A style where the important thing is not death, but the puzzle . Where there are no lives because the work is aware that it uses t
he trial and error to solve the obstacles it proposes. In fact, Little Nightmares is perhaps the one that makes the least use of this system, being able to anticipate every danger if we have enough patience for it. In the end, the error is almost always y
ours and product of the anguish that is capable of generating each of its levels, because the nerves and the adrenaline discharge that Tarsier is capable of injecting makes the whole journey through this strange ship unforgettable .
It costs something more to forget how short the experience can be. Neither the extras , nor the collectibles in the form of figurines to br
eak and candles and lamps to light are capable of making up the fact that Little Nightmares could last only a little longer, enough to deepen the dark idea that proposes and make greater the challenge of their puzzles, that little by little is diluted to give more prominence to the scripts and the spectacularity, which is also to be appreciated.
But in the end, we have not played any game of this style whose formula does not have to stop before it loses interest. Little Nightmares manages, however, to stop in the middle of the nightmare to contemplate the majestic design thanks to its ability to surpri
se with scenarios as imaginative as the best Hollywood production. Its comfortable that reach the ceiling and that serve us as stairs, its rooms of impossible proportions and our small scale have given us some of the best prints we have seen this year.
Your scenarios are really imaginative
Perhaps it is, however, Tarsier’s ability to fascinate with a handful of actions what ends up embroidering the set. Jumping, bending and grabbing objects is all we need to escape the nightmare. Their puzzles are gentle, they propose a challenge, but they avoid being too convoluted for us to get stuck for a long time in any of them and lose the rhythm in the process. The control is not as precise as its puzzles, either because of that accumulated tension that we mentioned in the analysis, or not to detect us at the right time and place, some deaths will accumulate making us debate whether the fault was really ours.
Your worst nightmare
Six is a small light in a world of darkness. The feeling of helplessness is constant throughout the adventure.
Tarsier has worked as nobody the uncertainty . It is meritorious to use classic formulas of terror without falling too much into the cliché, and even more to replicate them and make them work. When you do not expect it, the scare can arrive, and the
n you can go from section to section throughout the scenario betting for sure that one of those doors is going to open, which at this moment is when “the monster will appear”. But it does not happen like that. Little Nightmares avoids the easy recourse o
f bursting your eardrums with a great sound impact because it is not afraid of lack of effectiveness. He knows very well that his monsters are nightmarish and for that reason he does not even have qualms about showing them at point-blank range without camouflaging them in the shadows.
Their puzzles work in the same way, although it is difficult for them to maintain the same capacity for surprise. The limited act
ions are sufficient yes, but once you make the controls and the formula that presents the game, there is not much to discover at a playable level and it is precisely where the story begins to take over and take center stage. Perhaps for this reason it is also a s
hort work , but as we said before, an extra hour would not only have helped to develop the narrative ideas, but also to create something more variety in their mechanics.
Many puzzles will require several attempts, but observing well and having patience we will give you the key first.
When I interviewed Tarsier a few months ago, I asked him about the meaning of some of the ideas he had seen in Little Nightm
ares. While the first main enemy, that man with a downcast face persecuted Six, our innocent “Little Red Riding Hood” , with his long arms, I saw a clear siege and envy of the privilege of innocence . A society created by wrinkled old people who
have lost their purity falling into all present temptation, now pursues relentlessly to the only thing that remains decontaminated. In the interview neither admitted nor denied: for them, any interpretation of Little Nightmares can be perfectly valid.
Tarsier has worked as nobody the uncertainty
Now, after finishing Six’s adventure, I still think about this idea and as I went through the game it seemed even clearer to me. The project when before was exclusive to PlayStation 4 was known as Hunger , and this gluttony is present throughout our ri
