There is a very specific moment in Little Nightmares III, which contains the game so perfectly that it stays with me long after I finished practical. Bandai Namco’s demo, before the release of PS5 and PS4 in the game, on October 10, knew exactly what he was doing.
Imagine the scene: I put on a lonely pig, a partner for Massed Low, who is controlled by the global manager of the Bandai Namco project CHAGHORI. About 40 minutes later, we are trapped in a steeped shade of a room containing an incredibly stationary man lying in a magician-Typ box, who usually has magic in half, but it still remains wonderful at the end of the performance. Our only way out? By going out too high to reach.
After a minute, I realize that exposed body feet act as a handle. Gloomy. So I lead myself and pull. With the assist of a rope, the box is finally divided into two, but also a man. His guts sloppy leaks when we lead the box to the end of the room so that we can escape. It is macabre, darkly jocular and shows the necessary cooperation that makes miniature nightmares III so wonderfully convincing.
Developing from miniature nightmares II
It also happens that this is the favorite moment of Coralie Fenillo, the global manufacturer Bandai Namco in the game. “In the concept, it is quite simple – pulling, pushing, collecting things are all touch actions that make you feel like a child in this world. And this one is simply pulling two boxes, but setting and setting this place make him unforgettable. I love to have a player who is a bit immoral, but this is the only way to end.”
Fans of the popular series of horror platforms recognize this type of gruesome known scenarios. But what separates miniature nightmares III-happiness without the guts-from his siblings, is to focus on playing cooperation. While Little Nightmares II finally allowed you to travel with a companion AI, its continuation has not only this function from the very beginning, but also allows the second player to control low or lonely as a fully shown game of two players.
“We learned things from Little Nightmares II and we did a lot of tests,” reveals Coralie. “Basically, we had to design the game three times, including adding things such as cute taste animations, which are specific to one player. We started by designing a multiplayer, because we wanted to make sure that AI would behave like a human player. And by every test we did, we check the player’s pleasure.”
Balancing the horror with a friend
There is a chance that another terrifying thought can now be creeping into your head-does the addition of a human cooperative reduce terror? “Maintaining horror during cooperation can be complicated and was something we thought about at the beginning of development,” says Coralie. “Supermassive Games has been doing a multiplayer Dark Pictures anthology for years, so it was good to work with them with them.
“From early play tests, we found that it was fine and we actually created a different type of atmosphere.
It was with my experience in which the presence of another player created a interdependence that brought his own sense of fear. Little nightmares III is powered not only by its creaky, disgusting rain and a shadowy atmosphere, but also tense sets in which destitute cooperation leads to a quick death. The enemies in the Carnevale demo, both distorted and grotesque giants and terrifyingly swift puppets, caught the rope and many times.
Sometimes because I wasn’t swift enough to break the decapitation of the skull that the rope shot when the headless puppets persecute her. Another time there was a complicated multi -level skin section and search, which required us to sneak around the kitchen, while the giant fed the courage of his screaming puppet. We had to catch a crank when they were dispersed, and I was either too free to catch her, or find a hideout after the sentence, which caused a quick end. I got used to releasing my mistakes, but the pressure to make sure that my partner did not suffer from my little things, was just increasing the tension.
“It is interesting that the solution in multi -person mode sometimes lasts longer,” says Coralie. “You might think that having two brains makes you go faster, but instead you fight or discuss. It is not necessarily easier to solve the puzzle.”
Visual story power
Despite the intimidating rooms of sudden lightning, livid talking puppets and unidentified things beaten like Piñata, there are many other, less terrifying moments in miniature nightmares III, which are based on witty cooperation. During my time, we went to the platforms, we jumped on a stubborn trap many times to break through it, and one part had a low floor flap to throw coal into it, which activated the platforms to continue.
Relying on yourself and willing to observe the environment was necessary to stay alive, considering that the imaginative choice of a series of maintaining the main heroes is mainly voiceless here. “It was quite complicated when transferring moments of this story,” says Coralie. “So we put more elements in the environment instead of having many cutscenes.”
It is also a design philosophy extended to the creation of its heroes. “We always start with shape,” explains Coralie. “So the braids alone and the beak to low. Then you also really need light colors, such as a blue cape and a green overalls, because it is very important in a dark environment, but this is the basic pillar of what we call the game” cute horror “, in which children are in this advance.”
It is necessary to stick to this hope when you are surrounded by terrifying, widely open puppets that lurk and circulate. You and a friend will be able to see when Little Nightmares III will appear on October 10.
