Little Nightmares 3 review: Eerily familiar

The Little Nightmares franchise has developed a reputation for combining cozy horror with 3D platforming puzzles, and the latest iteration of this blend has finally made its way out into the community, being met with a tepid response for the most part. 

Below, you’ll find The Escapist’s full review of Little Nightmares 3, going over the good, the bad, and the oh-so-familiar, keeping everything spoiler-free. This review was completed on a PS5, in the single-player game mode. 

The Escapist recaps

• Little Nightmares 3 launched on October 9-10, 2025, letting players dive into an eerie new world with a duo of new protagonists. A playthrough of the full campaign takes roughly 5 hours, with completionist runs taking longer. 
• The game blends platforming and puzzles with an emotional story. Unlike previous entries in the series, Little Nightmares 3 was designed with co-op in mind, featuring two protagonists with distinct abilities.  
• If you’re a die-hard Little Nightmares fan who wants to play through the game with a friend, it’s worth picking up. The single-player experience felt somewhat hampered by the focus on the dual experience. 
• The game can be summed up as decent. It’s fine enough; there are some spectacular set pieces, the dual combat is fun, and the narrative is interesting, but its predecessors overshadow it by a mile in terms of substance. 

Prepare for trouble and make it double 

Instead of following Six and Mono, Little Nightmares 3 has two new protagonists at the helm – the wrench-wielding Alone and the archer Low. The friends are on a journey to get out of an ominous world called the Nowhere, dodging all manner of creepies and crawlies as they travel through mirror portals. 

Little Nightmares 3 is hauntingly beautiful. I’ve got several complaints about the game as a long-time fan of the series, but the game is commendable for its gorgeously grotesque set design. The audio and music are also stellar and added to the atmosphere perfectly. 

In terms of performance, Little Nightmares 3 ran well and looked splendid on the PS5, with only a few occasional frame drops. 

The new protagonists were one of the best things about this game. In a series first, Little Nightmares 3 was designed with co-op in mind, so Low and Alone have very different playstyles. Low’s bow can help decapitate enemies or hit targets, while Alone can whack things with her wrench. 

I loved the wordless bond between the two characters; it’s clear from the get-go that the two are close friends, and this becomes even more apparent as the story develops. The narrative is simple, but it’s powerful. 

Either with a friend or working with an AI companion, you’ll need to work with your counterpart to pick your way through vents, cross over wobbly bridges, or clamber out of a monster’s grasp. 

This review was completed with an AI companion – and I was painfully aware of this at times. I died multiple times due to Low not hiding from an enemy or running away too slowly.

These issues would’ve been easy enough to brush over if there hadn’t been another larger problem with the companion system; the companion completely killed any tension or dread, making each horror-oriented scene feel flat. 

I always knew when to crouch and wait – Low would crouch first, so I’d simply follow suit. I’d never be concerned about a monster doubling back and catching me if Low stood up and walked normally. The stealth sections and chase sequences are arguably the biggest source of horror in Little Nightmares, so I felt let down by this. 

Mostly fine, with a few bright sparks

Despite feeling like the AI companion system was a miss, combat felt like a hit. Low could snipe enemies from a distance and take their heads off, prepping an enemy to have their skull cracked by Alone’s wrench. It was fun and punchy, and surprisingly tricky at some points. 

This didn’t remain the case with the main antagonists, though. The first major foe of the game didn’t feel like much of a threat, despite its ominous design. 

The monstrous baby-giant that patrols the first chapter – officially called Monster Baby on the game site – was foreboding at first, but as soon as I saw an eye-beam lighting up the area, I knew what the game was hoping for me to do.

Lo and behold, there were some conveniently placed crates to duck behind just down the path. It’s a mechanic that’ll be instantly familiar to fans of the franchise.

This is a theme that kept haunting my playthrough; something new would appear, and instead of marveling at its uniqueness, I’d recognize the mechanic and just get straight to work. There were very few moments where I felt awed by the game’s creativity. 

Perhaps this does just come from being a fan of the series, but I was hoping for something more from Little Nightmares 3. 

Some elements felt incredibly reminiscent of the previous titles, while others just felt somewhat underwhelming, like the vertical platforming sequences with an umbrella. I liked the game, but I was hoping to get more out of the 5 hours I spent with it. 

Little Nightmares 3 is not a bad game by any means. As noted, the art and sound design teams both did a splendid job, and I hope to learn more about Low and Alone in the DLC, too. The game just felt somewhat overshadowed by the creativity of its predecessors, offering a decent but oddly familiar experience.

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References

1. Little Nightmares III (Bandai Namco)