It’s time to trade in the yellow raincoat and paper bags for arrows and wrenches. The popular Bandai Namco childlike-horror franchise Little Nightmares is back and with more disturbances in tow. Partnering with Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games, after the former developers Tarsier Studios were bought out by the Embracer Group, Little Nightmares III follows the journey of Low and Alone, two friends trying their best to escape Nowhere, a dream dimension, full of creepy threats such as an oversized decrepit baby doll, a circus full of fiends and a six-armed woman with a clipboard.
In addition to Low and Alone being equipped with new game mechanic functionalities with their bow and wrench, respectively, Little Nightmares III also features a new online co-op mode for the first time in the franchise’s history, letting players pick the character they want to choose at the start of the game. Here, Deadline speaks with producer Coralie Feniello about the strength of Little Nightmares, world-building and what the Spiral has in store for the future.
DEADLINE: Supermassive Games took over development from Tarsier. Considering that Supermassive is known for their alternate choices and endings, Little Nightmares III still feels like the source material. Can you talk about this partnership?
CORALIE FENIELLO: In working with Supermassive, it was so important to keep the DNA of Little Nightmares. We have people here at Bandai who have worked on Little Nightmares I & II, so when we started working with Supermassive, we were all very passionate about keeping that same experience. Supermassive had been analyzing every little detail. Their expertise in multiplayer horror games was a great fit for us.
Little Nightmares III
Bandai Namco/Supermassive Games
DEADLINE: Was there pressure in the room when pitching the new story instead of doing a direct continuation of Little Nightmares II? Talk about bringing Low and Alone to life.
FENIELLO: We really wanted to have new characters, because we have a new studio [working on this title]. We wanted to keep the stories that we had, with Tarsier being their children, and so we created new characters, enemies and locations. It was super important for us and for players to be able to play Little Nightmares III without having to play Little Nightmares I & II. If you’ve played the first two games, listened to the podcast, and seen the transmedia stuff we are doing, of course, you’ll understand more, and you will understand more about the universe and the larger-scale things. But you can go into this game without all that too.
DEADLINE: The first two games weren’t co-op. Why co-op now?
FENIELLO: It was the most requested feature by our community when we released Little Nightmares II. I think having the AI was a first step with Little Nightmares II, but also with Little Nightmares III, having the chance to work with Supermassive Games, where they have a lot of expertise in multiplayer games, we wanted to use that as well. So, it was a good time for us to introduce that we wanted to explore a new way to play Little Nightmares, but we also didn’t want it to change it for players who want to play single player. That’s why you can do both.
DEADLINE: Describe a bit more about the characters Low and Alone, who you can now choose to play because of this co-op feature.
FENIELLO: Low is the boy with the raven mask and the blue cape. He has a bow and arrow to shoot things. He’s more of a long-distance range type of character. Alone, the girl in the green jumpsuit and goggles is his best friend, and I think their relationship is very important without spoiling anything. I think it’s the thread that runs through the game. She’s fierce, and she has a wrench. She’s more of a short-range type of character.
Little Nightmares III
Bandai Namco/Supermassive Games
DEADLINE: More about those game mechanics, Low only shoots arrows when he needs to. Which I think was interesting, as it saves you time from hitting targets you don’t need to.
FENIELLO: So, because of the type of game that we’re working with, the 2.5D style, it means the depth will always be a bit clunky, and we really wanted to have a natural feeling while playing the bow and arrow. It was important to do something that would feel good for the players first and focus on that. We tried several things. We tried to let the players just shoot anywhere and move with a different stick, but it didn’t feel good. We just wanted to focus on the experience and the atmosphere and not bother the player with complicated controls.
Thanks to that, Low’s way of shooting stuff still keeps the focus on the player. I mean, you are still stressed in these situations because it’s not about where you shoot; it’s about where you are positioned, how you are positioned compared to Alone, and how you can help her. So, I think it doesn’t take away from the gameplay, but it just makes it better for the type of game world.
DEADLINE: I feel there are more trial-and-error instant game kills for this one. What was the thought process behind adding this to the game?
FENIELLO: We’ve had a lot of feedback about this [laughs]. I think it’s important that you feel fragile in that world. You need to feel like children in a world that is not made for you. That’s basically the core of this IP. It was super important to keep that and to make sure that you don’t feel too strong, even if you have weapons. And even though we don’t like to use the term “weapons,” we call them “items”-the bow and arrow and the wrench —because we want them to be used as items. You can use them against small enemies, but not against big ones, things like that. And because we have these items and the multiplayer, we really wanted to make sure that we do keep that feeling of being fragile in that world.
DEADLINE: The Carnevale area is a game standout. You’ve got people in the background hitting piñatas made from human bodies. You’ve got that magician act where you’re sawed in half with guts spilling out. Talk about that level and the design process behind that.
FENIELLO: It was an interesting level to do because you have so much potential, in a sense, and we really wanted to bring that feeling of, it’s a place where you’re supposed to have fun, you’re supposed to feel good, but you’re not at all. It was working this dichotomy between a good, fun thing and seeing horrible stuff happening all around you. We wanted to create this disturbing feeling.
You mentioned the puzzle where you have to cut in half the two parts, where the guts are falling, and I think that’s a very memorable one, and it’s very important that it’s the player doing that action. You are just children, but you’re doing something horrible. We think he’s already cut in half, but you are separating him, and that feeling is what we call “little madness.” It’s about using all the mechanics to do things that are very disturbing, in a sense, that you are just children doing horrible stuff.
DEADLINE: What’s your favorite level?
FENIELLO: The last chapter. It’s really interesting, and it has a bittersweet ending. I love all the build-up around that level and discovering the place and the enemy. I don’t want to talk too much about that yet, because it’s important for the players to experience it. But, I think it’s the best one.
Little Nightmares III
Bandai Namco/Supermassive Games
DEADLINE: What were some of the most challenging things to get right?
FENIELLO: The multiplayer and single player, the fact of having these two ways of playing. It was very important for us to bring it all together. But at the same time, it also means that you have to do the game three times in some of the developments, because once for each single player, thinking about each single player, how it would play, how the AI would play, and things like that, and once for the multiplayer and keep it fun for everyone. And it’s something we’ve put a lot of care into, and I hope we’ve managed to do it for the players. We did play tests and things like that to see how people could interact with the game in all the modes; it was super interesting.
DEADLINE: What are you excited for players to experience when they get their hands on this?
FENIELLO: Mostly the narrative. I love seeing the theories in the community, the way they are trying to understand what’s happening in Nowhere, where the world of the games takes place. I love seeing how they interpret all the small cutscenes we’ve put in the game and the interactions, as well as the environment storytelling, because we are a game that doesn’t have any words, so the environment is so important. So, I am looking forward to that.
DEADLINE: What’s next for the Little Nightmares franchise?
FENIELLO: We’ve announced a VR game [Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes]. We also have announced the DLCs [Secrets of The Spiral Expansion] for Little Nightmares III. That will come out at some point, as we are currently working on that. We also have some transmedia things like a young adult novel, comic books and several things. But we are very excited for people to discover more about the Little Nightmares universe.
Little Nightmares III is now available on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity]