths turn out to be the home of the Granny, who swims underwater and attempts to grab the Kid either by bumping and destroying the platforms he stands on or snatching him if he is in the water for too long. After pushing a television set into the water to electrocute and kill the Granny, the Kid makes his way to a tall wooden staircase with light coming through the top. He then reaches a ladder and climbs it pushing through a grate. However, the light turns out to be a flashlight and he is caught by the Janitor and dragged into the darkness. The final scene shows the Kid in a cage next to other cages with children, including Six. The Janitor's long arms reach out and grab the Kid's cage and pulls it off screen.

The Hideaway

The second DLC will involve the Kid ending up in the engine room and encountering the Nomes.

Development

The title was originally announced by Tarsier Studios in May 2014 under the title Hunger with no known publisher for release on PlayStation 4. After a teaser trailer in February 2015, nothing was heard of the project until August 2016, when Bandai Namco Entertainment announced that they had entered into a worldwide publishing agreement with Tarsier for the project, which was now re-titled Little Nightmares.[3]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic(PC) 81/100[4]
(PS4) 78/100[5]
(XONE) 83/100[6]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid8.5/10[7]
EGM4/10[8]
Game Informer9/10[9]
Game Revolution[10]
GameSpot8/10[11]
GamesRadar[12]
IGN8.8/10[13]
PC Gamer (US)78/100[14]
Polygon8.5/10[15]
VideoGamer.com9/10[16]

Little Nightmares received "generally positive" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[4][5][6]

Cory Arnold said on Destructoid "Little Nightmares hypnotized me with ever-present suspense." and awarded it a score of 8.5/10[7]

Electronic Gaming Monthly's Ray Carsillo scored the game a 4/10 with the consensus "A stellar atmosphere is not enough to save such a puzzle-platformer that completely lacks any sort of challenge. While the story of Six is a sad one, it’s not for the fact that her adventure begins in a cage—but that the developer failed to find a way to make me care about it at all."[8]

Jonathan Leack from Game Revolution gave the game a score of 3 out of 5 stars saying that "Little Nightmare appears to have a double meaning. On one hand, the gameplay is a nightmare, regularly testing your patience and will to push forward. On the other, the atmosphere and audio design prove terrifying in a way that horror fiends will admire. There's an equal amount of qualities to like and dislike, but when it comes down to it Little Nightmares succeeds at delivering on its promise of being an interesting horror game unlike anything else."[10]

Sam Prell of GamesRadar awarded it 4 out of 5 stars stating that "At times mechanically clumsy, but artistically sound, Little Nightmares might get on your nerves every once in awhile, but its imagery will burrow into your brain and never leave."[12]

Joe Skrebels's score of 8.8/10 on IGN said that "Gleefully strange, unceasingly grim, and quietly smart, Little Nightmares is a very welcome fresh take on horror."[13]

"An okay platformer but a deeply imaginative horror game, Little Nightmares is worth playing for its array of disturbing imagery." was Samuel's Roberts's conclusion on PC Gamer with a score of 78/100.[14]

8.5/10 was Whitney Reynolds's score on Polygon and said "Little Nightmares worked its way into my dreams because it's just bright enough, just safe enough to make me let my guard down. The game isn’t always successful at balancing some game design fundamentals. But when the lights went out, it left me remembering that, really, I'm just a small thing in a dangerous world myself. Also, that monsters with big long grabby arms are really, really creepy."[15]

Alice Bell's 9/10 score on VideoGamer.com stated that "Little Nightmares is frightening, in a way that gets under your skin. A way that whispers in your ear that you won't sleep well tonight. Little Nightmares takes things you were afraid of when you were a kid, and reminds you you're still afraid now."[16]

The company "obviously had many ideas on things we'd still like to explore." [17]

Sales

The game debuted at #4 on the UK all-formats sales chart in its first week.[18]

Other media

Television series

Dmitri M. Johnson and Stephan Bugaj of DJ2 Entertainment announced that they will be producing a television adaptation of Little Nightmares. The series will also involve Anthony and Joe Russo and the pilot will be directed by Henry Selick.[19]

Comic book

Little Nightmares received a four issue tie-in comic,[20] which was written by John Shackleford and drawn by Aaron Alexovitch.[21]

References

  1. ↑ Copeland, Wesley (18 January 2017). "Creepy Platformer Little Nightmares Gets a Release Date". IGN. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  2. ↑ Torfe, Pat (July 10, 2017). "Return To ‘Little Nightmares’ In “The Depths” DLC!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  3. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (11 August 2016). "Bandai Namco picks up evocative horror game Hunger, rebrands it Little Nightmares". Eurogamer. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Little Nightmares for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Little Nightmares for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacriticdate=28 April 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Little Nightmares for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  7. 1 2 Arnold, Cory (21 April 2017). "Review: Little Nightmares". Destructoid. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  8. 1 2 Carsillo, Ray (28 April 2017). "Little Nightmares review". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  9. ↑ Cork, Jeff (25 April 2017). "A Grotesque Tale That Plays Off The Familiar - Little Nightmares - PC". Game Informer. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  10. 1 2 Leack, Jonathan (26 April 2017). "Little Nightmares Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  11. ↑ Espineli, Matt (28 April 2017). "Little Nightmares Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  12. 1 2 Prell, Sam (27 April 2017). "Little Nightmares review: 'Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away, if Spirited Away was grotesque and horrifying.'". GamesRadar. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  13. 1 2 Skrebels, Joe (26 April 2017). "Little Nightmares Review". IGN. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  14. 1 2 Robert, Samuel (24 April 2017). "Little Nightmares review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  15. 1 2 Reynolds, Whitney (21 April 2017). "Little Nightmares review". Polygon. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  16. 1 2 Bell, Alice (21 April 2017). "Little Nightmares Review". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  17. ↑ "'Little Nightmares' Lead Designers on Studio Ghibli Influence and a Possible Sequel". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  18. ↑ "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is Nintendo's first UK No.1 since 2011". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  19. ↑ Kit, Borys (12 June 2017). "The Russo Brothers Adapting Video Game 'Little Nightmares' for TV (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  20. ↑ Bell, Alice (February 15, 2017). "Little Nightmares is getting a comic mini-series". Video Gamer. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  21. ↑ Mueller, Matthew (April 11, 2017). "EXCLUSIVE: Little Nightmares #1 Reveals First Interior Art". Comic Book.com. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
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