Adventure Games, Part 1 Codexery

Little Nightmares

A puzzle-platform horror game set in a mysterious underwater vessel.

Little Nightmares

Little Nightmares is a platform-puzzle horror adventure game developed by Swedish company Tarsier Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The player assumes control of Six, a hungry little girl who must escape the Maw, an underwater vessel inhabited by monstrous, twisted beings. A mobile version was released by Playdigious in December 2023, while a remaster of the game titled Enhanced Edition was developed by Engine Software and released on October 10 to coincide with the release of Little Nightmares III. The game sold 2 million copies by May 2020. Tarsier supported Little Nightmares with three downloadable content packs collectively known as "Secrets of the Maw."

Quick Facts

Title
Little Nightmares
Developer
Tarsier StudiosPorted to Nintendo Switch by Engine Software
Publisher
Bandai Namco EntertainmentPorted to Android and iOS by Playdigious
Producer
Henrik Larsson · Oscar Wemmert · Emma Mellander
Designer
Dennis Talajic · Asger Kristiansen
Programmer
Mattias Ottvall
Artist
Per Bergman · Christer Johansson · Sebastian Bastian
Writer
Dave Mervik
Composer
Tobias Lilja · Christian Vasselbring
Engine
Unreal Engine 4
Platforms
Android · Google Stadia · iOS · Nintendo Switch · PlayStation 4 · Windows · Xbox One · PlayStation 5 · Xbox Series X/S · Nintendo Switch 2
Genre
Puzzle-platform

Facts from the source article.

Lore & Background

The game's plot centers on Six, a hungry little girl who must escape the Maw, an underwater vessel inhabited by monstrous, twisted beings. The setting, the Maw, was created as a piece of concept art "where all the worst things in the world could be left to rot." Lucas Roussel said that the game's core design principle was to "root both environments and characters in a nightmarish logic with a child perspective." In keeping with the theme of childhood, the team opted against creating a powerful protagonist. While the gameplay has been described as stealth-based, the team prefers to describe it as "hide and seek," as the term "stealth" gives the impression of an empowered character. The team wanted to explore the "wild extremes" of childhood. The game shared thematic connections with Tarsier's cancelled game named The City of Metronome.

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