I fear that I’m going to get flamed for saying this, but I thought that this was one of the most overrated games I’ve ever played. I know the game is beloved, and many have extolled its virtues. I’m going to offer a counterpart to this game’s well documented qualities.

Right from the beginning, the game seemed like it had second-tier audio and video quality, which surprised me. As a professional designer myself, I’m very sensitive to those kinds of shortcoming, and the game has many. The lead visual designer does not seem to understand or be able to apply principles of human perception effectively. There are a myriad of issues, from details that are unintentionally obscured, to all kinds of issues with depth perception, and issues with controlling and understanding foreground and background contrast principles. The end result is a myriad of “cheap” depths because of this, where the game demands you learn and memorize, because these design principles are inconsistently applied. Audio is underwhelming and also inconsistent, which also leads to “cheap” deaths when certain audio cues sound confusingly similar. Even worse, there are audio processing errors generating digital distortion in some areas, particularly the Crystal Caves. Controls also have a myriad of technical issues. The end result is a game that is way more difficult than it needs to be. Considering its accolades, I assumed this would be a much more polished experienced. The truth is that it’s a terribly inconsistent game. Certain aspects of game balance, like item and enemy attributes, are expertly well done. Most impressively, the scope and quality of the level design is staggering. Clearly an obsessive amount work went into this. But that level of effort or expertise isn’t evident in many other aspects of the game.

Lastly, the game has serious accessibility problems. It is the epitome of a “get good” game. Unfortunately for many people, we just can’t get that good. I was only able to get to 108 / 112%, and that took me over a hundred hours. I don’t see how I can do any better to see the real ending. Without going through my medical history, suffice to say, many individuals like myself can only move our hands with so much precision, and this gets worse for every human being as we age. This game has absolutely no accessibility settings. Not even a basic difficulty level. And even worse, completion has a major difficulty spike in the final few elements. Proper design should NEVER require the player to be young enough and free of complicating medical issues in order to see the true ending. The heavy difficulty spike content should be optional, with bonus content and lore.

To be clear, it is a good game. A very good game. But it’s not the great game many would have you believe. Does it have one of, if not the greatest metroidvania map and level design? Absolutely. But it lacks the cohesive balance of quality in its execution to be truly considered one of the greats.

I can’t believe it took me thirty years to get to this. It’s look, feel, sound visuals and gameplay design were clearly among the very best of its generation. After all these years, it’s still a worthwhile sci-fi action adventure with horror vibes. When you consider it in the context of 1994, it’s a game that was way ahead of its time. Sure, there is some old school tedium, and sometimes it can be very unclear how to progress things. Some great ROM hacks can reduce those aspects, but the game is still playable in its original form. Highly recommended.

I wasn’t expecting much, just a short, free to play Silent Hill inspired horror game, but the writing, and vocal delver of said writing was just unbearably bad. The game has the gall to keep reminding the player as to where to get help in the USA if one is experiencing suicidal ideation, while having some of the most egregiously bad writing tackling topics of abuse and self-harm. I admittedly played very little of the game, perhaps it gets much better, but what I experienced was unbearable. A tone-deaf blend of self-important, heavy handed, yet embarrassing got amateurish (if not outright ignorant) in its handling of heavy topics. Or as the protagonist might summarize in a single word: “cringe.”

The worst thing about it is its length, which feels short. There is nothing wrong with short games, but while some “Journey” feel complete at the same length, Little Nightmares feels like it is missing a beat. Perhaps too much of it is sitting behind a paywall, as I didn’t purchase any of the DLC chapters. All that being said, it’s still a very good game. A highly atmospheric, artistically compelling light puzzle horror platformer. It’s well executed, exceptionally well paced, and the puzzles are always fair. If you like the way it looks, you’ll almost certainly like the way it plays, as it delivers what it promises.

Despite some rough edges, this is a fantastic sci-fi horror game, that goes unexpectedly deep into its themes. The writing is highly exceptional, the gameplay is solid, and the production values are good enough to help the story and its themes really get under your skin. Just be forewarned that this isn’t a AAA production, and there are some distractingly lower quality visual elements, but nothing serious enough to detract from the overall experience. Highly recommended to any fans of sci-fi or the existential, and a bucket list game for any fans of sci-fi horror.

A game so well executed, it’s difficult to find faults. It’s a remarkable thing of beauty, and well worth the 2-3 hours it takes to complete. That being said, I can see how some people will never really be into an experience like this. If you give it a try, you should pretty quickly be able to tell if that’s you. I tried it years ago, and never finished it. This time I couldn’t finish it fast enough. It really is something special, even after all these years. The musical score is second to done, graphics are surprisingly good, controls ok, pacing excellent, story is very well told. Worthy of all the praise it garnered.

If you are willing to just dive into a game blind, this is the game to just dive into. Just about anything you can possibly read about it will lessen its impact. All you need to know is that it’s a visual novel, not suitable for children. Keep an open mind, and dive in.

You want to know more still? Ok, without spoiling anything…

I don’t play visual novels, so I cannot critique it relative to its genre, but as an outsider, I found this a lot of fun, just not quite interactive enough for me. Some pacing issues, and rough edges, but also some exceptional writing, and a fun sense of novelty.

I recommend that play a Mac / PC version of this game first, as there are some necessary concessions on the console version. And I do recommend you play this! It’s not the greatest game ever, but it’s one of the most memorable games I’ve ever played, and a niche little classic in its own right.

There is really nothing to say about this one. It's more RE7. It's mostly just action. And its not bad at all. This a totally serviceable good enough piece of DLC, that you'll enjoy playing once, and then totally forget about. My biggest criticism, is that it had some good ideas (and a boss fight) that would have made the base game better, had they been integrated there. And the base game had some bloat that would have been better if it was cut down. I with the third act, and this, were cut down and condensed or adapted into the base game instead.

I tried, I really tried to like this game. I was up for some low-brow b-movie hack & slash fun, but this game is way too rough around the edges for me to enjoy. There are far too many issues to document here, just approach this game with the expectation that virtually everything you can think of will be much less refined that you would expect from an indie game, with the exception of the characters models. Also, expect it to be tediously repetitive, even for the genre. Full disclosure, I did not finish the game. I only last an hour or so. Perhaps it gets better later. I'll never know. But this is leagues away from games like Bayonetta.