Matt Rodgers reviews Little Nightmares Vol. 1…
We’re told that “The following tales are faint memories, recollections of the children’s life outside the Maw, told to the best of their ability”, and that’s what we get, a beautifully macabre set of dreamscape shards, which hang loosely from the story of a small girl in a raincoat, facing her grim nightmares, all painted upon a dark canvas.
Based on the critically acclaimed 2-D side-scrolling Little Nightmares Bandai Namco Entertainment videogame, this explores the further adventures of Six, our spindly legged protagonist, who’s trapped in the Maw, a world stuffed with ghastly beings and fantastical menace.
This first edition acts as a compendium to the videogame, providing hints of an origin story for Six, who stumbles upon a group of fireside kindred spirits, who offer up their own stories in the hope that they can jog the memory of our lost soul and eventually escape.
The first is titled The Tale of the North Wind, a Grimm style chase in which the wind pursues a brother and sister across bleak landscapes, to an ultimately depressing fate. The second is a terrific hall of mirrors adventure, in which the users greatest wishes are granted, only for a horrifying price to be paid be paid by the individual. Both a drawn with distinct styles unique to the thread, and they’re narratives with a sadness beneath the ink.
The bogeymen are impressive creations, with genuinely creepy faces looming out of the dark, and the characters glimpsed from the larger narrative arc make you want to explore the Little Nightmare shadows further. The recurring image of the Shadowman, who seems to ferry the kids to the Maw, and the brief glimpse at the lair of the Impossible Man, are delightfully tortured monsters, straight from your own under-the-bed fears.
SEE ALSO: VIDEO GAME REVIEW – LITTLE NIGHTMARES
At times it’s as though you’re fumbling around in the dark, largely due to a reliance on some prior-knowledge of the videogame making it feel as though you’ve been dropped into the middle of a story, but once you settle into the broken dream style of storytelling, you’ll want to follow Six further and further into this wonderfully crafted world.
Rating – 8/10
Matt Rodgers
