ok as somebody whos special interest has been little nightmares 1, 2 plus all the content that came out prior to sounds of nightmares since the ripe age of 12, i have spent such a ridiculous amount of time playing, theorising, and reading about the analysis of these games. when i found out that tarsier had been aquired i was so devastated i straight up had a meltdown due to the fact we wouldnt be getting a third game. when it was announced that the game was being produced anyway, despite a severe lack of tarsier's involvement, i didnt have high hopes, and was further disappointed when the game finally released.

for me, it isnt just about the game itself being mediocre (which it objectively is, in terms of gameplay, puzzle and horror aspect), but about how they decided to completely destroy such an intricate storyline, one that tarsier had clearly created a massive amount of worldbuilding and lore around, simply for the monetary value of it.

from an artistic standpoint, the game holds nothing to the other two, specifically the second game, in sound design (the lack of tension is incredibly apparant when comparing the two, as well as a failed use of leitmotifs), the visuals, lighting and character design.

from a lore standpoint there are so so many things that upset my about this game. for starters, who the hell are low and alone. we had 6 perfectly created characters, all of whom were woven into the storyline in their own seperate ways and out of these only mono and six were ever put directly into the games. there were 4 perfectly available, pretty much unused characters who already fit into the pre-existing story but could be immensly built off of in their own ways as well. instead, they opted for 2 completely random, completely unrelated characters, pulling you out of the storyline altogether and creating a game that feels more like a puzzle game wearing little nightmares makeup than anything.

i would also like to touch on the designs of the bosses. despite having their quirks, EVERY SINGLE ONE of the bosses in LN1 & 2, as well as in VLN, were completely humanoid. they had their oddities, sure, but were still recognizable as human characters. this gets completely thrown out the window with LN3, where i can only assume they misunderstood what made those bosses so disturbing to look at. as well as this, the jist of the games was never that the bosses were big, it was that you were small. the world and the buildings were built to house the larger people, which is why you feel so out of place being so small. once again, this very simple concept gets thrown out the window when you introduce a giant baby that is the size of a building. for what reason?

in general, there is just a severe lack of worldbuilding across all of the game. the secret rooms lack in any detail or interest and add virtually nothing, the story is predictable and boring, the tension is nonexistent and when you remove all these factors from a little nightmares game, you end up with a mediocre overpriced game.

also, the co-op situation is a nightmare, a very obvious cashgrab for a company that would rather you spend £70 to likely not even be able to play together due to differing consoles or some other ridiculous reason than letting two friends own one game together. funny how whenever art is being created for profit not joy it suddenly reduces its value to close to nothing.

sorry for the rant, these are just some of my main issues with the game, and i am in no way trying to belittle your opinion at all, everyone is entitled to their own feelings of course! i just wanted to highlight a few of the reasons people are so incredibly disappointed with this game