Horror games, like horror movies, can surprise us

Little Nightmarescame out of nowhere for me but immediately captured my attention. It makes perfect sense that Tarsier Studios, who worked on DLC and the Vita port forLittleBigPlanet, created it, as its aesthetic drew me in.

It drew in a lot of other people too, as publisher Bandai Namco has reported that in roughly a year and four months the little indie that could pushed one million copies worldwide. Studio CEO Andreas Johnsson notes that this is “beyond what we ever expected,” in sales, and is “proof that the new direction for the studio was the right choice.” If they’re going to keep making macabre, easy to digest games like this, bring it on! There’s a market for it beyond the occasionalLimbo,Inside, andLone Survivor.

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Little Nightmareswas released back in April of 2017 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, but has since hosted a Switch release as recently as May of this year.

The ghost at the end of the hallway

Picking up the smiley face post-it off the broken mirror

John and Molly sitting on the park bench

Close up shot of Marissa Marcel starring in Ambrosio

Kukrushka sitting in a meadow

Lightkeeper pointing his firearm overlapped against the lighthouse background

Overseer looking over the balcony in opening cutscene of Funeralopolis

Edited image of Super Imposter looking through window in No I’m not a Human demo cutscene with thin man and FEMA inside the house

Looking at the ghost of Jackie inside the lighthouse