Little Nightmares III Gamescom Hands-On Preview – Surviving Together

The Little Nightmares series is among the most unique gaming franchises running today, featuring gameplay that masterfully combines platforming and puzzle-solving with a creepy atmosphere that makes each adventure incredibly tense. After the second entry in the series, however, it looked like the franchise would be changing forever. Original developer Tarsier Studios left the franchise behind (and is now working on REANIMAL with THQ Nordic) after getting acquired by Embracer, passing the torch to Supermassive Games, a studio well-versed in horror games, for the development of Little Nightmares III.

During this year's Gamescom, I had the chance to try out the game, controlling a new character, Alone, and collaborating with another called Low controlled by another player, to escape the creepy Candy Factory and the old lady who seemed intent on eating the two. Right from the beginning of the demo, there was no doubt that I was playing a Little Nightmares game. Everything was in the right place: the characters, the atmosphere, the tone, and the gameplay. This was not a guarantee at all, given the development studio switch, so Bandai Namco, who owns the IP, definitely made the right choice, picking Supermassive Games to develop the game.

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Though very familiar, the Little Nightmares III experience does have some important differences over its predecessors. For starters, both Alone and Low can use weapons, a wrench, and bows and arrows to defeat enemies and complete certain puzzles, such as activating contraptions, hitting unreachable switches, and so on. The biggest change, however, is the introduction of co-op mechanics, which should impact the experience quite a bit.

"Should" is the right word to use at this point, as the Little Nightmares III Candy Factory demo did an excellent job showcasing how the game effortlessly feels like part of the series but did a much poorer job highlighting how co-op