Little Nightmares 3 has responded to fan feedback and will include a co-op mode, however, it is only available through online play.
Bandai Namco Europe producer Coralie Feniello and Supermassive Games director Wayne Garland explained the design decision in an interview with Games Radar. While the first two titles in the creepy series were developed by Tarsier Studios, the team behind Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology is taking the reins on this one.
“Co-op was the most requested feature from our fans, so it was really important for us to give them that,” rationalised Feniello, explaining that the shared odyssey through Little Nightmares 3‘s Necropolis will “add a layer to the game” that is unlike the others.
“But at the same time, we really want the player to experience it as they want. So that’s why we kept single player, so if you don’t play online co-op you would be able to play with AI with you,” added the producer.
Supermassive Games has honed both the local and online multiplayer modes of its games across Man Of Medan, Little Hope, House Of Ashes, The Quarry and The Devil In Me.
Yet, Little Nightmares 3 will only feature online co-op as it makes sure players are anchored in the atmosphere of the game.
“We’ve been asked questions about online versus couch co-op. Couch is something that we considered,” answered Garland. “Again, when you come back to the atmosphere and the immersion that we’re trying to elicit through Little Nightmares, I think it was important for us that we stuck to our online co-op only rather than traditional more party aspects.”
Little Nightmares 3 centres on Low and Alone, two new characters to the series. However, even in this new setting Feniello assured fans that they will find references to the horrors of Little Nightmares 1 and 2 in the world.
In other gaming news, developer Polyarc offered fans a deeper dive into Glassbreakers: Champions Of Moss, its upcoming VR fighting game set in the Moss universe.