It Takes Two was a popular co-op adventure platformer that got so much critical acclaim that it was almost annoying. It got all kinds of awards, and most gamers connected with the characters’ dynamic while solving puzzles together and using genuine cooperation to overcome challenges.
A month before It Takes Two captured everybody’s hearts, Little Nightmares II came out, and fans agreed it was an overall improvement from the first. However, everyone noticed that Little Nightmares II didn’t have co-op despite also being an adventure platformer that featured an AI-controlled companion who could have been a co-op partner.
Seeing dollars in It Takes Two‘s success, they probably thought, “Hey, what if Little Nightmares was co-op too?” Could this cynical scenario have been true? Maybe. One thing is for sure: Bandai Namco completely misunderstood why people loved It Takes Two, while also betraying every fan of Little Nightmares at the same time. Find out in our Little Nightmares III review!
Little Nightmares III
Developer: Supermassive Games
Publisher: Bandai Namco Games
Platforms: Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (reviewed)
Release Date: October 10, 2025
Price: $39.99
If you’re a fan of Little Nightmares, you probably like it for its atmosphere, tone, audio/visual design, methodical pace, and believable implementation of puzzle/platforming.
The otherworldly sense of scale and surrealist level design make it compelling, like some half-remembered dream you had as a kid when everything seemed so much bigger. For some reason, this entry was not made by the original developers, and at first glance, you might be thinking it is.
Lots of assets are recycled from the past games, like the nomes and the big piles of letters, suitcases, and various other incidental objects and pieces of music. Yet, the deeper my partner and I played, the more Little Nightmares III began to unravel, and its shortcomings became more glaring.
The story follows Low and Alone; one is a boy with a mask and archery skills, the other is a girl in a jumpsuit and carries a wrench. These two ragamuffins go on a quest to find portal mirrors that take them to the next stage, hopefully finding one that will take them home.
Along the way, they get roped into some escapades that don’t have a driving motif that ties everything together. You could play the first three of the four chapters in any order, and it won’t make the story any less vague or easier to follow.
Playing with a friend also doesn’t help the atmosphere, since we found ourselves screwing around with the physics and making it look like our characters were humping each other.
Like prior entries, Little Nightmares III doesn’t have much of a defined story or character arc. It’s mostly a couple of kids wandering into progressively more dangerous situations with grotesque adults that just want to kill and eat them.
There is a plot twist, and it’s very predictable and overly telegraphed. It also makes no sense at all and is incredibly stupid. I am going to include full spoilers moving forward, because the twist is unbearably contrived and insulting that it has to be explained.
It’s actually so bad that it made me angry, and I may never replay this ever again… not that you’d want to because Little Nightmares III has no replay value, and the lion’s share of cosmetics are locked behind a paywall. This is your last warning for spoilers.
Alone is Low’s imaginary friend. He made her up. She isn’t like a Silent Hill monster where the world of the game manifests things from your psyche; she flat-out does not exist. There is a moment when Low and Alone get captured by an admittedly entertaining, scary old guy with a vicious ventriloquist dummy. In the next scene, Alone is running free and has to free Low, but the logic breaks because if she isn’t real, she can’t free him.
Other massive flaws in the twist are that Low depends on Alone using her wrench to break through areas, to help fight evil dummies, and to give a boost to unreachable areas. Obviously, Low wouldn’t be able to progress because the game is designed around two characters working together.
It’s like the developers didn’t think it through. Some savant thought of the dumbest, most obvious twist ever and wrote around that, not thinking about how the rest of the game would connect with it. When the ending comes around, you’re thinking that there is no way that the game is going to be that stupid, but then it does, and then it feels terrible, and you’re filled with hate and shame for playing it.
The co-op sucks in this game. Little Nightmares is just not built for it. The experience is very boring and is mostly walking with very few actual puzzles, most of which are saved toward the end. It feels like Little Nightmares III might have been originally designed as a one-player game and had to undergo a dramatic redesign to accommodate two active players.
There is no toying around with a dynamic enemy AI like in the past games because there was probably no way for the designers to create an effective threat that could stalk two players without breaking. Low hardly has any use for his bow. Alone’s wrench is barely used. Most of the time, you will be walking around, climbing, and doing very light platforming.
Little Nightmares III isn’t just boring, it’s also rotten with missed opportunities. The neat gliding umbrellas are only used a handful of times in the first chapter. The fourth and final chapter has a neat time-distortion item you acquire that puts a bubble of the past around the holder, only for it to be used for a couple of minutes and is quickly discarded.
The carnival level is the most imaginative and creative Little Nightmares III gets. It has the best main villain in it, and the setting feels perfect for what you’d want in a game like this. Yet it still wastes its potential by teasing the possibility of having carnival-themed puzzles. There is one part where Low can shoot targets with his bow, but it doesn’t do anything except earn a trophy/achievement.
The carnival should have been the entire game, and it should have been full of bizarre and unsettling setpieces. There should have been freak shows, monstrous animal acts, mini-games, acrobatics… the possibilities were endless. The game teases the idea of a nightmarish magic show, but it’s only just a brain-dead puzzle where you move a box with your partner’s help.
At the very least, Little Nightmares III has the sense to have a friend-pass system where people can join in the co-op adventure if they don’t own the game. Unfortunately, online play is the only option. One of the genius design choices in It Takes Two was that it supported both local and online co-op play, and it had a friend-pass system too.
Aside from being painfully boring and empty, Little Nightmares III dares to shortchange players with a season pass that withholds two more chapters, which are due six months for one chapter and then a full year for the final chapter. Nobody is going to care or be willing to play this in two weeks after it launches, let alone six months later for one extra chapter. This was one of the most ill-advised models for DLC for such a small and short game.
Little Nightmares III is one of 2025’s biggest disappointments. The misplaced focus on co-op hurts the main adventure while also being sleep-inducingly boring. To add insult to injury, the big reveal is so painfully stupid, you’ll wonder if it’s an elaborate prank.
Little Nightmares III was reviewed on PlayStation 5 using a copy purchased by Niche Gamer. Additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy is here. Little Nightmares III is now available for Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.
