Background information
Playing "The Outer Worlds 2": smaller than "Starfield", but with more humour
by Philipp Rüegg
Little Nightmares 3 looks eerily good
10.9.2025
Translation: Katherine Martin
Pictures: Kevin Hofer
I got the chance to play Little Nightmares 3, due to be released on 10 October, at a preview event. The game’s creepy atmosphere and endearing main characters won me over.
Alone and Low creep quietly past grotesque figures gleefully gobbling down some food. The munching and slurping sounds they’re making set my teeth on edge. Still, they’re victims of this bizarre world too. They’re the Herd. Workers from the candy factory looking for an escape from their dull, monotonous lives. But that doesn’t mean they won’t gobble us down too if they spot us. They’re on the hunt for an escape from the same funfair we’ve wound up at. With its blinking lights, maze of paths, seemingly abandoned attractions and a terrible secret, it really does look eerily beautiful.
If there’s anything Little Nightmares 3 can do well, it’s create an oppressive atmosphere. That’s about 90 per cent of what gives the game its charm. As far as gameplay’s concerned, my two-hour preview of the game left me feeling that there’s room for improvement.
New co-op mode
In the game, you choose either Low or Alone as your character. The two best friends are trying to escape from the Nowhere, a collection of nightmarish places born out of delusions. To do so, the friends have to work together.
Little Nightmares 3 is an online co-op game. According to publisher Bandai Namco and developer Tarsier Studios, this is the feature most often requested by fans of the series. But don’t worry, you can also play the game solo, with AI stepping in as your buddy. I unfortunately didn’t get to test single-player mode at the preview event. In online co-op, however, I turned out to be pretty inept.
Things are always tough in the beginning
The thing that makes Little Nightmares games cool is the same thing that makes them frustrating: they give nothing away. There are no yellow markings telling you what you can interact with. Instead, you have to figure it out yourself. For instance, you need to dangle from an ordinary-looking furnace door to open it. This enables the other character to throw in coal for heating, then activate a bellows that allows you to move on.
Fiddling around and experimenting was fun at this point. The thing is, you occasionally have to do it under pressure, say, when you’re being chased by an enemy. At one point, I died dozens of times, respawning further back in the game. I repeatedly had to sneak back to the spot where I’d died until I finally understood what the game wanted from me.
Fairly unhelpful weapons
Low and Alone may be armed, but they’re still kids at the end of the day. So, as you’d expect, their fighting capabilities are pretty limited. You can’t defend yourself against the Herd, so you have to avoid them. Oftentimes, you end up using weapons in puzzles. You also come across balloons from time to time, which you shoot using Low’s bow. Aside from being fun, shooting balloons had no effect when I tried it at the preview event. Maybe it’ll be more of a success in the finished game.
Alone’s wrench is left pretty much unused – except when fighting dolls throughout the fairground level. The dolls are the only enemies you can really lay into. When you shoot their heads off with Low’s bow, their bodies keep on following you, reacting to noises. Low shouts to draw their attention, while Alone smashes the heads on the floor with her wrench.
The narrow use of weapons feels like wasted gameplay potential to me. After all, the existing gameplay’s pretty limited as it is. In addition to using weapons, Low and Alone can sneak, run, jump, throw and interact with ladders, objects and so on. It all seems like familiar fare to me. Unlike Split Fiction, Little Nightmares 3 isn’t bursting with creative gameplay ideas. It’s more of the same, supplemented by the co-op mechanics. I hope there’ll be more innovation on offer when the full game comes out.
Simply beautiful
What Little Nightmares 3 lacks in gameplay, it more than makes up for in presentation. The different rooms you make your way through are seriously detailed. Thanks to some ingenious lighting effects, they’re also eerily beautiful. The sound design lends the visuals phenomenal support. Five minutes into the game, it dawned on me how much the developers enjoyed designing each location. I wound up getting lost in a hidden room that didn’t lead anywhere. Its only purpose was to be there and look cool.
But the ingenious design doesn’t stop at the environment – it’s evident in the characters too. Low and Alone only look scary at first glance. A closer look reveals their fragility. This also comes to the fore in the story when Low sees himself in a mirror and feels like a stranger. It’s these short, understated scenes that bring you closer to the game’s silent protagonists. They’re so moving that nothing else needs to be added.
The spooky-looking enemies are also impressive. Individual members of the Herd look exactly alike, emphasising their role as brainless cogs in the machine. The dolls, on the other hand, are all disturbing in different ways. However, these two types of enemy are just the ones leading the charge. Kin, the level «boss», is brilliant. He carries around a hand puppet styled as himself, known as Mini-Kin. You only need to look at Kin’s purple suit to see he’s an even more grotesque version of the Joker from Batman.
I spent most of my gaming time at the preview event fleeing from Kin, getting caught up in beautifully presented chases. The level finale is particularly well put together, but I won’t spoil that for you. What I will say is that it’s worth holding out for.
Let’s hope the gameplay will be more varied in the end
Gameplay criticism aside, I did enjoy playing Little Nightmares 3. The world looks utterly brilliant. Plus, I grew fond of the likeable Low and Alone – despite the absence of dialogue and limited time I spent playing the game.
On its own, however, the fairground level offers little in the way of gameplay variation. It’s missing some genuinely big ideas. Hopefully, the finished game will be different in that respect.
From 17 September 2025 onwards, you’ll be able to try out Little Nightmares 3 for yourself. A demo’s set to be released on all available platforms. The finished game will be released on 10 October for PS5/4, Switch 1/2, Xbox One/Series and PC. Bandai Namco invited me to its preview event in Frankfurt and covered my travel expenses.
Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
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