Though I’d argue the series has never fully nailed its vision, there’s a reason that so many continue to be drawn to the Little Nightmares games. The horror equation in these horror-puzzle-platformers has always been flimsy at best, each entry a slideshow of classically-spooky environments ruled by a catalogue of Monsters™, but it largely works because of perspective. You always play a small thing (or things) in a big world, a sense of scale that adds to the foreboding and feeling of helplessness that gets the horror across the line.
So, sure, why not make me go through being a tiny, defenseless child trapped in a world of horrors in virtual reality? Go ahead, fuck me up.
That’s the gist of Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes, a Meta Quest, SteamVR and PS VR2 spin-off for the series helmed by virtual reality veterans, Iconik Studio. In it, you are Dark Six, a glitchy, incorporeal lookalike for the iconic protagonist of the first Little Nightmares that’s been slowly developed into a canon entity through the series’ cross-media aspirations. Bouncing off of events in Little Nightmares II, Dark Six’s adventure takes them through a handful of distinct locations in a structure that’s immediately familiar to existing fans.
It’s all a mostly literal translation of the mainline games to the VR format, then, but it works. By robbing players of the safety of being an observer, instead putting them in the teeny-tiny shoes of the observed, there’s an immediate escalation in dread. The game takes full advantage of this new perspective with its larger-than-life environments and disturbing antagonists, and especially in its oppressive soundscape where things can be just as frightening when it gets too quiet as they are when you can hear something you’re most definitely yet to see.
Every new location, be it the confounding halls of the Thin Man’s lair, the twisted library/school, a classically-creepy mansion and so on, runs a similar course across the brief couple of hours it takes to complete Little Nightmares VR. Usually you’ll sneak around, avoiding whatever big bad rules the place, solve the kinds of environmental physics puzzles typical of a VR adventure like this, and then engage in some degree of chase or avoid sequence to close out the chapter. It’s conventional, but solid stuff, propped up by each of the areas introducing some kind of new gimmick or mechanic to keep things interesting.
The series has always suffered its players with a bit of trial-and-error in its puzzle and chase sequences, and Altered Echoes is no different. At times the first-person POV helps alleviate some of this by grounding everything in real-ish logic and a wide field of vision, other times the inherent limitations of a VR setup work against and make it worse. But for the most part, it’s a net positive.
Playing on a PS VR2 through a PS5 Pro, this is a handsome enough bit of work in the scope of a VR game. The very first area does paint an unfortunate first impression with a lot of drab, empty and formulaic hallways suggesting a sparse and shallow presentation, but once you get through that into subsequent sections there’s a lot more interesting set decor and use of light. Kids – even the creepy ones – are naturally curious, and so the game also takes advantage of the added scope for curiosity that VR affords, often tucking away nuggets of detail behind doors or around corners that you can peer into or interact with to access. The implementation of VR controls for things like climbing or swinging/throwing objects is fairly solid, too.
The biggest issues that Little Nightmares VR faces are pretty typical of VR games in general, and also of the series itself. On the former, the brief runtime and lack of replay value might leave some feeling shortchanged. And on the latter, the series’ penchant for vague, imagery-laden storytelling is amped up here with very little to propel things forward or motivate progress other than wanting to see what’s around the next corner. The lack of smooth turning is also a bit of a bummer, personally, but not everyone can stomach that so snap turning is a smart priority. If you can abide those facts, and you hold the franchise dear, you’ll have a decent time.
Reviewed on PS5 Pro/PS VR2 | Review code supplied by publisher
Great
- Little Nightmares' sense of scale works well in VR
- Lots of creepy environments packed with tantalising secrets
- Long Teacher is as scary as ever
- Looks and sounds decent on PS VR2
Not great
- Little to differentiate it from similar VR titles
- The first chapter makes for a shaky start
- Short on runtime and story