Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes Review

Little Nightmares: Altered Echoes VR, a new story set in the titular franchise, sticks to the basics with the series’ trademark macabre hide-and-seek stealth gameplay and is all the better for it.

If you are not familiar with the Little Nightmares games, they center on a child (or children) protagonist(s) navigating a series of macabre environments while evading capture from twisted (sometimes humanoid) pursuers. It’s a simple premise executed at a high level through creepily effective level design paired with nerve-racking audio. Altered Echoes sticks to this formula, almost stubbornly so, with some lost opportunities for more robust VR interactions and missing quality of life features experienced VR players will long for.

Altered Echoes stars Dark Six, the shadowy alter ego of Six, who starred in the first Little Nightmares and co-stars in the sequel, Little Nightmares II. New players to the series will be able to follow the entirely non-verbal story without issue, but those who have played the other games will spot references and tie-ins left and right.

For those who have not played either, Iconik faithfully recreates the scene from Little Nightmares II where the Thin Man, one of the series primary villains, captures Six, leaving behind a dark ghostly remnant of her. This scene is the origin of Dark Six and Altered Echoes starts from this very moment.

What follows is a four-hour, five-chapter journey to reunite Dark Six with her other half. There are collectibles in the form of music sheets in several chapters for those who wish to track them down. If you want a similar game, Flat2VR Studios’ Out of Sight VR is the closest comparison.

As I said in my article about my hands-on demo at the Game Developers Conference, Altered Echoes nails the scale of this world. The children in Little Nightmares are miniscule compared to the giant world around them. As an example, a box of matches acquired midway through the game is nearly the size of Dark Six’s body.

Comparatively, every disturbing enemy in the game is several orders of magnitude larger. I have never felt more small and helpless in a VR game before. Being spotted by any of these ‘people’ is an instant game over and respawn. Autosave points are thankfully plentiful, not leaving too much to replay upon death. There were instances where I was unsure where to go next, but some light exploration, including a few intentional deaths just to scout ahead, showed the way.

I do need to address the most frequently asked questions I received after my demo article was published. Can the vignette representing Dark Six’s hoodie be disabled? Is there smooth turning? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding no. Here are Bandai Namco’s direct words from a Q&A on its website:

No. Smooth rotation will not be available, as the current turning system was chosen to help minimize motion sickness.

No. The game has been designed with the hood enabled at all times to help focus the player’s gaze, reduce motion sickness, and enhance overall immersion.

The vignette is noticeable in headset (and looks worse on recorded video), but the default setting is not too intrusive. The snap turning is a shame, especially since there are no settings to adjust the degree of the turn. It is a one-size-fits-all choice of comfort that experienced VR users are likely to bristle at. Along the same lines, the left analog stick has to be annoyingly kept pressed in to run. This was a thumb ache waiting to happen and I would love to see a toggle sprint option added.

One other thing I did wish for was more disturbing death sequences. In the flat games, Six (and other protagonists) are snatched up, dragged underwater, eaten, and a host of other unnerving deaths. None of this happens in Altered Echoes. When caught, the screen simply fades out. This is likely another comfort decision and feels like a missed opportunity.

While stealth does comprise most of the gameplay, Iconik does change it up with some harrowing chase sequences. These are the best parts of the game, properly ramping up the tension so much that I made silly mistakes and died just from being rattled and panicking as the music starts to crescendo.

Altered Echoes has fairly basic gameplay: sneak, run, hide, crawl, climb, and occasionally distract the enemy to move forward. It excels in its presentation. The scale, the different locations, the sound effects, the situational musical score, all of it is stellar and elevates bang-average stealth mechanics. It does not deviate from what made the flatscreen games so popular and simply relies on the sense of presence VR offers to take it to the next level.

Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes Final Verdict

Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes is the best VR horror game in quite some time. Much like Batman Arkham Shadow, Half-Life: Alyx, and Metro Awakening before it, Altered Echoes stays faithful to its series while still shining in VR.

The gameplay is nothing groundbreaking, but the same can be said for the series as a whole. Altered Echoes keeps it simple and executes at a high level, getting nearly everything right with the exception of limited VR options. These ultimately do not detract from a top notch VR horror experience.

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