Beware the horrors of ‘The Depths’ in ‘Little Nightmares’

“Little Nightmares” introduced us to the horrors of the Maw, a gargantuan submersible where grotesque creatures lurk in the dark, waiting for children to steal. But while we already know what happens to that game’s tiny heroine, the twisted universe Tarsier Studios created still has plenty of dark secrets to divulge.

Bandai Namco has just released the first chapter of the “Little Nightmares” expansion DLC “Secrets of the Maw.” Known as “The Depths,” this adventure stars a different protagonist, as well as a new and terrifying adversary known as the Granny. It also takes us even deeper into the Maw, into a watery abyss where old, unwanted things are thrown to be forgotten.

 

This time, you play as a boy simply called the Runaway Kid. The story is as obscure as you’d expect; we don’t know who this child is, how he wound up in the Maw, or if he’s related to the main story campaign’s Six. All we know is that he’s got one thing on his mind: escape.

The early portions of “The Depths” has us revisiting areas that should be familiar to anyone who’s played through the original game. A couple of tumbles later, however, and you’ll find yourself progressing downwards, where it’s darker... and wetter.

So what’s so scary about the water?

The water hides what shadows don’t.

The boy doesn’t have Six’s lighter, but he does acquire a flashlight. Its beam is controlled with the right stick, and reveals the environment’s otherwise hidden details.

But the light doesn’t cut through filthy bodies of water, so that anything lurking in the depths remains unseen until they make themselves known. And by the time that happens, it’s already too late.

 

In other words, water serves as the perfect hiding place for creatures with unholy appetites and no less than murderous intentions. As soon as you enter the water, you’ll be filled with an intense urge to get out as quickly as you can. In most cases, you’ll be able to climb out and onto floating detritus – such as wooden planks and crates – only for your apparent safe haven to vanish beneath your feet. This often results in a race from one position of security to the next – one that’ll leave you cold with dread and breathless with rising panic.

Of course, “The Depths” isn’t all about scares. Tarsier Studios seems to have taken the major criticisms lobbed at “Little Nightmares” to heart; the DLC benefits from more puzzles, a number of which outshine the original’s in terms of complexity. They’re still lacking in challenge, although there may be one or two that will leave you stumped for a while.

Checkpoints also occur more frequently, so that death won’t mean having to retread lengthy sections repeatedly.

As for the visuals and audio, the DLC looks as gorgeous as the original game, with equally bone-chilling ambient sounds and music.



As a single chapter of a new story, “The Depths” isn’t very long, likely to take you 45 minutes to an hour to complete, counting all your mishaps. Still, the Runaway Kid’s parallel escape adventure is a compelling, frightening one, making this DLC worth your time. Purchasing the chapter alone will cost you $3.99, which is the more expensive choice. You can instead opt to buy the $9.99 “Secrets of the Maw” Expansion Pass, which will allow you to access the second chapter, “The Hideaway,” when it launches this September, and the third and last chapter which is to be released in January 2018.

Read our review of “Little Nightmares” here. — TJD, GMA News
Rating: 8.5/10

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows