Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes – Review

Even if you are not a fan of Bandai Namco’s horror platformer franchise, Little Nightmares, there’s no denying that the series is a masterclass in terms of atmosphere and subtle environmental storytelling. Thrust into a dangerous world filled with contorted monstrosities as a defenceless adolescent, these games thrive in making players feel powerless, forcing them to use their wits to evade threats rather than facing them head-on.

So what happens when this same feeling of peril is translated into virtual reality, allowing players to see the nightmares unfurl before their eyes? Frankly, it’s a genius concept that surprisingly hasn’t been done before… until now, as the franchise is finally heading to the virtual realm with Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes. 

And what a glorious transition it is, as experiencing the horrors from this new perspective literally changes the game, offering a whole new dimension of dread to the franchise’s already creepy foundations.

Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes isn’t a prequel, a sequel, or a spin-off, but actually takes place during the events of Little Nightmares II. At the end of Chapter 4 of the 2021 game, protagonists Six and Mono are confronted by the Thin Man, who kidnaps Six and leaves a dark, Glitching Remain behind. Players will now step into the shadowy raincoat of this “Dark Six”, following her journey through a distorted realm of familiar and new locations as they embark on a journey to reunite with her other self.

As with most other games in the franchise, the narrative of Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes is once again highly subjective and leaves room for interpretation. Without spoiling too much, the game offers a deeper look into Six’s psyche, and helps to give a better understanding of the transformation Six sees at the end of the second game, possibly explaining why she chose to ultimately abandon Mono after all they had been through.

While having a substantial story element that supplements the original game is refreshing to see, especially in the VR space largely inhabited by standalone experiences or arcade shooters and Roguelikes that forgo story completely, this also means that players here will only get the best out of Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes’ narrative experience if they have at least played the second game. Newcomers can still have a blast with the scares and the puzzles, but they might ultimately be confused as to what’s going on throughout.

Having an engaging story alone isn’t enough, as a good VR experience is defined by how well it transports players into the world it has created. Before we touch on gameplay, however, accessibility options and their degree of customisation must first be addressed, as games need to provide flexible settings for all players, regardless of their experience in the virtual reality format.

To this end, the features Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes has on offer are severely limited, especially by today’s standards. Smooth Turn, a staple setting for camera movement control, is completely missing here, with players only having the choice of Snap Turn or physically turning in real life. 

The game also doesn’t have a manual calibration setting, so players can only rely on its sometimes unreliable auto-calibration system. Take the game’s opening level, for instance, which features an upside-down ceiling fan that players will have to crouch through to avoid its blades. While the game provided an option for a dedicated crouch button, poor calibration meant that there were instances where crouching in-game would still lead to death, requiring players to bend down further in real life to reliably avoid the obstacle. This might seem like a nitpick, but it might affect players with a more restricted range of motion, or those who prefer to play in Seated Mode. 

Finally, Dark Six’s hood, which obstructs a large part of the screen, can’t be disabled completely, and while this is undoubtedly an artistic choice, not all players might appreciate having black areas on their screens at all times, and it also makes for unsightly screen captures, as you will see throughout this review.

Accessibility issues aside, what Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes provides in terms of gameplay is nothing short of exceptional. In short, the game offers exactly what you might expect from Little Nightmares, but in first-person, enhancing the franchise’s core platforming concepts with a whole new level of immersion.

Little Nightmares has always been known for its tight platforming, tense stealth segments and heart-pounding chase sequences, and all these experiences are dialled up to eleven when done in VR. Viewing the world through the eyes of a child really highlights the sense of scale, forcing players to jump through multiple hoops just to do the most mundane of tasks like opening a door, as Dark Six is way too small to even reach its handle. Unsurprisingly, the game also adds a physical climbing element into the mix, further adding to the immersion of traversing its creepy locales.

A highlight of any Little Nightmare game is its Residents, the nightmarish, often contorted inhabitants of The Nowhere. Residents, both familiar and new, make their appearance here, and each encounter offers a new level of intensity now that it’s happening in VR. Take The Teacher, for example, the long-necked elderly woman first seen in Little Nightmares II. She was already pretty unsettling in the flat-screen game, but here, it’s a whole different story, and nothing sends a shiver down your spine more than seeing her disembodied head slitter straight towards you.

It’s not just all about the scares, however, as Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes also offers ample opportunities for creative platforming and puzzle solving. Set across multiple separate stages, each new location also provides a fresh gameplay mechanic to shake things up, such as one level that warps the environment as you progress through, literally allowing players to see things from a new perspective, or one that plays on darkness, forcing Dark Six and the player to physically light a match to see what lies ahead.

Like many of the games in the franchise, the experience is also relatively short, and with a runtime of just under three hours, players should easily be able to complete it in one sitting, but unlike some of its flat-screen counterparts, there’s little to no downtime, meaning players are consistently engaged in platforming or Resident encounters, and not constantly crawling through airvents or the like to get from place to place. It’s short, sweet, and most importantly, doesn’t overstay its welcome.

On the visual front, Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes also does a stellar job at replicating the charm of the original games. Yes, texture work here is shoddy at best, but this is part and parcel of the VR gaming experience, with the true beauty lying in its environmental design. Exploring The Nowhere through the literal eyes of Dark Six is truly an experience to behold, one that simply can’t be effectively conveyed through screenshots or videos. Everyday objects like doors, chairs and tables now become obstacles to overcome or potential hiding spots thanks to the massive size difference between the player and the world’s inhabitants, lending a uniqueness to exploration not often seen in other franchises. 

Locations are not just for show, too, as each offers a glimpse at the world of The Nowhere and the lives of the Residents. Its train station level, for example, hints at a dystopian, almost authoritarian life its inhabitants live, being watched at all times by an unseen overlord via security cameras at every turn, while its final level, which won’t be spoiled here, presents one of the most creative examples of level design seen in recent memory.

Overall, Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes does the one thing that only the VR format can do – taking everything that made the original flat-screen games so great and ramping up the immersion by adding an extra layer of interactivity. There are some issues here in terms of accessibility that might prevent some players from fully enjoying it, and its story relies on prior knowledge of past games, but if players can tolerate or look past these shortcomings, then they are in for a treat, as this is one nightmare they might not want to wake up from.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.