Little Nightmares III

Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC

After original Little Nightmares developer Tarsier Studios was acquired by Swedish holding company Embracer, publisher Bandai Namco moved the franchise to Supermassive Games, creators of the Dark Pictures Anthology series. You'd be hard pressed to tell anyone else is at the helm though, as this third outing hews so slavishly to the formula laid down by its predecessors that differences are hard to spot.

Once again, players shepherd a spooky kid – either bow-and-arrow brandishing Low, or wrench wielding Alone – through a disturbing series of encounters with monsters both literal and metaphorical. The setting may be new – a region known as The Spiral, part of the wider realm of The Nowhere that the series as a whole takes place in – but progressing through it is anything but. Expect another round of exploring 2.5D environments, albeit slightly elevated by the introduction of umbrellas to glide down from great heights or soar on updrafts, and puzzle solving that rarely extends beyond "push crate to reach ledge" or "activate switch". Stealth mechanics also remain unchanged, desperately trying to avoid the attention of the colossal terrors that inhabit the warped world by dodging between shadows and scurrying into the safety of nooks and crannies, but these at least provide regular thrills and some truly mortifying scares.

Little Nightmares III misses just about every beat it's possible to miss when it comes to multiplayer.

While 2021's Little Nightmares II dabbled with having two characters, with that game's lead Mono accompanied by Six from the original Little Nightmares, this threequel puts its protagonists in the spotlight. Both Low and Alone are fully playable (although narratively, this is very much Low's game), and each have their own skills to put to use – Low is able to hit targets or drop suspended objects with a well-aimed arrow, while Alone can use her wrench to operate machinery or break crumbling walls. Played solo, Little Nightmares III impresses with some solid companion intelligence, the non-controlled character following closely and hinting at where to go next when needed, and can be directed to use their respective ability with a tap of a button.

However, Supermassive also uses having two core characters as a way to introduce co-op multiplayer, a first for the series. While that should be a welcome move, sadly it's poorly handled. The biggest crime is that there's no local co-op, only online. If ever a genre screamed to be played in the same room, it's co-op puzzlers like Little Nightmares III. Worse, it's not just online-only, but there's no drop-in multiplayer – forget spotting a friend online and inviting them to help out, this takes advance planning. Worst of all though is that this approach mandates you play the entire game from the start. If your player two taps out, tough. Little Nightmares III misses just about every beat it's possible to miss when it comes to multiplayer.

As ever though, Little Nightmares' greatest strength is the genuinely unsettling world in which it takes place, maintaining the City Of Lost Children-meets-Tim Burton vibe throughout. Each region of The Spiral that Low and Alone journey through is hauntingly macabre, from a desolate Necropolis, its former denizens frozen in statues while a titanic baby treats the place like a dollhouse, to a twisted Carnevale populated by figures that make nightmare clowns look friendly. And, while the game remains essentially dialogue-free aside from the screams of the damned, it masterfully tells its story through beautiful, subtle moments peppered throughout, expanding on why the kids have found themselves in The Spiral – and what they're really hiding from.

Ultimately, though, Little Nightmares III does nothing to notably evolve the series or even meaningfully move it along, with the only significant departure from the routine established by the first game – the introduction of co-op – failing almost entirely. Still, if you're a fan of the previous entries, you'll enjoy this return to The Nowhere. Third time's the charm? More like the law of diminishing returns.