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Games Like Little Nightmares: Small, Dark and Unsettling

Little Nightmares makes you small in a world of huge, hungry grown-ups, and gives you nothing to fight with: you hide, sneak, climb and solve puzzles in the dark. These games share that feeling of being a child, or something childlike, alone in a place that wants to eat you.

The games

  1. Little Nightmares II key art: Mono with a paper bag on his head and Six in her yellow raincoat stand among leaning houses before the tall Signal Tower under a glowing sky PsychologicalLittle Nightmares IIThe sequel: Mono and Six through a school, a hospital and a city of TV-struck people, hiding from grotesque adults.
  2. Little Nightmares III key art: Low in a bird mask with a bow and Alone in goggles stand on a heap of junk among giant hands in a dusty haze PsychologicalLittle Nightmares IIITwo new friends, Low and Alone, slip past giants in the Nowhere, alone or with a friend online.
  3. DARQ screenshot: Lloyd, a pale boy in a striped shirt, crosses a tilted room of pipes and machines as gravity turns PsychologicalDARQ: Complete EditionSide-view sneaking and puzzles in a boy's lucid nightmare, past creatures he cannot fight.
  4. Bramble: The Mountain King key art: Olle and his sister in a dark green forest with red toadstools, a gnome and a hedgehog Hide, sneak and Bramble: The Mountain KingA boy chases his sister through dark Nordic fables, sneaking past and facing folklore monsters.
  5. Among the Sleep key art: a toddler in starry pyjamas hugs a teddy bear on a crescent moon that drips into a shadow with glowing eyes PsychologicalAmong the SleepA two-year-old searches a night-time house that turns into a dream world, too small to face what follows.
  6. Yomawari: Night Alone key art: a little girl with a red bow walks her white dog past a vending machine on a dark street Hide, sneak and Yomawari: Night AloneA little girl with a flashlight hides from deadly spirits in her night-time town.
  7. Fran Bow key art: Fran holding her black cat Mr. Midnight in front of a red-eyed monster, with skeletal and masked characters on the left PsychologicalFran BowA hand-drawn, grim and surreal adventure about a girl escaping an asylum to find her cat.
  8. The Midnight Walk key art: the small flame-headed Potboy stands in the middle of a ring of red-eyed clay monsters Hide, sneak and The Midnight WalkStop-motion clay dark fantasy: carry a small flame through tales where monsters try to snuff it out.
  9. Little Misfortune key art: a little girl in a red beret and green coat looks back over a golden autumn hillside, with a fox holding a crackling staff and a Missing poster on a tree PsychologicalLittle MisfortuneA storybook-sweet tale of a little girl that turns darker with every choice.
  10. Poppy Playtime art: Huggy Wuggy, a blue furry mascot with red lips and rows of sharp teeth, grins in a red-lit factory ShortPoppy PlaytimeA first-person puzzle game in an abandoned toy factory whose mascot comes after you.

The obvious next step is the rest of the series. Little Nightmares II follows Mono with Six through a forest, a school, a hospital and a city of TV-struck people, and Little Nightmares III, now made by Supermassive Games, brings two new friends, Low and Alone, and lets you play it with a friend online.

For the same side-on, sneak-and-solve play, DARQ is the closest. A boy trapped in a lucid nightmare walks on walls and ceilings, turns rooms around and slips past creatures he cannot fight, all without a word of dialogue. Bramble: The Mountain King moves to a third-person view and to dark Nordic fables, as a boy goes after his sister through forests and caves full of folklore monsters.

If what you love is the child's-eye view, Among the Sleep puts you in the body of a two-year-old searching for their mother at night, with a teddy bear for company and a home that turns into a dream world. Yomawari: Night Alone sends a little girl with a flashlight through her night-time town, hiding from spirits that can kill her in one touch.

For the storybook darkness, Fran Bow and Little Misfortune by Killmonday Games are hand-drawn tales of young girls in grim, surreal worlds, and The Midnight Walk, made from real clay in stop motion, has you carry a small flame through tales of fire and darkness while monsters try to snuff it out. Poppy Playtime is the toy-factory cousin: a first-person puzzle game in which the factory's mascots come after you.

If you only try one, play DARQ for the closest feel of play, or Among the Sleep for the most helpless child's-eye fear.

Questions

What is the closest game to Little Nightmares?

Little Nightmares II and III first. Outside the series, DARQ is the closest: a side-view puzzle game of sneaking past creatures you cannot fight in a nightmare world.

Can you play Little Nightmares with a friend?

Little Nightmares III can be played with a friend online; the first two games are single player.

Are there games like Little Nightmares on Switch?

Yes: DARQ, Bramble: The Mountain King, Among the Sleep, Yomawari: Night Alone, Fran Bow and Poppy Playtime are all on Nintendo Switch.

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