Preview: Teamwork Is the True Terror of Little Nightmares 3 1

It’s a testament to the success of the two previous Little Nightmares titles that this third instalment exists at all.

With Swedish series creator Tarsier switching to new title Reanimal, publisher Bandai Namco has turned to Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games to make this co-op focused threequel.

In some ways, the UK studio may seem like an odd fit: it’s honed its craft with story-focused narrative adventures. But it also knows a thing or two about co-op – especially with its line of Dark Pictures Anthology games, which have been pitched as social experiences.

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Preview: Teamwork Is the True Terror of Little Nightmares 3 2
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Image: Coralie Feniello

At a behind-closed-doors event earlier this month, we were able to spend about 90 minutes playing through Little Nightmares 3’s creepy Carnevale stage, entirely in co-op with another games writer.

It should be stressed that the co-op is an online-only experience, and there’s no split-screen option. This is because the developer wants to maintain a sense of tension that it didn’t feel split-screen could provide.

To make this setup a little more accessible, the game will have a Friend Pass like Split Fiction, where only one person needs to own the full game.

“We really wanted to control the camera,” executive producer Coralie Feniello tells us shortly after our playthrough. “Splitting the screen would just make the puzzles way more complicated to do. We really wanted to keep each character being the owner of the camera.”

Those of you who’ve played past Little Nightmares games will be familiar with the format here: each room presents a puzzle, and you’ll need to be paying close attention to your environment in order to decipher what to do.

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The twist here is that you’ll choose to play as one of two characters: Alone or Low.

The former has bright red pigtails and goggles, and is armed with a giant wrench. She’s who we got to play as. Meanwhile, the latter is equipped with a bird mask, and has a bow and arrow.

The pair complement each other – for example, in combat, you’ll shoot off the heads of enemies using Low’s bow and arrow, then smash them with Alone’s wrench.

There are also moments where you’ll need to coordinate each other’s abilities to progress, shooting a switch with an arrow and then hacking through a wooden panel to get to the next room.

Playing in co-op, we found there was an element of trial-and-error to each puzzle, and with the stakes high we didn’t always feel we had enough time to figure out how to progress. Fortunately, respawns are fast and checkpoints are generous, but those playing in single player may find the game a bit easier.

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“In multiplayer I think it’s harder for a lot of things because you need to be more coordinated with your partner, where the AI will just do the thing coordinated naturally so you have a bit less risk of failing,” notes Feniello. “But at the same time, you can’t talk with the AI to discuss and find the solutions. So, yeah, it's all a matter of balancing. Each one of them has their own challenges, I think.”

It’s definitely fun finding those solutions, which are often more obvious than you may first think. Looking back on our session, we reckon we were trying to get too creative with our conclusions, when the answer was staring us in the face all along.

A lot of the puzzles rely on the game’s physics engine, which has foundations dating all the way back to LittleBigPlanet. Long-time readers may know that Tarsier worked on Media Molecule’s franchise for quite some time, and the series has maintained that floaty, ragdoll feel to it.

We will say, while Reanimal looks to have adopted a more grotesque art direction, Little Nightmares 3 is sticking with the Tim Burton-style look.

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“We call it charming horror,” Feniello laughs. “Like the fact that you have the kids, like, little dips of hope in the middle of that very, very dark universe, and the fact that you don't feel like you belong here. These are the main things we wanted to keep, and that was really important for us.”

She adds that the Carnevale is all about bringing those childhood fears to life, and this is certainly a twisted circus, with large desaturated tents set against a heavy downpour.

The one thing that surprised us, though: no clowns! (That we saw, anyway.)

“We didn’t want it to be too direct!” explains Feniello. “Little Nightmares is never like a very direct type of horror. It’s not very gore. Even if sometimes you can have like some gory moments it’s not the point of this nightmare. It's more into hidden stuff.”

As in past Little Nightmares games, however, you will find yourself the subject of a larger-than-life foe – this time a kind of ventriloquist who slumps about the stage and is accompanied by a speedier, maggot-style creature.

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“I think it’s really cool that these two need each other to survive,” Feniello continues. “And I saw you enjoyed the ending where you got to kill the small one. It’s a satisfying payoff after being chased for so long.”

It’s true: the end of the level sees you escape in a hot air balloon, and as the aforementioned critter attempts to climb aboard, you’re tasked with lighting the flame to set fire to the nightmare fuel. It’s a great ending to a level that’s emotionally draining throughout.

We’re fairly confident Little Nightmares 3 will have plenty of these moments, we’re just not fully on board with the co-op yet. With so little time to process what you have to do in some moments, we can see this game really straining relationships and leading to frustration.

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But if the single player works like Little Nightmares 2, where you just need to direct your companion, then that will likely fare better – although we still have questions about sections where you’re split from your partner, and won’t have a full grasp of what they’re doing off-screen.

Regardless, we remain charmed by the art direction and the ragdoll feel of the characters. Considering the success of past entries, this third instalment seems to have all the pieces in place to please long-term fans.

Will you be braving the Carnevale alone, or teaming up to survive this latest Little Nightmare? Share your co-op plans in the comments below