Developer: Tarsier Studios
Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tested on: PS4
Little Nightmares: The Depths DLC – Review
A short while ago we had the opportunity to cover a very unique indie game of 2017. With its special atmosphere and deep hidden story it kept many of us wondering and speculating what the hell was going on there in the Maw. Being greatly received by the whole community, this gave the developers a good insight in how to make their promise true about expanding the story of within the Maw. This expansion would be formed into a season pass with three chapters being released every few months. Today we first meet our new protagonist and hopefully learn something about his story in the chapter: The Depths.
It all starts with you swimming around in a large body of water, somewhere in an unknown location. Shortly after you get grabbed by a hand and pulled down, in a drowning effort this looks like the end but it seems to just be a ‘little nightmare’ (pun intended). When waking up in a cold damp bed the adventure starts. You follow the story of the Runaway Kid that is trapped somewhere in the flooded basement of the Maw. This is the territory of the mysterious creature named Granny, why she is hostile who knows, maybe you never visited her on Christmas?
We know that the Maw is a dark place, while most areas in Six her campaign where pretty well lighted, this story plays in a much deeper and darker hole. Many times will you find a claustrophobic darkness that will either make traversing very uncomfortable or even to the brink of suffocating. It takes a few moments until you acquire the flashlight and this item does works different from Six her lighter. While this gives a glow in the short surrounding distance, the torch is more concentrated for further reach. This is all done for a reason since in the deep underground you mostly need to plan out your moves: the basement focuses on water puzzles but mostly on survival. This area is badly flooded and with Granny lurking deep to drag you down it is in your best interest to plan ahead where to crawl on since the Runaway Kid isn’t an Olympic swimmer in form of speed. Luckily Granny can be distracted by some well placed fish heads so you can safely make your way out of there. At the end you will come face to face with your nightmare fuel but a strong warrior will not give up!
The Depths is a nice location but lacks some of the charisma we encountered in the base game. You can discuss that a cellar is nothing special but in sharp contrast with the other places we’d expect something grim or more special. This does not hinder any gameplay or enjoyment also for the fact that this expansion only will last you around 45 minutes to upwards an hour. With only a handful of puzzles this feels short, but it could be just a little sweetener for the upcoming chapters. The hunters in our ranks will be glad that there is a new sort of collectible in the form of a message in the bottle.
Conclusion
Although it’s a short DLC title with around 45 minutes of gameplay and a bit of replay ability value to get all the collectables, it is nice to see an expansion so quickly after release to keep us interested for the upcoming two later this year. Returning to the Maw once again and living through the eyes of another prisoner in this hell. With the same untouched beloved mechanics and returningatmosphere albeit even darker than before we happily set foot in this wicked place once again. As a solo DLC this could look a bit expensive, but when purchased in the season pass and especially the PlayStation version it becomes a really nice deal because of the dynamic theme included.
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