Review: Little Nightmares

2023-11-12

I played this game on a long flight and came away satisfied, if not a little frustrated. Aesthetically, it was a treat. The world is lovingly crafted and does a great job of telling the story through the environment instead of dialogue. The occasional zoomed out setpieces were gorgeous too.

Unfortunately, visuals alone can't carry a game, and while the core style of gameplay is very similar to Inside, the world is now 3D, and it just doesn't work. The sloppy player controls and depth-confusing camera perspective lead to far too much wasted time and deaths due to misjudging the angle my character was facing relative to some hanging object or hole in a wall. The "Run away with last second escape" bit was also a little over-used.

If you're a fan of short, environmental-story-telling-oriented games, then I can recommend it. It's still fun, just a little frustrating sometimes.