Played through again for the first time since launch, and for some reason I enjoyed it a lot more on this run.

Maybe I autopiloted my way through last time. But now I was suddenly noticing wee things, and putting theories together, and marvelling at how well it portrays scale.

I am fully on board for the sequel.

There are many different ways a game can be 'scary'. Most modern horror games lean on lots of gore, jump scares and a first-person viewpoint to create a more intimate scare which usually works out pretty well. Little Nightmares takes a different approach by making you helpless against a group of foes that are much bigger than you are, and giving you no tools to directly fight back. This, for me, created an unforgettable feeling of tension. Never have I felt more helpless in a game, especially against creatures quite as disturbing as the ones you face here. While the gameplay is basic, it works quite well when creating specific scenarios that test your ability to run and hide from a larger than life monster. I enjoyed playing the game immensely and it has a lot of replayability given its short length, but where this game truly excels is with its atmosphere and art direction. I have never seen anything that looks quite like this game. It feels like you're playing through a nightmare. The monsters are human in design but have been warped and twisted in ways that only a strange dream world could create. If I were to compare the look to anything, it looks like if Tim Burton (when he was still good) created a twisted recreation of Spirited Away with a more industrial setting, and without all the wholesome stuff. It sounds odd but it works really well and helped create an unforgettable game that was perfect to play in the lead-up to Halloween. Horror media rarely manages to spook me, but Little Nightmares isn't like most horror media. It targets a specific childlike sense of terror that will affect you no matter your age, and no matter how immune you think you are to modern scares.

A fun, dark, and atmospheric horror game that can give you a good jump scare once in awhile, despite the cute yellow raincoat-wearing protagonist. To experience this game at it's creepiest, I highly recommend playing at night with all of the lights off.

A level in this game typically has you navigate through creepy, dark areas while solving a bunch of puzzles to get to the end. To see where you are going, you will need to illuminate the way with your trusty flashlight. But beware, there are all sorts of giant creatures that will attack if they hear or see you. If you are looking for an extra challenge and/or are a trophy hunter, there are also a number of hidden items and secrets you can try to uncover, increasing this game's replay value.

While I enjoyed playing through this game and the horror of being spotted by one of the giant creatures (even though I swore I was being careful enough!), it does have it's flaws, mainly the controls. The game sometimes has you navigate over thin platforms and it can be difficult to tell what plain you are on, causing you to constantly fall off and having to try again. There is also a segment on the last chapter of the DLC where you have to use the right joystick to shine your flashlight on enemies. Since pushing the right joystick also turns the flashlight on and off, using the same joystick to control the direction of the flashlight becomes really frustrating when you are constantly turning it off by accident, causing you to redo the entire section. There were parts where I just wanted the level to be over with because of this kind of unfair frustration.

Overall, if you are looking for a short and simple game to play and are into atmospheric horror and puzzle games, this game is probably right up your alley.

Dollhouse voyeurism. The DLCs aren't as polished and don't add much to the base game outside of extraneous surface level lore but what's here otherwise is an incredibly composed and crafted narrative experience with some of the best lighting I've seen in a game. Some of its puzzles and encounters can feel cheap and fall into classic "trial and error" gameplay cliches but the sequences that do work are as thrilling and virtuoso as they come. It's a horror game that emits a sinister atmosphere first and foremost and it succeeds at that without bloating itself.

Suas inspirações são claras, Inside e por consequência Another World formam esse novo exemplar de plataforma cinematográfico. É um estilo de jogo que me agrada bastante, mesmo quando o aspecto level design não é tão bem explorado - isso fara sentido mais para frente -, como no caso de Another World, ainda consegue ser impecável em sua unidade (entenda unidade, como o conjunto todo da obra), e por sua vez, resultam em algo fenomenal. Inside, por outro lado, pega todos os conceitos dessa abordagem e escala para outro nível, sendo mais do que um título obrigatório, se tornando um dos melhores plataformas que tem no mercado.

Quando falamos desse estilo de jogo, pontualmente precisamos entender o aspecto que compõem sua unidade inteira, sendo a storytelling visual. Diferente de outros jogos, ditos como cinematográficos (por mais questionável que esse termo seja), aqui temos uma recusa ao literário, e em uma semelhança bem curiosa com o cinema mudo, ao depender exclusivamente das imagens para compor suas ideias, se cria um jogo.

Em Little Nightmare, por sua vez, sua definição máxima é uma grande salada sem muitas conexões e as que tem, são fracas e com um sobro, tudo pode desmoronar como se não fosse nada. Pode parecer exagero a primeira vista, mas veja bem, o game pouco parece ter noção do que quer contar e o que não seria um grande problema, mas suas abordagens sensoriais são ruins. Ao tentar causar horror com as criaturas, não consegue, pois o design são sem graça e até mesmo, engraçados e não ajuda muito, que muita das sequências, principalmente no primeiro monstro, podem ser concluídas apenas correndo pelo mapa. Percebe, então, que ao tentar criar uma tensão, existe uma falha? E para um estilo de jogo que se baseia no aspecto sensorial, não conseguir funcionar nesse âmbito, é um grande problema.

Não ajuda também que os puzzles são chatos e pouco agregadores para sua unidade, pois são trechos inteiros que parecem pouco analogar com tudo. Incrivelmente, as partes que mais trazem conceitos e abordagens para a unidade toda, são os momentos que transitam de região para outra; ou seja, os pedaços que você só corre até encontrar o próximo monstro/puzzle. Mas por qual razão eu acho eles tão ruins? É um tanto complicado expor isso, porém, de forma simples, a sensação é que não existe necessidade delas no todo. O quanto eu aprendo sobre os cozinheiros, ao ficar transitando pela cozinha? Nada, o quanto ele me proporciona de uma sensação sensorial? Nada. Sua existência parece puramente para cumprir tabela e apresentar ao jogador algum desafio – por mais chato que seja.

Mas não acho todos ruins, tem alguns momentos legais, mais para o final, com as perseguições e até a busca pela chave no quarto da moça, são os pontos altos no sentido exploração – e sensorial. Contudo, em grande parte, a sensação é mais de frustração por ter que passar por um novo puzzle chato, que só consegue gerar algum sentimento de ansiedade, pois se você morrer, vai ter que recomeçar tudo de novo; o terror nasce por ter que rejogar.

E antes os problemas acabassem aí, pois o jogo ainda tenta criar alguma coisa com aspectos visuais – algo típico desse estilo de jogo -, porém é feito de um jeito bem sem graça, onde de novo, nada agrega muito. Não sinto que os mapas e as cenas, me entregam alguma coisa, é tudo tão jogado, que parece uma creepypasta. Nada tem muita importância, parece puramente enfeites aqui e ali. E a subida das escadas para a luz, foi bem brega em? Selo Snyder de qualidade, mas enfim.

Mesmo com as frustrações que surgem devido ao péssimo controle do jogo (real não sei como pode, um jogo de plataforma ter comandos tão medíocres assim), e aos aspectos da sua unidade, não consigo achar o pior jogo do mundo não. Existe, sim, em momentos que parecem mais serem acertos as cegas, bons momentos, como a sequência final que é legal. Contudo, é tão esquecível que chega a ser triste.

Arguably, the greatest horror works prefer to suggest rather than directly show. Little Nightmares can often be a mostly effective genre effort on the surface, for the way it suggests both creeping terrors and sly means of progression. Pianos dangle suspended by rope above miniature libraries; the sound of knives scraping against each other resounds from the kitchen a few rooms away; paltry childlike figures, similar to the protagonist, stand petrified within the sightline of an intimidating eye set in the wall of a prison.

These indications both instill an ambiguous dread within the miniscule player, as well as prime them to think quickly to outrun the danger. The game wastes no time with turorializing, prompting the inquisitive player to figure out the control scheme on their own, presenting an escalating array of maneuvers to enact through the early segment, simultaneously building atmosphere with macabre slow burn and preparing one's reflexes.

Quickly, however, the intrigue begins to lose steam. The immediate fail states often dissolve the tension during the game's most exciting moments, especially when the solutions to progress are sometimes a bit too unclear; and long loading times further plant a nail in the coffin. This points out a significant contradictory issue with most of these similarly cinematic, two-dimensional platformers starring children in oppressively bleak circumstances (post-Limbo sims, let's call them); an issue with a number of AAA prestige games, as well.

An attempt at offering both an accessible game and an experiential venture causes a swaying effect, not unlike the way in which the camera in Little Nightmares tilts back and forth like it were set aboard a massive ship at sea. Yes, the game creates a dreamscape out of dark shadows (and thus bright lights) and constant motion, not unlike a Lynch film, and preserves its location within the realm of the intangible.

But the traditional gameplay scenarios create a logic when there should be ceaseless surreality. The evocative monster designs and idiosyncratic spin on everyday settings sure look the part, but the menace is undermined by the rote gameplay scenarios, not strengthened. Perhaps worst of all, in its attempts at demonizing overconsumption, the creature designs inadvertently come off as fatphobic.

It's easy to fall for its occasional frightening tricks, like when long arms reach around corners like spider's legs at the player, or a chamber whelmed with shoes implies a long history of abuse. But most of the tension-building is centered around sneaking past unsuspecting mutant figures with little to no imagination in the actual doing (the kitchen sequence is a simple gauntlet based around avoiding eyesight; Ratatouille is more imaginatively intense).

Tarsier Studios' game looks the look but can't walk the walk -- save for a genuinely brilliant final act that subverts expectations with sparse, vacuous terror (the game is probably worth playing for this alone). In spite of its efforts, Little Nightmares just isn't nightmarish enough.

Little nightmare es un juego super creativo, por la jugabilidad simple que tiene, lo encuentro novedoso y llamativo.

Me recordo un monton a Inside pero visto desde una perspectiva mas profunda sobre todo por los graficos y ambientacion, tiene una historia super interesante, no es un juego de terror ni menos de asustarse, experimentaras momentos en donde estaras tenso, por como se presentan las situaciones, es un juego que se basa en superar diferentes zonas sin ser detectado, donde tu estrategia e ingenio seran lo principal, podria decirse que es un juego plataformero o de aventuras, lo recomiendo mucho sobre todo si buscas un juego al estilo puzzle con una historia buena