Little Nightmares 3 review

Image credit: Eurogamer/Bandai Namco

Supermassive’s decision to play it safe means too many familiar frustrations, but impressive artistry – and a mid-game uptick – makes for a grimly compelling adventure all the same.

There’s a moment around Little Nightmares 3’s midpoint when, following a tepid first half so safe it often feels like a tribute act, new series developer Supermassive finally seems to hit its stride. Slowly the hum of a mysterious subterranean void gives way to rain-lashed walkways as our diminutive protagonists brave the exterior of some vast, heaving machine. Then the reveal of the grand Carnevale, its sprawl of big top tents and twinkling lights, its parade of grotesque fairground thrill seekers, all perfectly framed. Little Nightmares 3’s often slavish adherence to the past means it’s burdened with far too much frustrating legacy faff, but even so, it’s hard not to get lost in the spectacle of it all.

Original developer Tarsier waved goodbye to its delightfully macabre horror series with 2021’s Little Nightmares 2, passing the torch to Until Dawn studio Supermassive Games. That changing of the guard might have seemed like the ideal opportunity to reassess a series already stuck in some bad habits, but, for better or worse, Supermassive sticks mostly to the script, resolutely delivering more of the same. Which, to a degree, is fine. Eight years on, there’s still nothing else quite like Little Nightmares; it might have a touch of Tim Burton in its DNA and owe a debt to developer Playdead’s acclaimed oeuvre, but its unique ambience – a mix of claustrophobic menace and grim wonder that feels like it tumbled straight out of a child’s feverish mind – is still very much its own.

Little Nightmares 3 Review

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And Supermassive captures that essence keenly as new protagonists Low and Alone brave a series of vividly imagined new regions of The Nowhere, in a story largely distinct from the dovetailing narratives of previous games. The duo themselves are a wonderful addition to Little Nightmares’ pantheon of fragile moppets; the spindly limbed Low, with his bow and arrow, exudes a nervous determination while Alone, with her trusty wrench, is a more stolidly confident companion. Their tender bond is conveyed near wordlessly through some gorgeously observed animation detail, such as the way Alone always offers a hand after entering an air vent to help Low through. And the bleak worlds they encounter are meticulously realised too, strikingly built around contrasts of light and shadow.

There’s the desolate, sand-ravaged city that opens their adventure; its few remaining residents frozen in perpetual fear along its ancient streets. There’s a grey, Kafka-esque hellscape of belching chimneys and bureaucratic banalities, putrescent lollipops piled high in its dingy alleyways making for an unnerving tableau. There’s that dazzling fairground of grotesque excess, where patrons frolic themselves into oblivion, and one final area I’ll leave you to discover on your own. It’s a striking procession of fragmentary visions, albeit one that, with its predominantly monochromatic aesthetic, generates a subtly different ambience compared to earlier games. While they revelled in an air of cosy menace with their deceptively rich colour palette, this feels starker, less intimate than before.

Image credit: Eurogamer/Bandai Namco

It’s just one of several areas where it feels like Little Nightmares 3 doesn’t quite hit the mark, even as Supermassive works to a familiar template. Progress still involves a blend of 2.5D platforming, puzzling, stealth, and frantic escape as each world’s primary antagonist makes themselves known. But in terms of moment-by-moment action it often feels a little flat. There’s a lot of walking through empty, nondescript rooms, especially in the game’s rather rote first half, and when the set-pieces do come into play, they’re too often predictable and pedestrian in design. You’ll stealth across the foreground to avoid sightlines, you’ll leap and slide as monsters suddenly give chase, but rarely do these sequences capture the imaginative choreography, the shivering menace and oppressive tension, of earlier games. Puzzles are particularly disappointing, distilling the series’ formula down to perfunctory busywork – block pushing, lever cranking – rather than anything more involved.

That’s particularly surprising given Little Nightmares 3 now accommodates two-player online co-op. Yet despite the potential, Supermassive rarely takes advantage of its dual protagonists in interesting ways. Every now and then you’ll encounter an obstacle requiring a specific character’s unique ability; occasionally they’ll both need to interact with an item in tandem, but intricate teamwork is seldom required. It rarely reaches the satisfying highs of previous games’ puzzle design, and is never especially involving. But Little Nightmares 2’s ungainly combat is at least dialled back to the point it barely even constitutes a footnote.

Image credit: Eurogamer/Bandai Namco

Little Nightmares 3’s unevenness is further compounded by the fact it revives the series’ every frustrating tick, even managing to exacerbate some of them along the way. That means woolly controls; it means platform sections made infuriating by poor perspective choices; it means time-wasting checkpoints paired with badly signposted trail-and-error sequences and insta-death fails. Too often, Little Nightmares 3 plays out like a long quick-time event where you’re left to guess which button you’re expected to press in order to survive. And as beautifully presented as some of its set-pieces are, they can only hold up so long under repeated scrutiny while you inch your way through, one death at a time.

This, I realise, all sounds terribly negative. I’m also aware these frustrations aren’t exactly new to the series and perhaps won’t bother fans who’ve long grown accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of its design, even if some feel especially egregious here. And while I absolutely spent a lot of my time being quietly irritated by Little Nightmares 3, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thoroughly captivated too. It seeds enough intrigue throughout, with its recurring mysteries and motifs, that it maintains a compelling sense of narrative propulsion even in its weaker moments. And after a passable first half in which Supermassive mostly goes through the motions – serving up an enthusiastic, if rather wan imitation of earlier games – it finally starts to come into its own.

Image credit: Eurogamer/Bandai Namco

Eventually, around the time those big top tents and glimmering Ferris wheel lights come into view, Little Nightmares 3 blossoms into a series of imaginative, confidently choreographed sequences that – while never quite escaping those fundamental frustrations – help carry it through to a satisfying conclusion. Its final two chapters are especially vividly realised, exhibiting an energy and ambition less evident elsewhere. Perspective is used increasingly playfully, the cinematic camera frequently eschewing its traditional left-right march to lend the world a more tangible form – particularly as it delves in and out the final chapter’s warren of interconnected hallways and rooms. It’s here Little Nightmares 3 also finds a gimmick it can work with, making for a clever series of final puzzles that – along with some impressively staged set-pieces and a brilliant bit of monster design – end things on a high.

Little Nightmares 3 is definitely not without its problems, but when it finds its rhythm amid the familiar nonsense, it’s a capable reminder of why this peculiar series has endured. It’s full of grim intrigue and gruesome wonder, chilling tension and macabre thrills, and secreted away among its child-like horrors, lies an earnest heart too. Little Nightmares 3 might have a new developer and a subtly different flavour, but the essence of the series still shines, even if it never quite reaches past highs. Yes, it’s a shame it doesn’t find its footing sooner, but when it does it feels good to be back in this darkly compelling world.

A copy of Little Nightmares 3 was provided for this review by Bandai Namco Entertainment.