Little Nightmares III: Insight into the Franchise’s Most Requested Feature

Fans on the unofficial Little Nightmares subreddit have long been clamoring for the puzzle-platform horror adventure franchise to include some sort of co-op play, with some being of the opinion that it should take inspiration from titles such as Unravel Two and It Takes Two . For what it’s worth, when it came out in 2021, Little Nightmares II brought back the protagonist of the first game, Six, as a companion to the new lead, Mono, but the former was only able to be controlled by the AI and not also by another human player.

Soon after the release of Little Nightmares II , the Finnish developer behind the first two Little Nightmares games, Tarsier Studios, was formally acquired by Embracer Group , with Embracer getting the IP rights to Tarsier’s VR puzzle title Statik but not to Little Nightmares , which would remain owned by original publisher Bandai Namco. As we found out at ONL 2024 , Tarsier, now under the THQ Nordic umbrella, would go on to work on REANIMAL , a terrifying horror adventure which supports either solo or local and online co-op play, whereas Supermassive Games, most known for Until Dawn and The Quarry , would take over the reins of Little Nightmares .

Developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco, Little Nightmares III was announced at gamescom 2023, featuring two different protagonists, boasting a brand-new aesthetic and, in a first for the series, online co-op play. Last week, as part of gamescom 2024, I played through Little Nightmares III ’s Candy Factory stage together with another journalist, with my full impressions of the demo now live in a separate piece, which you can find here .

After playing a bit of Little Nightmares III, I sat down with the producer of the game, Coralie Feniello , and asked her about the story she and her team are trying to tell, how adding online co-op has changed the core gameplay loop, and more:

Hello, and thank you for having me today! Can you briefly introduce yourself and your work on Little Nightmares III ?

Coralie Feniello : My name is Coralie Feniello, and I am the producer of Bandai Namco’s Little Nightmares III . Before this, I also worked on Little Nightmares II .

So, Supermassive Games , who is developing Little Nightmares III , previously did some work on Little Big Planet and on porting Little Nightmares II . Has any of that work helped when bringing the upcoming title to life?

Coralie Feniello : Supermassive worked with Tarsier on LittleBigPlanet and I think that really helped them make that type of 2.5D game. I first started working with Supermassive when developing Little Nightmares II Enhanced Edition and, yeah, it was really important for them to see how the game was made and to make the enhanced visuals, sound and everything for that.

How has Little Nightmares III changed since it was revealed at last year’s Opening Night Live ?

Coralie Feniello : Well…the game is changing all the time, so I don’t have any specifics! But we are making sure that we are working toward making a quality game.

What would you say are the main themes behind Little Nightmares III ’s story? And how is Little Nightmares III connected, if at all, to the first two titles in the series?

Coralie Feniello : So, you don’t need to play Little Nightmares I or II to understand Little Nightmares III . But, if you did play them, you will find links and Easter eggs everywhere. That’s because the Little Nightmares universe is very rich and is enhanced by, for example, the podcast that we released last year…everything connects together! At the same time, it’s really important for us that the story is accessible to new players and that they can jump directly into Little Nightmares III .

How about the theme behind the story — what can you tell me about it?

Coralie Feniello : The relationship between Low and Alone is really important for the story, but the specific theme is not really something I can comment on right now.

Speaking about the relationship between the two protagonists, Low and Alone, how would you say that they complement each other?

Coralie Feniello : I love their relationship because they really care for each other. This is something we show in their animations: they have expressive animations each time one of them is falling or when one of them gets hurt by enemies. This is also something you can see in single-player because, even though the character you don’t play as is controlled by the AI, we have put so many animations to make sure that the personality of the character is showing through.

What do their names, Low and Alone, say about them?

Coralie Feniello : That’s something we’ll let the fans make up their own minds about for now. We’ll see when the game is released.

What made you choose the wrench and the bow as their respective tools of choice?

Coralie Feniello : We wanted one of the tools to be long-distance, so the bow and arrow came to us directly. Also, both tools need to feel a bit childish, so, the bow and arrow are meant to be reminiscent of one’s childhood. It’s the same for the wrench, which is too big for the character. Plus, the backstory of Alone is that she’s an incredible tinkerer, so she really likes to play with things. You can see this in the Necropolis stage, for example, where she can put the wrench on some mechanism and turn it.

Little Nightmares III is the first in the series to introduce co-op play. How has this addition changed the core gameplay loop?

Coralie Feniello : So, in Little Nightmares II we already had Six, who was an AI companion, so that was kind of a first step in us getting to co-op. But then, with Little Nightmares III , it was pretty natural to get to online co-op, also because it was the most requested feature from our fans. It did change how we think about our puzzles and stuff like that because we need to think about both single-player and co-op play and it’s really important for us that Little Nightmares III is good to play in both ways.

How does the character controlled by the AI react to or even anticipate player behaviour?

Coralie Feniello : That’s really a question of balancing, and it’s something we’re working on to make it the best it can be. We need to have an AI that’s not waiting too much for the player, but we also don’t want it to lead too much. So it’s really a question of balancing and back and forth by playing the game and offering feedback. On both the Bandai Namco side and the Supermassive side, everyone plays the game all the time and makes sure everything is polished.

Little Nightmares is a series known for its atmosphere. How do you think introducing co-op changes the tone of the game?

Coralie Feniello : When playing co-op, as soon as you put on the headset, you will see that things can get funny…but I think that’s also part of the game. We like to have childish elements in Little Nightmares , since the game is also based on childhood fears, and so, you can grab a lollipop and have fun with that. But at the same time, once you get to an enemy, the atmosphere gets more tense, and I think that, even with the co-op, you have that feeling, that fear that something is coming your way.

How exactly is the co-op going to work in Little Nightmares III ? Is it online only?

Coralie Feniello : Little Nightmares III will feature only online co-op, mainly because we wanted to keep the beautiful panoramic shots that you can sometimes see, for example, in the Candy Factory stage. In that stage, you can see the whole production line at some point, and that’s something that we could not have in a split-screen co-op. We also didn’t want to force players to always be on the same screen — we want them to be able to just be in another room if they wanted to.

How are these panoramic shots important to the environmental storytelling of Little Nightmares III ?

Coralie Feniello : When you’re talking about narrative, everything goes through the environment, so we put a lot of care in each room. It’s really a kind of craftsmanship to create each room one by one and then to polish it one by one. I think the sound is also super important because of the way we are building up and killing the tension…it really goes through the sound, and I think that’s something that you can hear in the Necropolis demo, for example. The baby there is so loud and so big that you can hear her a lot. But then, it sometimes gets quiet, and that can be even more stressful than when you can hear her.

How do you want the players to feel when they finish Little Nightmares III ?

Coralie Feniello : I don’t want to spoil the ending, so I can’t really give you a feeling! [laughs] I want players to feel attached to the characters and to feel like they have embraced the character that they are playing, especially since they won’t be able to change in-between the characters during the playthrough: you have to stick to the character you’ve chosen to start with.

Would it be rewarding for players to play through Little Nightmares III a second time, maybe as the protagonist they didn’t choose the first go around?

Coralie Feniello : Yeah, I think so. And also to play the game in both single-player and co-op. As I was saying, in single-player you have some animations that you can’t see in multiplayer and stuff like that, so that can give players more insight about the characters.

Is there anything you’d like to add?

Coralie Feniello : I’m really looking forward to seeing players enjoy the game when it comes out in 2025. It’s been great to see some of them already playing the demo…it’s really cool having seen people enjoy Little Nightmares III here at gamescom .

Little Nightmares III will be available in 2025 on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.