Little Nightmares (PlayStation 4) Preview

Thus far, all that has been revealed about Little Nightmares is that you control a little girl in a raincoat, trying to escape "The Maw," a dark and strange place that appears every year at the same time, yet always in a different place. Filled by "The Guests" - monstrous, shuffling, hungry, dead-eyed creatures, and other strange creatures, Little Nightmares hits the right notes. Nobody has ever escaped The Maw and that is definitely played upon throughout.

The demo was refreshingly challenging, with only the briefest of tutorials popping onto screen to explain the controls, but otherwise trusting the player to establish how to use the abilities presented to them. It's always good to see a game that doesn't handhold and expects gamers to think independently.

Dropped into a huge bedroom, the little girl stands under a foot tall in comparison to the giant versions of the items in the room. A pop-up message explains things can be grabbed and dragged using the appropriate button and the player is then left to explore.

Right from the first room, the creepiness factor is scaled way up. It is a lot of little things that help to build the atmosphere and tone continuously. A small music box chimes out a slow tune; the little girl's hood keeps her face obscured at all times, leaving the audience guessing what's beneath; the lumbering behemoth enemies trot slowly, but thanks to their size, can quickly catch up to a runner that is so much smaller…and so on.