Unlike before, the game takes place in the same terrifying universe and it follows a new cast of heroes. Low and Alone. Low is aboy wearing a crow shaped mask and carries a bow with him. Low seems to be drawn to Mirrors, similar to how Mono was with televisions. Alone on the other hand, completely hides her identity
and has a giant wrench. The two of them find themselves begining their adventure in Necropolis. A city where a Giant baby seems to be terrorizing it. The 2 heroes will embark on a scary adventure through the world of Nowhere.
I personally found the narrative of this game being one of the weakest and also dissapointing. What made the other games stand out was the Unexpected. Seeing Six conclusion at the top of the Maw, Mono's fate and the Runaway kid's discovery were completely unpredictable and thus had a huge impact on the fanbase.
In Little Nightmares 3 both me and my friend had made a prediction within the first half an hour which unfortunately ended up being the ending of the game. Little Nightmares was never this predictable. Furthermore, the world it created failed to get me as invested as the Maw or the Pale city. The thing is those worlds/levels were
all interconnected and was filled with mysteries connected to each other and made the world feel more alive. For example, we ve seen who keeps the Maw afloat, we ve seen who takes cares of the kids, we ve seen them being trapped or trying to escape. We ve seen what happens to those captured and also seen how one person kept everything working
properly.
Little Nightmares 2, set the expectations to high for the third entry and one main thing was expected, the inclusion of Co-op. Little Nightmares 2 had two heroes, Mono and Six who worked together through their adventures. This Ai companion was a step forward for the evolution of the formula. When LN3 appeared with the inclusion of 2 new heroes, the first thing that came to peoples mind was multiplayer. Bandai was quick to confirm that the third installment would include
Co-op as well as the opportunity to play the game in Single player similar to LN2. As the release date was approaching, it was revealed that the game would NOT have Local Coop but would have online. Similar to It takes two, LN3 would have a Friend Pass. The friend pass allows people to download the game for free, but wont be able to play it unless a person who owns the game invites them to play together.
Whether or not you re playing solo or with a friend, you have to select whether or not you will be playing as Alone or as Low. If you ask me, i would say the game is worth playing in Co-op and not in Single player. Not only because the multiplayer makes the whole experience better and more fun it also allows both of you to solve the puzzles using your brains. In single player, the AI will instantly
show you what you need to do and also hint you on how to do it. For example, earlier in the game you have to wait for an enemy to move and then stealthy go and hide. The Ai companion, will know exactly when and where it should move before allowing you to figure it out yourself. In other cases it will solve the puzzle on its own or its gonna call you to help it do it since it will require a team up. In other words, if you dont want the game
to solve itself for you, i would recommend play it in Co-op.
Low and Alone both play similarly and have the same buttons. The only difference is their weapons. Low is holding a bow which he can use to shoot items and press buttons placed out of their reach. The other hero, Alone, is carrying a big wrench on her back which she can use to smash through walls or spin levers. Ofcourse collaboration is needed for the heroes to advance. For example Alone might need to spin a lever and Alone will have to shoot an arrow in order to prevent the lever from
going backwards once Alone lets go of it. When encountering small enemies Low will have to stunt them with his arrow in order for Alone to smash them. Aside from these tools/weapons, the heroes receive certain items on each level that are only relevant to those. For example, as seen in trailes, the two held ombrellas in one level whilst in others they have torches.
Level design wise the world is not connected. In one level the kids are trapped in Necropolis where as the next time we see them they re in a candy factory and then in others. This does allow the players to go though different locations and experience different gameplay segments. For example in the abandoned city of Necropolis, the players can use the Umbrellas to help them fall slowly on the ground or to even launch themselves high up with the wind currents.
The platforming sections are simple similar to the previous two entries. The puzzles on the other hand are very straight forward and simple. They usually require the player to push certain items or since this is co-op, one does part a for player 2 to do the other. A thing critisize by most is that most of the game feels like the players just walk on a straight line most of the time. Another thing the game repeatedly does, is seperating the two players just for them to instantly reunite.
For example, Low will be used a stepping stone for Alone to go into another room from a window just for Alone to open the door from the other room. Since this is an online Coop experience i would expect the game to seperate the players for a bit just for them to come back and reunite similarly to games lile Splitfiction. This would ve made the lack of local coop excused but it does not. Once you re seperated, you ll be together again within minutes.
My thoughts on the gameplay were mixed. The thing is, if this was a brand new IP i would ve been okay with it, but this is Little Nighmaters 3. A side scrowling horror puzzle platformer. Supermassive games clearly did not understand what made the first 2 games this unique. The gameplay is simple similar to others but doesnt try to differentiate at all. Its like the devs said okay, lets take the basic gameplay and add Coop. To elaborate, platforming wise the kids have the same mobility which was expected. Alones Wrench plays similarly to Mono using the hammers. It takes her a while but smacks exactly like Mono. Low's bow gameplay is similar to picking items and throw(which you can still do) with longer distance. These tools could ve been cool despite being similar but its obvious that the devs built the levels to make you use those in the way they wanted. All the other tools(torches, ombrellas etc) dissappear from level to level thus they dont overstay their welcome and are barely used that makes them forgetable. The puzzles themselves are way too simple and in the case of playing with Ai you might as well leave it play the whole game by itself. I will say that the animations and feeling of the game is probably among the best of the series. Ofcourse this was made by a big studio incompare to the smaller size of Tarsier.
Similar to other story driven Co-op games, replayability exist by allowing the players to play the game again but this time swap characters or even play it with a new partner. Afterall your partner is half the experience. Aside from playing the game with different people, the game has certain collectables in the form of the dolls that you can pick. Similar to the other games, there are certain stuff to do for the 100% completion that are not as clear.
On the visual department, the game looks very good with very smooth animations. The character designs are very good, however i will say that none of the "villains" are as memorable as certain older encounters like that of the Teacher(LN2), Chefs(LN1) or even Granny (LN1 DLC). Neither their
game sections nor their design sticks to memory as much. The game takes place all over Nowhere which allowed the devs to go ahead and design various environments from Circus, Candy factories to abandoned Cities. Once again the creepiness is there visually, but it lacks the thoughts and uneasiness
the previous two games had. You can even see alot of online reaction of people making disturbing theories based on what the games left us to believe, however LN3 failed on that. Perhaps it because it was too straight forward with what it was showing and didnt leave much to the imagination.
Audio wise the game does a good job on capturing the feeling/essence of the location. For example in Necropolis there is not much of a backround noice aside from your footsteps, rocks falling, crows cawing and ofcourse the giant footsteps of the baby each time its close. In the circus area, we can hear
the creepy melodies comming from the tents, we can listen to the rain that is comming down and ofcourse all the disturbing noises made by the people who attempt them.
Overall, Little Nightmares 3 despite being a decent game it feels very disapointing and very distant from the other entries. The plot is about two new heroes Low and Alone whose relationship could not have been more predictable which fails the element of surprise that the other games had. The story takes place in the city
of Nowhere. Gameplay wise the player can experience the game with a friend Online through Friend pass. The heroes progress through the levels parkouring and using their tools, a bow for Low and a wrench for Alone. These tools can be used for combat and puzzle purposes. The puzzles are very symplistic and some require teamwork.
Visually the game looks very good and each level differs from the other as the entire game takes place in multiple levels. Audio wise the game has some nice chilling OSTs to match the mood of the world and the current atmosphere. The game has a few collectables and a few objectives to be completed for a 100%.
The game is heavily critisized for its lack of Couch Coop since the excuse of Supermassive Studios does not match the final product. Another thing that was critisized, is the price of the game. The price does not match the content of the game which can be completed within a few hours. For context, the game 10 euros more than
Hollow Knight Silksong and 10 less than Expedition 33, 2 games considered 2025's GOTY and have at minimum 40 hours worth of content. Not only does Litlle Nightmares 3 feels as long as the Runaway Kids campaign(from the 3 part DLC of LN1) but also the devs were quick to announce the addition of
two DLCs. These DLCs were meant to be parts of the main adventure which beats their purpose in my opinion given that the ending will probably not change.
This is a video of me playing the game. Near the end, we kept dying cause we wanted to see if we could save the kid.