Little Nightmares 3 – Everything You Need to Know
With a blend of surreal imagery, towering threat, and disturbing sound design, Little Nightmares has cemented its place as one of the most memorable horror platform-puzzlers to emerge in the past decade. Little Nightmares II is a celebrated sequel which dialled up the dread whilst deepening the mythos.
However, with a new studio at the helm and a catalogue of community-led feedback, the series is set for a revamp. Little Nightmares III aims to shake up the formula by shifting to co-operative-first gameplay. There is much to anticipate for new and returning fans: here’s 15 things which differentiate Little Nightmares III from its predecessor.
New Protagonists
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Little Nightmares III introduces a brand new pair of unlucky heroes – Low and Alone – and much like Mono and Six before them, they’ll need to rely on each other to survive a world of grotesque monsters and shuffling dread. Alone is a resourceful young girl with pigtails and an aviator mask, mechanically gifted and loyally grounded. The bird masked Low is an imaginative boy who’s unusually resolute for his age. He’s convinced he can lead the pair to safety.
Each Character Wields a ‘Hero Item’
Where Mono and Six had to make do with improvised tools, Low and Alone each carry a signature item throughout the game. Alone carries a wrench which she uses as both a blungeoning melee weapon and a device for adjusting machinery. Low wields a bow and arrow, giving him ranged ability to hit enemies or out-of-reach switches from afar. These tools don’t seem naturally complementary; it’ll be intriguing to see how the game treats combat encounters and puzzles given both the overlap and divergence of our duo’s skills.
Co-op From the Ground Up
Undeniably, the biggest shift for the threequel is co-operative play, built from the ground up. Whilst both Little Nightmares II and Little Nightmares III star a pair of heroes, only in III can players control both protagonists in a full two-player experience. Puzzles and encounters will require simultaneous interaction – one player distracting a monster whilst the other sneaks through, or both players pulling levers in sequence. Alongside being a community-requested feature, this design choice represents a natural evolution for the series. Reportedly, the game’s interactions aren’t especially challenging; instead, tension is heightened with survival hinging on communication and teamwork.
Solo Play, Reimagined
Despite Little Nightmares III being designed with co-operative play at its core, the game can still be played solo with a campaign that’s balanced for single players. The misadventure can be experienced through either Low or Alone’s perspective, with computer-controlled AI taking command of the other. Much like It Takes Two or Split Fiction, sections of gameplay – or the entire thing – can be replayed as the other character, opening the door to seeing how each toolset changes the experience.
New Enemies
The series’ monstrous Residents remain the principal threat to our heroes’ welfare, and in Little Nightmares III, some of the most disturbing enemies yet have been revealed. The Supervisor is a six-armed factory overseer obsessed with perfection, whilst the Monster Baby stalks a ruined necropolis in search of their next ‘toy’. Thematically, these creature designs appear to lean towards anxieties surrounding authority and vulnerability. Little Nightmares II gave us the nightmarishly memorable Teacher, Doctor, and the Thin Man, but III looks like it’ll be upping the Residents’ scare factor.
New Setting
In Little Nightmares II, Mono and Six braved the Pale City, exploring the Wilderness, the School, the Hospital, and the Transmission on their journey to the Signal Tower. Low and Alone are instead trapped in the Spiral, a realm within the Nowhere like the Pale City that’s described as a cluster of disturbing places; a fragmented, dreamlike fever imbued by visions of torment and trauma awaits our pair, with each new biome becoming increasingly hostile to their survival.
Biome Variety
The Spiral’s confirmed locations so far include the Necropolis, the Canivale, and the Candy Factory. Each a mysterious dystopia, playing through Little Nightmares III feels like an anthology of nightmares rather than the more linear progression of Little Nightmares II. Accompanying III’s aesthetic shifts will be level-distinct use of Low and Alone’s co-operative ability; Low might shoot for dusty ropes between crumbling platforms above the Necropolis’ desert sand, whilst Alone’s wrench will undoubtedly be used to fix broken fairground machinery.
Tone and Scare Profile
Little Nightmares III retains the series’ signature oppressive atmosphere and fantastical horror, however it can be argued the threequel’s co-operative gameplay could soften the tense feelings of isolation that weigh heavily on Mono and the computer-controlled Six in Little Nightmares II. Driving II’s fear are themes of escapism; escape from adulthood, corrupted society, and the loss of innocence, each encapsulated tonally in a growing sense of hopelessness. III seems to favour sustained dread to unsettle its players, using its shared problem-solving mechanics to create a slow-burning anxiety.
Narrative On-boarding
Little Nightmares II functioned as a bridge to its predecessor, with returning characters and embellished lore which rewarded players who were continuing from the first Little Nightmares. By contrast, Little Nightmares III is being advertised as a completely standalone entry. With new protagonists and a freshly noxious realm to explore, no prior knowledge of the series is required to get the most out of it.
Online Only Co-op
We’ve just speculated on Little Nightmares’ signature dread-inducing isolation losing its edge due to III’s co-operative gameplay. Well, to counteract this and to maintain an isolated atmosphere, the game will be playable in online co-op only. In other words: there’ll be no couch co-op. To make it easier to play with friends, Little Nightmares III includes a Friend’s Pass, with only one player needing to purchase the game to play with someone they know. Little Nightmares II had none of these features, of course, given it was single player only.
Platform pairing rules
Little Nightmares III will support cross-generational play within the same console family, but not cross-platform play. At launch, at least, a pair of players across, say, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 can tackle Low and Alone’s misadventure through the Spiral together. If you’re a PC player and your mate owns a Switch, well, you’re out of luck. Hopefully cross-platform play will be added at a later date as, with an emphasis on online co-op, not including this feature at launch feels like a misstep.
Save File Constraints
Little Nightmares III will not support cross-save or cross-progression functionality at launch. Meaning, in other words, your save file will be locked to the platform you start on. Progress can be continued across the same platform which is a change from Little Nightmares II where save files could not be transferred between different systems. Furthermore, save files that started in co-op cannot be switched to solo mid-campaign. Little Nightmares III offers up to eight save slots to counteract this limitation.
Voice Chat
We know what you’re thinking: if Little Nightmares III is online co-op only, perhaps the game will embed a communication tool between players. Well, no, the threequel will not have any built-in communication tools, such as voice chat. This, much like the online only decision, is to preserve the suffocating atmosphere. It seems as though playthroughs will function similarly to when one wanderer encounters another in Journey; both titles include a ‘call’ feature to alert companions.
Studio Change
Another substantial difference is the change in the development studio. Up to Little Nightmares II, the series was shepherded by Tarsier Studios. Following their acquisition by Embracer Group in 2019, the studio moved away from Little Nightmares and began working on the conceptually similar Reanimal due to release in 2026. The reigns have been handed to Until Dawn and The Quarry studio Supermassive Games, and even though the celebrated team studied Little Nightmares I & II in detail, they’re intent on bringing their own unique strengths and passion to the third entry.
Post-launch Model
Little Nightmares III already features broader post-launch plans than its predecessor in the shape of the Secrets of the Spiral DLC. Including costume sets on launch, plus two extra story chapters coming later on, III’s DLC plans hint at the possibility of deeper world building beyond the Spiral. By comparison, Little Nightmares II featured an optional puzzle segment in its Nome’s Attic DLC.
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