Commentary: ‘Little Nightmares’ Proves Horror Doesn’t Need Story
by Frank Martin
Horror is a wide encompassing genre. The only necessary requirement: it induces a feeling of anxiety, fear, and dread. This can be accomplished through a multitude of ways. When it comes to film and television, this often involves layered storytelling that creates a circumstance the audience can then recognize as something stressful. However, this isn’t the only way horror can accomplish its mission. Imagery can also play a huge role, and the Little Nightmares video game series excels at having the story take a backseat so that the horrific atmosphere itself can have the spotlight.
— Spoilers Follow —
The first Little Nightmares features a girl in a raincoat trying to escape from a massive ship filled with scary beings. The second serves as a prequel, focusing on a boy with a paper bag over his head. He escapes the wilderness and manages to rescue the girl in the raincoat from a shack. Together, the pair traverses a city filled with more ghastly beings while being chased by a Thin Man who emerges from television sets. After the girl in the raincoat is abducted by the Thin Man, the boy finds her at a tower in the center of the city. Unfortunately, after he manages to rescue the girl, she betrays him, causing the boy to fall into a chasm where he will spend the rest of his days, eventually growing into the Thin Man that was chasing them.
The entire story is communicated to the player without any dialogue. The identities of the two children are never revealed nor the origins of their circumstances. They are merely in a horrible situation and trying to survive. But the game is surrounded with a tremendously scary atmosphere. A lot of the foes in the game have terrifying attributes, such as a school teacher who can stretch her neck to absurd proportions and a fat man who climbs on ceilings. Everything in the city and its surroundings invoke spookiness and terror. There is a story behind the game, but it’s never pushed on the player the way some narratives are. Instead, the game’s horror thrives purely on gameplay and artistic aesthetic.
Little Nightmares is now available on Xbox Game Pass.
