Little Nightmares

Dreaming of a peculiar puzzler? Don’t sleep on this 

- Jen Simpkins

That yellow raincoat is already tugging at the trouser-leg of ‘iconic’ status. Winking out of the grey gloom of this platformer, the colour of Six’s mackintosh is as brave as the kid herself. Dusty libraries; grisly kitchens; rooms where outsize showerheads loom like predators: Six will face it all, and throughout it all, that coat is a little light in the darkness.

Tarsier Studios’ macabre art direction is spoton. You find yourself imprisoned in a strange, sea-bound vessel: The Maw. It’s a dim, dank hodgepodge of rooms that sways uneasily from side to side. Dust clouds shift and resettle, shafts of light throw odd shadows, and the camera gently pulls focus at timely moments to let you peer through the otherworldly fuzz. And this is all before you discover the lighter in your pocket. Tap E, and Six produces the tiny flame, casting flickers of gold to investigate dark corners.