I have been a fan of the Little Nightmares games franchise since discovering it in 2019. Little Nightmares II was released a few years back and I was able to play it with my niece. LN1 and LN2 are single-player games only but what we did is we played alternately whenever the character dies. Then in LN2, some parts became too creepy that I didn't want to play it anymore 🤣. So I just watched my niece play it while I watched her, with me screaming in the background. 

I really looked forward to playing Little Nightmares III because it was advertised as a two-player game. Well, here goes my first disappointment with the game: it's not a couch co-op game. Apparently, there's a difference between online co-op and couch co-op in terms of playing on the Nintendo Switch. 

I was really disappointed when we discovered this, just before playing the game, that it only supports online co-op. We had just freshly downloaded it and were setting up to play. I was preparing the two controllers for the Nintendo Switch, but due to some configuration issues, I was unable to set it up properly. I got another controller that was available at home, thinking we would need two controllers, but it didn't work until I did some googling and found out it was only compatible for online co-op. I even registered for the Nintendo Online subscription for one month just for this, but it still didn't work. 😭

The first observation we had while playing this game was that it's really dark. We had a hard time recognizing and navigating the surroundings because it was too dark, and the characters didn't have a flashlight (in some parts of the game). We only had a better gaming experience when we transferred to a monitor. With the bigger screen, we were able to see the surroundings better. However, on the Nintendo Switch console itself, we had difficulty navigating the environment.

I think more than half of the game was composed of just going through doors and going upstairs, transitioning between scenes that seemed to have nothing happening in them. It was also difficult to follow the story, comparing it with LN1 and LN2 which were rich in narrative, even though it's not presented explicitly to the players. There are many symbols and clues about who the main villains are. But for this installment, I don't even know what that baby is doing or where it came from. What is its role in the game? Which dimension are the two runaway children navigating?

I think it was only in the latter half of the game that it became more interesting when they moved to different dimensions through the mirror. I especially liked the circus part. 🎪 If you've played LN1 and LN2, you will recognize some easter eggs from the previous games that are inserted in this one. Those little items here and there add an extra layer of understanding to the gaming experience if you have played the two previous installments. However, it doesn't take away the fun if it's your first time immersing yourself in this Little Nightmares world.

Since we had to do single player with the other runaway child being controlled by AI, there were some frustrating moments when the AI was killing itself, causing the game to restart at the last checkpoint. We had to google some parts because the AI was not functioning well. It should have been using its weapon, for example, in one room where it should have been shooting its arrow at one of the barriers. But for various reasons, it was not doing it. That's why we were stuck in that room. Upon googling, we realized that it should be the other kid who was supposed to solve that part of the puzzle. Once we understood that, it worked. I think we wouldn't have been able to discover it if we were trying to figure it out on our own. That's just one of the more frustrating parts of the game. 😅

The ending of the game didn't have as striking an effect compared to LN1 and LN2. Especially with the ending of LN2, we just couldn't move on for days, particularly my niece, because of the plot twist that occurred. There were more questions in my mind with how the ending was presented. I heard there are upcoming DLCs of the game, which would expand the story. But based on my initial experience with the game, I think I won't purchase them anymore. I'm not interested anymore to discover more of that world.😅

Little Nightmares III was also a quick play; my niece was able to finish it in just two days, within a few hours of playing. We played it on Halloween night, which was very fitting. There were a lot of jump scares that had us screaming through the night. 😂 However, with all of my anticipation for the game (wherein the initial release even got delayed for a year), it felt like it wasn't worth the wait. I would still prefer Little Nightmares I & II over this. 

In the future, I will research whether games are couch co-op. I am now on the lookout for couch co-op games to maximize the use of my Switch, as it was really this game that prompted me to buy it. Now that it's finished, I feel a bit disappointed and unsatisfied. I plan to find games that have couch co-op options to play with my niece and other Switch player friends. 

Overall, we still enjoyed it, but I think it wasn't worth the wait, as much as I love the Little Nightmares franchise. 😅