Little Nightmares is a masterpiece, and saying anything less about it is a disservice. You can read my impressions of the full game here. Like the college art student who takes their first A and thinks, screw it, I can go get drunk and hopped up on Adderall to duplicate the process, Tarsier Studios drops the ball and takes a huge step backwards in the first expansion: The Depths.

The Depths takes us back to the Maw, the massive ship that the main campaign was set in, featuring a new story that runs concurrently with the original. Instead of playing as Six, the mysterious creature with her face hiding behind her rain coat, the player will control The Kid. While not a big change, as both characters control in a similar manner, The Kid looks like he got lost on the way home from a local emo show with his long black hair and drab clothing. This change of attire does occasionally affect the gameplay. Little Nightmares is a dark game, and having a protagonist that occasionally blends into the drab backgrounds did cause me some cheap deaths.

The only other notable difference between Six and The Kid is the lack of the lighter that was given to Six, because we can’t have too many kids running around with lighters, can we? Luckily, we do receive a flashlight about a third of the way through the chapter, although it is less effective in my opinion. Due to the sloppy controls, I found myself not using this nearly as much as the lighter because unlike the lighter, you need to point the flashlight.

The overall gameplay remains unchanged; you’ll need to evade the other inhabitants of the Maw as you solve minor puzzles. While still engaging, the puzzles in this entry are much more frustrating and feel unfinished. I experienced no less than 50 cheap deaths in my 2 playthroughs of this chapter due to the broken mechanics. Additionally, the chase scenes which were the highlight of the main story are changed drastically. All of the chases occur while jumping or swimming between junk floating in the sewers while evading the new enemy, Granny.

I feel as though Granny was modeled after my own paternal grandmother: a mean old bitch. She will stalk you throughout the majority of the chapter. I am not sure if it was to add a sense of dread or simply due to laziness, but you will only see brief flashes of her unless her long ragged hand pops out of the water to snatch you. When the original offered a number of distorted, unique antagonists that were displayed front and center, this feels like senseless cash in to me.

I commend Tarsier Studios for not offering the season pass prior to the release of the main game, as this is becoming a trend that is getting old. They waited to announce this until they knew more Little Nightmares is what the fans wanted, which I agree is warranted, but not in this state. This expansion feels incomplete and rushed. I experienced a number of deaths that were due to glitches or poor design choices, not to mention that 1/3 of the DLC is recycled from the main campaign, simply going backwards in a move stolen straight from Destiny.

Much like the original offering, there are some collectibles to be found, with this iteration featuring bottles with notes in them. Sadly, if any are missed, you will have to replay the entire chapter again. Finding all of them only nets an achievement/trophy and does not affect the story in any way. Even achievement/trophy hunters will be let down, as there are a total of 3 additional challenges included with The Depths. All of these can be completed in one playthrough, my first of which clocked in around an hour, which was padded due to the number of deaths I experienced. The second playthrough to gather media for this review took around 45 minutes, with the inevitable loop of cheap deaths.

While not the worst way to spend $3.99, or $9.99 with the Expansion Pass, the chapter feels like it was rushed to meet a release date and could have stood to be delayed for some additional polish. While I wouldn’t avoid this if you are a huge fan of Little Nightmares, or simply want to know how this intertwines into the main story, know that you will feel disappointed upon completion. Here’s hoping when the next chapter releases in November it will meet the expectations set forth by the main game.

 

5 out of 10

Pros

• Atmosphere
• Challenging Puzzles
• More Little Nightmares
• Granny

Cons

• Lack of Replayability and Recycled Content
• Feels Unfinished
• Cheap Deaths

 

Little Nightmares was developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Namco Bandai for X1, PS4 and PC. The game was released on April 28th, 2017 for $19.99. The Depths was released on July 7, 2017 for $3.99 or included in the $9.99 Expansion Pass. The game was purchased by us for review on X1. For more information on Little Nightmares, please visit their official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

 

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