Little Nightmares III Review

Lost, Tiny, & Terrified

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Title: Little Nightmares III

Release: October 9, 2025

Platform: PS4/5 PC Xbox One/X|S Nintendo

Developer: Supermassive Games

Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Genre: Action

ESRB: T

Reviewed on: PC

Time Played: 4.5 Hours

There’s something oddly comforting about being terrified in the world of Little Nightmares III. You never know what’s waiting around the corner, only that it’s something you probably don’t want to meet. Small, fragile, and almost powerless, you move through dark corridors and haunting landscapes that seem alive in their own twisted way. I’ll start by breaking down what you can expect from the game mechanics, or you can skip ahead to my final thoughts and ratings. Just don’t blink—these nightmares have a way of finding you first.

Where it starts

Small beings in a vast world, Low and Alone are on a journey, you join them deep within a sandy, seemingly abandoned city. The only way forward is together, despite plenty of obstacles like locked doors, large gaps, and giant shadows eerily creeping closer the farther you go. Playing with a friend or working with an AI companion, you must solve puzzles and sneak around danger in an unsettling world.

Low & Alone

Before starting the game, you get to choose who you want to play as: Low, the crow skull-wearing bow user, and Alone, the mechanic with a large wrench. Both will be equally important in your journey by providing solutions to specific puzzles. When playing alone, AI will control the character you don’t pick and will follow you around, rarely thinking for itself, only acting when you ask. Some puzzles do involve teamwork and timing, but it was very easy to play solo and work with the AI controller.

Avoiding Danger

Many times on your journey, large disgusting beings will grab you and smash your tiny body in the process. To sneak past them, you will need to watch their movements and time your pace from one hiding spot to another until you find the exit. Thankfully, if you fail to sneak by, you will start over very close to where you began. The way out wasn’t always obvious, often requiring more than a few deaths before finding it.

Toys, Dolls, & Ghosts Oh My

Hidden throughout each section of the game are small collectibles you can grab or break. They vary in each part and are not always obvious that you can interact with them. Toys in one area, ghosts in another, and there’s even a creepy porcelain doll that appears frequently and can be destroyed. They are linked to achievements, but it’s very hard to keep track of what you’ve found or missed in a playthrough, requiring thorough searching in every area if you want to collect them all.

Can the kids watch (check settings)

There are very few words spoken in the game, and some reading, but nothing terrible. The only potential issue I can see is the unsettling designs of some environments and enemies. They’re not scary, but very off-putting— the enemies’ bodies are misshapen, and when they move, it’s freaky. I don’t think being scary is the main aim of the world, but disturbing and eerie definitely are.

Final Thoughts

I would love to hear any thoughts or questions you have about the game or my review, so leave me a message in the comments below. While you do that, let’s move on to my final thoughts and ratings.

The Little Nightmares series is very iconic with the world and character designs, it’s obvious when you see it. The characters are borderline Claymation, in looks not movement, very dark lighting, and uniquely unsettling environments. Very interesting, albeit short games, with interesting storytelling and minor puzzles.

Remaining on course with the series Little Nightmares III didn’t disappoint with what I expected visually. Playing as a small character as close to normal as you can get in this world, I work my way through dark corridors and avoid gross giants that can crush me with a single squeeze of their hands. The overall designs create an odd mix of disturbing comfort, as if there’s more happening behind the scenes than what we actually see. Mental fears brought to life and physically hunting me, I love the concept.

A story is being told throughout the entire game, but not verbally. Much is left open to interpretation, and the only way to truly understand it is to play through the whole game. Even then, a lot remains uncertain about what is really happening. I prefer a little more guidance and structure in storytelling, but when a story is presented like this, it allows many different people to interpret it in their own way, which makes it work for them. Not many can argue against that, so it’s pretty cool.

I enjoy a good puzzle game, and there were plenty of puzzles to work through in this game. But it didn’t take long before they started to feel stale and lost my interest. Very rarely did I get stuck and have to think about what I needed to do to move forward; I felt like I was on auto pilot for most of the game. There weren’t many repeat puzzles, but they felt more like standard obstacles rather than actual puzzles. It seemed there was more focus on figuring out co-op gameplay than on detailed puzzles.

The fact that I could play through the game as either character adds a small sense of replay value, especially if I want to unlock all the achievements, some of which are locked behind the character I choose. Then there’s the tedious hunt for all the special collectibles hidden in each section of the game. With a four-and-a-half-hour playtime, it’s tempting to replay and have different experiences, or to play again with a friend.

With that I feel like it’s a good time to break everything down into numbers and place this game on a shelf.

The visuals were great, conveying a dark freaky world without being terrifying, it’s getting a 4

The story wasn’t bad, I don’t think, but it left to much to interpretation for me, that’s a 2.

The gameplay started strong but became stale very quickly, it was hard for me to stay engaged, that’s another 2.

Some replayability with the character choices and collectibles to find, I’ll give it a 3.

Overall fun was middle of the road, I loved the parts that made me think, but a lot of it was moving with little involvement, getting another 3.

Giving Little Nightmares 3 an average score of 2.8 out of 5. Earning it a spot on my Mid Shelf. It’s a great addition to the series, offering a new experience in a world built from the previous titles. The only major issue I have is the price for what’s offered. Its short gameplay makes it hard to justify the initial cost. None of the Little Nightmares games are long, so this is expected, but compared to earlier titles, this one isn’t groundbreaking.