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Little Nightmares might be growing with each new instalment, but the characters we play as are not. Enter: Low and Alone, Little Nightmares 3's dual child protagonists, whose journey through The Spiral is sure to be fraught with all manner of insidious evils when the game launches later this year.
In a universe teeming with wonder and horror at every turn, Little Nightmares is at its strongest when that deft balance is achieved. "We are talking about charming horror on our side," Bandai Namco producer Coralie Feniello suggests of the game's tone. "I think [the term] fits very well, because it's a world that is really not made for you; it's a world that is made for the adults, the antagonists that you can see in the game, but you are here, and you are very small, and you are a little glimmer of hope in the middle of that. I think it's really that differentiation between charming and horror that makes it so powerful."
Stronger together
Developer: Supermassive Games
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Platform(s): PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch
Release date: TBC 2025
But although Little Nightmares 3 still champions an iconic creepy-cute aesthetic, it also marks a few series firsts. Most notably, the upcoming horror game finally introduces online co-op functionality on top of its solo experience. It's something Feniello calls "the most requested [feature] by our community" following the launch of Little Nightmares 2.
"It's a challenge to develop it," she explains of Supermassive Games' creative process, "because you always have to think about multiplayer and single player while you are creating puzzles and so on. You also have to test it thoroughly to make sure that it will be working in both setups." That's because Little Nightmares 3 is governed by a key goal: to offer a complete, satisfying experience whether or not you have a Player 2 handy.
In fact, according to Feniello, solo players might have a little something extra in store. "I really like playing it [solo] because you can see small flavor animations of the other character that is played by an AI, and that's more representative of their personality," she says. These "flavor animations" sound like idle animations, with the unplayed character responding to the new environments, but just how autonomous are they?
"We don't want to have the AI being too smart, because the player might feel like they are doing everything, but we don't want to have the AI feeling dumb, either." The balancing workaround sounds simple: "the first time you see an object that the AI can interact with, you have to call the AI, and then they come and they do it." In short, the non-player character learns from directions. "But in terms of gameplay, we are making sure that it's the same level of experience and as enjoyable in multiplayer [as it is] in single. But maybe in single, you will have a bit more on the narrative part," no doubt thanks to the extra animations.
Sin-amatic
"...it's a world that is really not made for you; it's a world that is made for the adults, the antagonists…"
Coralie Feniello
With narrative and atmosphere being so intrinsic to the game, Little Nightmares 3 is bolstered by the creative chops of Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games, having taken the reins from Tarsier Studios as the lead developer on the project.
Credited with creating some of the best horror games ever, Feniello always knew that Supermassive was up to the task. But despite the horror connection, how was the transition from photorealism to a more abstract art style? Was it a challenge for the team? "They have played a lot of Little Nightmares 1 and 2 to get to know the brand and to understand how things were done by Tarsier, to make sure that they were in line with the artistic direction and everything on our side at Bandai. We also have some people that have worked on Little Nightmares 1 and 2 – for example, me," she says of both the studio's approach and the publisher's role as overseer. "On Supermassive Games' side, there are also some people that have worked on Little Big Planet – like, for example, the game director – and so that's a more similar type of setup, you know, the 2.5 dimension type of cameras and stuff like that."
This is one way that a distinct Supermassive flavor permeates Little Nightmares 3, though subtle enough that only the more eagle-eyed studio fans might pick up on it. "Maybe something that a lot of people have already seen is the cameras," Feniello says. "The way we are managing the cameras is sometimes a bit more cinematic than what was in Little Nightmares 1 and 2, and that's due to part of the team having worked on more cinematic games." But at the end of the day, this is a Little Nightmares game – not The Dark Pictures. "We are still making sure that we keep the DNA [intact] overall," says Feniello, with Supermassive's own expertise feeding into "the experience of how you build up horror, how you build up a place that will be scary, how you create these types of environments."
Little Nightmares 3 is eyeballing an as-yet unconfirmed 2025 release date, so we might not be waiting much longer for Supermassive's latest thrill – albeit this time, a much cuter one.
