LifeisXbox’s Little Nightmares preview | Oddly enough, Little Nightmares 3 was the game I was looking forward to testing the most at Gamescom 2024 but I didn’t yet find the time to play the previous two games. I know for certain I’d like them, and I was able to buy them at a massive discount, but just never got around to playing them. Having tested this 3rd entry in the series though, they moved up on the list a bit. But more on this in the article below!
After taking my time to check Dragon Ball Z Sparking Zero as well as Unknown 9 Awakening in the Bandai Namco Press Booth (and consequently forgetting I plugged in my USB stick for copying the demo playthroughs, which I still regret) I prepared for the “behind closed doors” exclusive demo where no recordings were allowed by checking the Little Nightmares III demo that will soon be publicly available. The Preview below covers both demos!
ℹ️ Previewed at Gamescom 2024 on the Bandai Namco Booth – Invitation provided by DayOne MPM
The “public” demo
The first demo I got to play had to be played alone, I could pick to either play as Low or Alone, each with unique abilities and the AI controlled the other character. Most of the movement is what you’d expect from these 2.5D side-scrolling games: drag boxes, reach new places and grab unto things with the RT.
I was moving around a world of giants with a massive hand sometimes slamming through the walls to try and grab me. With my crow-feather umbrella, I could also move up drafts of air and reach new heights. The controls were OK, but it was key to never release the “grab” button to soon, lest I plummeted to my death.
It’s not particularly challenging and other than a single “fall damage” death where I forgot to deploy my umbrella, I never died in the first demo, but I did get stuck once near the very and because the AI character refused to break the wall and instead kept running cirkles in front of it. Luckily a helpful Bandai Namco employee spotted this and pointed me to the “reset checkpoint” option which let me roll credits on the short ~10-15 min demo.
This one should be announced soon and will be public to players on all platforms.
Behind Closed Doors Demo
After a while, those of us who signed a multi-page NDA were invited into the closed room for a totally different demo. We were asked to pair up and I was lucky enough to have Sarah Thwaites from IGN as my co-op partner. We each donned our headset and started messing around with random candy in the very first room of the demo.
The first few rooms had some simple platforming segments to better get a grasp on the controls. There was a room with water in it where I had to shoot a button to deactivate it, another with a breakable wall that she and her trusty wrench had to smash and then one where we had to stick close to each other and the light source we were carrying so the tiny bugs wouldn’t attack us.
But then came the biggest challenge of them all: Waiting.
Our first encounter with a giant boss-enemy in the game had us sneaking around desks and me getting grabbed multiple times, resetting the game. The second I let go of the “sneak” button, the 6-armed mad scientist lady sprinted towards me and tore me to shreds. Again and again. We looked around the room and saw that all the other players had made it into the same room and were struggling as well.
We discussed tactics and decided we’d just wait it out to see what the movement pattern was like for the monstrous figure, and it turns out she eventually wandered off through a door on the right and we could simply follow. The secret superpower in this game, is patience!
A few rooms further we had a similar set-up and the scientist was browsing through multiple files and cabinets. After a few more deaths we noticed she was running around on a loop this time and waiting it out wasn’t an option. After exploring a bit and trying some options, we discovered we could climb a letter cabinet on the far right. Where is that “yellow paint” when you need it?
We climbed our way to victory and rolled the credits on the demo not much later. We looked around the room and noticed we were first to beat the demo, with all other duos still stuck in that first room (and possibly hoping someone would come to their aid with a helpful tip).
At least we could treat ourselves to a giant pile of rotten candy at the end (and a free complimentary Red Bull from the fridge in the press area)
What did I think of the game?
Little Nightmares III excels in its atmosphere. You really feel like a tiny fragile creature in a world of giants. The puzzles are obvious enough in most cases and the giant enemies are threatening but with forgiving check-points placed just before the likely point of demise.
I really want to play the first two games now though, so the demo certainly succeeded there. And it also taught me that I better look for a co-op partner to play it with, as the game is a lot more fun that way!
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Robby lives and breathes video games. When he’s not playing them, he’s talking about them on social media or convincing other people to pick up a controller themselves. He’s online so often, he could practically list the internet as his legal domicile. Belgian games-industry know-it-all.
