Review of Little Nightmares. Little Nightmares - adult nightmares Little Nightmares plot

Little Nightmares by Swedish studio Tarsier Studios combines two design ideas. On the one hand, the game is an adventure in a magical but gloomy dollhouse that looks like a prison, or a hellish kitchen. On the other hand, a picture of a terrifying feast. All heroes, even the protagonist, are subject to severe hunger. And if the other inhabitants of the Womb (as the scene is called) quench their thirst in unthinkable and disgusting ways, then the girl in the yellow cloak, she is the Sixth, is happy with both raw meat and a randomly found pie.

When describing the gameplay of Little Nightmares, you only need two words: "hide" and "run." Nothing more is required from the player. Tarsier Studios did not provide the game with any complex puzzles and riddles. Everything here is done so that the Sixth does not get stuck in one place for a long time. Some "rooms" are completely empty: they do not contain any objects, interesting backdrops or objects that create an atmosphere. They do not carry any semantic load and play the role of a corridor in which you only need to run from one door to another. Why such locations are needed is not clear.

In Little Nightmares, the human essence is truly revealed. Even a little girl is capable of cruel things. And this inner malice cannot be defeated, you just have to run and hide

Solving puzzles is far from the most important part of the game. Much more important is the scenery in which Six runs and hides from dangers, what creatures she encounters and what activities she finds them doing. Little Nightmares can hardly be called indie horror, although this is perhaps the most accurate definition of it. It does not scare, but it makes the player feel as out of his element as possible. To get to the doorknob, the petite girl will have to drag a chair to it with difficulty. And it's not worth talking about battles with monsters - in any situation, an open battle will end in defeat for the player. Even leeches, which are not so big, are terrifying, and you have to run away from them without looking back. The tension is created by the tiered cooking tools and stylish background elements.

Someone was already here before the Sixth. And there are many.

Nobody talks in the Womb. And why, it is unlikely that the local inhabitants can keep up a conversation, and the Sixth simply has no one to talk to. The game tells its story without words, using the language of images, sounds and moods. Tarsier Studios has made fertile ground for various theories and interpretations of Little Nightmares. Here is the very name of the girl in the raincoat - the Sixth, and her appearance, which is different from the other "children" of this place, and many other things will allow everyone to understand the plot in their own way. The developers were able to tell a solid, philosophical and topical story through the atmosphere and environment.

All puzzles in the game click like nuts

IN last years tiny video game developers are experiencing extraordinary creativity. With enviable constancy, they create incredible depth and beauty of games like Journey, What Remains of Edith Finch and . Little Nightmares, recently released for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, continues this wonderful tradition and takes players into an atmospheric dark world full of nightmarish creatures, dangers and adventures.

The independent Swedish studio Tarsier Studios began by developing DLC ​​for the LittleBigPlanet series of platform games from the Japanese publisher Sony. The quality of their work impressed the Japanese so much that the Swedish developers were entrusted with the creation Little games BigPlanet 3, as well as porting the Tearaway platformer from the PS Vita handheld console to the PlayStation 4. Of course, the talented artists and programmers from Tarsier Studios dreamed of creating their own project in which they could bring unique ideas to life, instead of polishing strangers. The beginning of the development of the Hunger project (“Hunger” - English) became known in February 2015. The game was supposed to be a dark adventure in a world full of grotesque creatures. For some time, the developers were looking for a worthy publisher for their game, which eventually became the famous Japanese company Bandai Namco. As a result, the game was decided to be renamed Little Nightmares (“Little Nightmares” - English), and the release date was set for the spring of 2017.

The game takes place inside the giant submarine The Maw ("Womb" - English). The main character of the game is a nine-year-old girl named "Sixth", dressed in a bright yellow raincoat. The child has only a gasoline lighter with her, with which she can light her way in especially dark corners of the ship. Her path leads from the lower decks of the Womb to the upper ones, where, as she assumes, there is an exit from this nightmare to sunlight. Moving forward, the Sixth gradually discovers the terrible secrets of the ship and gets acquainted with its inhabitants in the person of the mysterious creatures of the "Nomes" (that's right, without the letter "G"), the guests of the ship and the terrible attendants.

The mechanics of Little Nightmares will seem familiar to many, as it partially copies the work of the Danish studio Playdead, famous throughout the world for adventure platformers Limbo and INSIDE. Before us is a three-dimensional platformer interspersed with puzzles based on physical interaction with objects, and stealth elements. A painful death awaits the main character literally at every step: you can fall off the stairs into the abyss, be devoured by giant leeches, be caught by a terrible giant chef, and so on. Our character can walk, run, duck, sneak, jump and grab various objects. Small objects can be picked up and thrown, such as buttons that are out of reach. Large objects can be slowly moved around the location, used as a ladder or for other purposes. We should not forget that the same button is responsible for grabbing a ledge or climbing a ladder.

Puzzles are simple, and their solutions are subject to logic and common sense. If you have already completed Limbo or INSIDE, then Little Nightmares will not be a big deal for you. A couple of times, Six has to hide from the giant eye-shaped scanners by hiding in the shadows of the scenery. This one-on-one scene reminded me of a similar puzzle from INSIDE. For such a brazen copying of some of the ideas of the developers from Tarsier, one can scold, but for the most part the game is still quite original. The only, in my opinion, its serious disadvantage is the fact that sometimes it is extremely difficult to feel the depth of a three-dimensional scene. It seems to you that you are stepping on a bridge over an abyss, but in fact your foot is walking a little to the left, as a result of which the character flies into the abyss and dies. And you have to replay the location from the very beginning. Fortunately, gradually you begin to get used to such inconveniences and you make fewer and fewer mistakes. From time to time there are small bugs, and once the game even crashed (I played the PS4 version), but in general, these errors are unlikely to seriously spoil your impression of a creepy Swedish fairy tale.

As for the horror component, the game has everything in perfect order with this. A gloomy, oppressive atmosphere, a frightening unknown and an alarming misunderstanding of what is happening around a little frightened girl, is gradually transferred to the player. Among other things, the game offers us stealth mechanics when you have to hide from the eyes of opponents and behave extremely quietly. He stepped on a broken plate, crunched and that's it ... Write wasted. But such opponents are easy to distract by loudly throwing various objects on the floor. Now imagine that some inhabitants of the Womb not only see and hear you, but also smell you. This is where the main character will have a particularly hard time. When you're close to a threat, Six's heart rate rises through the game controller's feedback into your sweaty palms. There are several scenes in Little Nightmares where you have to run away from the monstrous creatures that are chasing you - and it's fucking really scary. I pulled myself into a string, fighting for the life of the main character. In general, the tension the game creates is simply magnificent, which is required from a quality horror movie.

Visually, Little Nightmares looks wonderful. Excellent work with light, realistic textures and special effects. The graphics engine and talented artists have given their best in this game. The last time I saw such thoroughness in the study of game locations was perhaps in the magical platformer Unravel, produced by another Swedish studio, Coldwood Interactive. What is happening on the screen, although it looks like a scary cartoon for adults, makes the player believe in the reality of what he sees. You will worry about the girl as if you have known her all your life. The creepy things that she will have to see during her journey through the giant ship will remain in your memory for a long time. In one of the rooms, you will see the legs of a hanged man hanging from the ceiling, and you will need to use his chair to reach the doorknob. In another room, you will be horrified to find that it is filled with tiny children's shoes, and terrible creatures swim in this “shoe sea”, ready to grab and tear you apart.

For lovers of gathering, the developers offer to find ten hidden ceramic figurines in the game, which must be broken if you want to complete the game by 100%. As I said above, in the game you will meet tiny nomes. Unlike the other inhabitants of the Womb, the nomes are very cowardly and run away only when they see you from afar. Sooner or later, the nome will be cornered by you, and then do not forget to give him a good hug. If you hug all these tiny creatures in Little Nightmares, then you will receive a rare achievement for your kindness. Along the way, also do not forget to set fire to the lamps placed here and there. Completing these simple tasks will give you access to concept art by Tarsier Studios artists. You can view them in a special section of the main menu.

Special praise deserves work with sound. In any self-respecting horror game, sound should take center stage. And in the case of Little Nightmares, the sound is just great! But I would categorically not advise you to output it through the TV speakers. The ideal option would be if you stay alone at night with yourself, turn off the lights, put on your favorite headphones and immerse yourself in the atmosphere of a surreal fairy tale. Then the sea of ​​emotions will be guaranteed to you.

Pros:

• Great atmosphere of a dark horror fairy tale for adults.
• An intriguing story that gradually unfolds before the player.
• Simple, but no less exciting puzzles.
• Great visuals and cool character designs.
• Game locations worked out to the smallest detail.
• Wonderful sound complements the already creepy atmosphere.
• Simple and intuitive controls.

Minuses:

• Some ideas were brazenly stolen from the games of the Playdead studio.
• Situations associated with incorrect depth perception.
• Sometimes there are annoying bugs and even crashes from the game.
• The game is indecently short. I want supplements.

Little Nightmares invites players to immerse themselves in a creepy world of childhood nightmares filled with mysterious creatures and deadly dangers. The game is incredibly short. You can walk through it in just three hours. Nevertheless, the emotions received during this short gloomy adventure will repeatedly recoup the money spent on the purchase of the game. Even despite the disadvantages I have listed, the game deserves solid 8 points out of 10. The ending hints to us that the story of a girl named Six may have a continuation. Well, in the future, I will not mind once again briefly returning to this fantasy world.

At the beginning of the game, it seems that you are in some kind of strange fairy tale, where there can be no bloody cruelty. In gloomy rooms there are toys and a heroine called Six I need to find a way out of this terrible place. Moving from location to location Six facing different monsters. This and two twin brothers "butchers" with huge cleavers, who are clearly not going to make friends. And the long-armed "hatter" who constantly intends to grab Six and turn him into a cocoon. And the main enemy in Little Nightmares is mysterious "geisha", who controls the Womb and secretly monitors everything that happens.

In a strange way, the little heroine ended up in a terrible place, something like a submarine called " womb“where no one heard anything about goodness and pity. Here reigns only cruelty, hunger, gluttony and death. She got to the lowest levels and gradually she has to get to the top in order to stay alive. Getting to the feast of pig-like monsters that gobble up everything that can be eaten, the girl must quietly make her way to the exit from this terrible place. The player will not immediately notice that in a dimly lit room, near the monsters, everything is full of food, and the food is on a huge table, along which the girl in the yellow hoodie has to make her way. Later it becomes clear that the monsters can easily confuse Six with the food on the table and, noticing the girl, they will chase her. Story line in the game does not cease to amaze throughout the game. For example, at the beginning, the main character appears before us as a little defenseless girl in a yellow raincoat, she is afraid of everything, small “mushroom” creatures run around her and need to be hugged. But then Six, feeling hungry, begins to eat dead rats, and then in general - eats a small "mushroom", which trusted her and offered her normal food. As they progress, Six encounters children who are also in the Womb. Later it turns out that the children are in terrible danger, they are being used as food. And the terrible long-armed "hatter" catches them and wraps them in cocoons.

Throughout the review of the game Little Nightmares (Little Nightmares) the developers hint that the life of a little girl in a yellow hood is constantly in danger and the chances of salvation are less and less, but she obviously did not get to the Womb by accident. Therefore, it is up to the player whether Six will survive in the terrible nightmare environment and defeat the "geisha" or be eaten. The developers came up with the ending of the game is clearly not standard, it makes you completely rethink the whole plot.

Although the game at the beginning looks like a scary fairy tale, later it turns into a nightmare and by no means Little Nightmares not intended for children. Therefore, lovers of "something new" from gloomy horror films are recommended.

Video for the game (official trailer):

It was called "Hunger" and therefore the main driving force in the game was the feeling of hunger. And although the new work from the Tarsier studio changed during the development process, some details of the original idea remained. For example, endless hunger and the idea of ​​putting a small, harmless person into a gloomy big world.

The independent Swedish studio Tarsier is primarily known for its adventure platformers, which included such games as LittleBigPlanet, Statik, Tearaway Unfolded - in general, fans of this genre will not have to present such projects in more detail.

Nevertheless, new project titled Little Nightmares is both similar and different from past games. The developers claim that the meaning of their new project was born thanks to two different ideas: a dollhouse and a vile feast. Therefore, merging together, the game Little Nightmares was born.

Womb in a Womb

The womb is a creepy, mysterious and incredibly disgusting place where the harmless protagonist of the game ended up. You can understand what it is only if you get out of it. From the inside, the Womb looks like a prison, a hellish kitchen and just an abandoned place. But if you rely on promotional material, then we can say that the Womb is a small underwater city that rises to the surface once every few years and receives new "guests". Guests are fat, weak-willed creatures who are obsessed with only one thought - to eat. And yes, it sounds rude, but there is no other way to describe it: all these “guests” are vile, and what they eat is just creepy.

"Slippers are obviously big for the heroine, but for this comrade - just right."

There are more monsters in the environment of the Sixth than in any ordinary house - it’s not every day that a feast is held! Moreover, the most harmless of these monsters are “leeches”. They will always try to strangle a little girl in cold blood, of course, if they catch up. Huge and clumsy friends of the local cook will instantly send the Sixth for dismemberment, and the long-armed Watchman in the very best case put in a cage with other lifeless "copies".

So, in addition to the guests, attendants and the unknown Hostess, there are also Nomes - funny, cute and harmless little creatures with caps on their heads, which during the passage you need to look for and just hug. Why do this - the game will not tell, but, apparently, this is important. Think of the rest, as they say.

However, one should not be surprised at such a presentation of the plot, because it will not tell anything at all: how it has become fashionable now - you will have to think of everything on your own. In part, Little Nightmares is similar in this regard to Inside or even, where the same atmosphere of mystery and constant danger is preserved. In such games, it seems that now insight points will accumulate and everything will fall into place, but no, this will not happen.

“Terrible places in Little Nightmares will abound. Here, for example, is a place with shoes from the less fortunate prisoners of the Maw.

The world of the Womb is more like the world or city of Rapture from the series. As for the style, it again resembles no less gloomy Inside. Therefore, a significant part of the game will have to be spent in gloomy and terribly colored locations, where the only bright light is the yellow cloak of the main character. However, like the scarlet shirt of the boy from. In the end, even the layout of these games has similar features: the presented world is divided into pieces, like some kind of doll house.

“Perhaps this is some kind of allusion to modern society, which consumes something endlessly.”

Tarsier is a tiny independent studio located in the Swedish city of Malmö. Over its almost ten-year history, she managed to work on additions for the first and second, on, as well as a re-release for PS4.

Needless to say, many were surprised to say the least when, in May 2014, the authors of the pretty and good-natured arcade games announced dark game about a little girl surrounded by monsters under the working title Hunger. After some time, everyone safely forgot about this project, until in August 2016 they became interested in it Namco. The game got a publisher, and the name was changed to .

Tells the story of a starving little girl named Six, who is unfortunate enough to end up in a terrifying, surreal underwater complex. The womb - this is the name of the complex - is something like an elite resort for fat and ugly creatures who while away their leisure time eating dishes from animal meat, fish and human flesh. Therefore, it is not surprising that the poor fellow immediately grabs the opportunity to get out of the Womb, as soon as she has one. It is a pity that she does not know into what hidden corners of her own consciousness this misadventure full of dangers will lead.

It seems that the game world itself resists the presence of the Sixth, trying to drive the unfortunate woman into a state of panic horror. Some worms swarm in the shadows with a terrible squelching, water drips from the ceiling, a vile rattle and loud monotonous breathing of something large and obviously unfriendly can be heard from behind the walls. Each location is scary in its own way, whether it's a library with dusty bookshelves, or a kitchen littered with shreds of meat and severed fish heads.

Some rooms are flooded with unpleasant light from yellowed lamps over time, while others have to be lit by the tiny flame of a small lighter that Six carries in the pocket of her raincoat. I must say, sometimes you don’t want the light to be on at all: it allows you to see the bloody prints of someone’s hands on the walls or the traces of a brutal struggle.

The ever-growing sense of anxiety and horror is also enhanced by the musical accompaniment, which literally screams about the inevitability of a painful death. But only it warns of danger, winning for the Sixth the precious seconds necessary for salvation.

And you will often have to run and hide. The monsters are huge and the girl has no chance to somehow resist them. You have to rely on cunning: distract them by dropping clay pots, turn on the dusty TV in the next room at full volume, or just sit in the shade, holding your breath, and hope that the image will just pass by. Should you lose your vigilance or hesitate for a second, the grotesque creature will immediately overtake the Sixth, sending her back to the nearest save. This is a kind of game of cat and mouse.

One of the key advantages lies in the fact that she can tell everything about herself without further ado. The game world itself, the terrible creatures that inhabit it, and even musical arrangement without any plot cutscenes and dialogues, they tell an interesting and intriguing story. Players will have to unravel and understand many details of the plot themselves, since the game is in no hurry to share details either at the beginning or even at its very end. Yes and after end credits you will definitely have a lot of questions.