Line #15 VideoGame/VeryLittleNightmares


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_19_3.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Who knows what's beyond that next door? Given this world, really, do you ''want'' to know?]]
3
4	''Very Little Nightmares'' is a macabre mobile {{Room Escape\|Game}} AdventureGame developed by ALIKE Studios for Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment, released on Android and [=iOS=] in May, 2019.
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6	The game takes place in the universe of the PuzzlePlatformer ''VideoGame/LittleNightmares'', to which it is a {{prequel}}.
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8	It follows a young child [[NoNameGiven (known only as "The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat")]] who wakes up having crashed her hot air balloon in the heart of a mysterious mansion called the Nest. Using a {{Point and Click\|game}} mechanic, the player must guide the Girl out of the mansion while helping her solve puzzles, explore secret rooms, evade mysterious villains, and occasionally run for her life.
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11	'''See also [[Characters/LittleNightmares the Little Nightmares character sheets]].'''
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13	!!Tropes appearing in ''Very Little Nightmares'':
14	* ActionGirl: The girl in the yellow raincoat braves the Nest in order to escape and is clever enough to solve the puzzles to get out.
15	* AdvancingBossOfDoom: [[spoiler:In the game's final sequence, the player must flee as the Pretender pursues them headfirst down a cliff. Eventually, the second escapee will be able to [[BoulderBludgeon crush the Pretender with a boulder]], saving you. [[NotQuiteDead Ostensibly]], that is ...]]
16	* AirVentPassageway: Like in ''Little Nightmares'', the player often moves between rooms through convenient air ducts.
17	* AllThereInTheManual: The names of the characters [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep (such as they are)]] never appear in the game.
18	* AllWebbedUp: The girl at one point encounters a pile of what seem to be children's bodies cocooned in spider silk, below a massive web.
19	* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: The Pretender's parents never appear (except for their legs in one portrait). She seems to live alone in the Nest with her two servants.
20	* AntagonistInMourning: [[spoiler:In the final scene, the player runs into the Pretender outside on a bench overlooking the sea, where she is apparently mourning for the skin-doll she has just dismembered.]]
21	* BerserkBoardBarricade: In the scene shown at the beginning of the game, the girl rushes inside a shed and jams a two-by-four under the doorknob to prevent whoever's pursuing her from getting in. [[spoiler: As we find out at the end, it would have been an AbsurdlyIneffectiveBarricade against the Butler, who is [[MindOverMatter telekinetic]].]]
22	* BigBad: [[spoiler:[[CreepyChild The Pretender]] seemingly owns [[BigFancyHouse the Nest]], where she has children [[WaxMuseumMorgue turned into dolls]] for her to play with, and wants the girl in the yellow raincoat to be her next victim.]]
23	* BigFancyHouse: The game's main location, the Nest, is a massive mansion with dozens of rooms including its own landfill. In its disrepair, it seems to be rapidly sliding in the direction of an OldDarkHouse.
24	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The girl in the raincoat dies, but manages to take [[BigBad the Pretender]] with her, while Six escapes and implicitly [[TakingUpTheMantle wears her raincoat]] in memory.]]
25	* BonusStageCollectibles: There are 18 jacks-in-the-box to be found throughout the game, most hidden in secret rooms between the walls.
26	* BraidsOfAction: [[spoiler:As she falls to her death, it's revealed that the girl wears a braid underneath her hood.]]
27	* CallForward: The game is packed with references to ''Little Nightmares'', from environments to puzzle mechanics.
28	** Most of the jack-in-the-box trophies are based on characters in the first game including the Janitor, the Lady, and the shadow children from the DLC.
29	** The burrowing monster in the garbage dump works the same as the one Six encounters in the shoe pit.
30	** The piano room transforms a funny hidden achievement from ''Little Nightmares'' and ''Secrets of the Maw'' into an actual puzzle: in the main game, you get the achievement "Six's Song" for running back and forth across the keys of the hanging piano in the library room; in the "Residence" chapter of the DLC you can unlock a hidden panel and retrieve some [[MessageInABottle flotsam]] by doing the same on the piano found after defeating the shadow children. In ''Very Little Nightmares'', the sheet music decorations on one room's wood paneling instruct you to walk all the way up the keyboard twice in a row, which unlocks the next stage of the level.
31	* CanonCharacterAllAlong: [[spoiler:The little girl escaping alongside the protagonist is indicated at the end to be Six from the main game.]]
32	* ControlRoomPuzzle: In one level, you need to turn the power on to catch a Nome, but only one configuration of four fuse switches will allow you to pull the lever without getting [[HighVoltageDeath electrocuted]]. Fortunately, [[EnterSolutionHere the key is visible behind the door in another room]]. Unfortunately, the fuse wires are hopelessly tangled.
33	* CorridorCubbyholeRun: In one level, the player has to evade the Butler by ducking into a series of conveniently open dryers.
34	* CreepilyLongArms: The Craftsman's legs and arms are so long that he seems to prefer to keep them folded up in his wheelchair rather than trying to walk. It creates a rather [[SpidersAreScary spider-like]] effect.
35	* CreepyChild: The Pretender has the appearance of a prettied-up little girl, [[spoiler:but she proves to be just as vicious and deadly as her employees.]]
36	* CreepyDoll: [[spoiler:The Pretender's legions of doll-children. Even creepier because of the implication that they're actually real, [[WaxMuseumMorgue preserved dead children]].]]
37	* CymbalBangingMonkey: One appears in the playroom, where you use its pull-cord to get down from a table.
38	* DeathCourse: [[spoiler:The penultimate level sees the girl in the raincoat running away from the Nest and navigating obstacles while the [[MindOverMatter telekinetic]] Butler flings [[EverythingTryingToKillYou everything around]] at her, including statues, columns, and garden paraphernalia.]]
39	* DemotedToExtra: [[spoiler: Six gradually appears throughout the game as a minor character, although the player is led to believe that we are playing as her and that Six is instead just another inconsequential child.]]
40	* DownInTheDumps: At one point the girl in the raincoat finds herself below in the Nest in its landfill. Escaping it requires solving several trash-based puzzles while avoiding an [[NothingIsScarier unseen garbage-burrower]] much like the one in ''Little Nightmares'''s shoe room.
41	* DramaticCurtainToss: In the bathroom, tapping the curtain on the steaming shower causes the girl in the raincoat to slowly approach it before suddenly pulling it back--only to reveal that [[SubvertedTrope there's no one inside]].
42	* EasterEgg:
43	** Many levels feature a small secret room containing detritus or cast-offs of some sort, one of the 18 jacks-in-the-box [[BonusStageCollectibles that can be collected as achievements]], and usually a Nome or two.
44	** There is also an ''extra''-secret room (without a box) hidden in the searchlight level. [[spoiler:It has some [[RuleOfSymbolism thematic significance]], but not much else.]]
45	* EnterSolutionHere:
46	** The key to the [[ControlRoomPuzzle fuse puzzle]] [[spoiler:is on the wall behind the door in the dark room, but you have to follow the wires carefully to identify which is actually connected where.]]
47	** One level features pressure pads on the floor that must be activated in a certain order to open the door. [[spoiler:The key has been written by a Nome on the wall of the hidden room below the platform.]]
48	* EscapeFromTheCrazyPlace: The plot follows the girl in the yellow raincoat trying to escape from a strange, ''strange'' mansion [[spoiler:and its unhinged owner]].
49	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: "The Butler" and "the Craftsman" are their only given names. "The Pretender" also counts, since that seems to be her role in life.
50	* EvilOldFolks: The Craftsman and the Butler both appear old and decrepit.
51	* ExploringTheEvilLair: In her efforts to escape, the girl ends up getting a pretty thorough tour of the expansive Nest.
52	* {{Eye Motif\|s}}: Like the Maw, the Nest has eyes all over the place--on doors, in patterns on the walls, even in its searchlights.
53	* FallingChandelierOfDoom: One of the many objects the Butler tries to crush you with is the ornate chandelier in the main foyer.
54	* GiantSpider: {{Implied}}. When the girl jumps through the escape hatch, she falls down a shaft and into a ''very'' large spider web which quickly breaks, dropping her onto a pile of [[AllWebbedUp cocooned children's bodies]]. But [[NothingIsScarier no spider is ever seen]].
55	* GottaCatchThemAll: There's a hidden jack-in-the-box to find in each level. Whether you have found each displays under the level thumbnail in the menu.
56	* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:The girl in the raincoat is attacked by the Pretender and falls to her death.]]
57	* HeroOfAnotherStory: At various points throughout the game, you catch sight of another child making an escape attempt. Her smaller size seems to be allowing her to take advantage of more efficient routes, which we don't get to see much of. Her story [[SimultaneousArcs does intersect with the protagonist's at the end, however]].
58	* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:At the very end, it looks like Six and the girl in the raincoat have defeated the Pretender and won. They gaze at each other for a moment. But then it turns out the Pretender is NotQuiteDead, and she attacks the protagonist for the last time.]]
59	* HowWeGotHere: The game opens with the girl in the raincoat running into the tool shed and barricading the door, before slowly backing away [[OminousKnocking as an unseen pursuer pounds on it]]. Then we return to her balloon crash in the Nest and work our way forward.
60	* HumanoidAbomination: Just as much as the original game. The Craftsman is absurdly tall due to his long limbs and has [[BodyHorror backward-bending ankles]]. The Butler's head and unnaturally arched body are just strange, not to mention his [[MindOverMatter telekinetic powers]]. Even the Pretender is ''off''--she can crawl down a cliff headfirst and has the ability to disintegrate the protagonist by simply touching her.
61	* IconicOutfit: [[spoiler:We are tricked into thinking the player character is Six by the yellow raincoat she wears. The end of the game implies that it actually is the same coat.]]
62	* ImprovisedWeapon: In one sequence, the player must direct a [[SteamVentObstacle jet of steam]] at the Butler to distract him while making their escape.
63	* InMediasRes: The story proper begins right after the girl in the raincoat has apparently crashed her hot air balloon in the Nest. We never find out what led up to this.
64	* TheJeeves: The second enemy the girl encounters is know as the Butler. He certainly looks the part, and performs various household tasks including serving tea and killing vermin on behalf of his employer.
65	* LightIsNotGood: The eye-shaped searchlights near the beginning of the game emit beams of light that turn the player to stone if she stands in them too long.
66	* LiteralCliffhanger: The game's final level takes place on a cliff overlooking a large body of water. The player has to climb down its side, pause to knock over a tree for the other escapee, and [[ThePrecariousLedge run along a ledge]] to escape the Pretender. [[spoiler:At the very end, the Pretender tackles the player and takes them over the side with her.]]
67	* LockedDoor: Most of the doorknobs in the Nest are too high for the player to reach, but many puzzles involve finding a key, a passcode, or a shoe to throw at the button.
68	* LonelyDollGirl: The Pretender. PlayedForHorror, seeing as her dolls are crafted from actual children.
69	* LonelyRichKid: The Pretender, it seems, was so lonely that she started commissioning [[MummiesAtTheDinnerTable skin dolls]] to treat like actual children.
70	* MindOverMatter: The Butler is telekinetic, which comes in handy when killing Six as well as with normal chores. Upon closer inspection, it seems that his hands are actually manacled behind his back.
71	* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: The Pretender's [[WaxMuseumMorgue preserved playmates]] are first seen in a dining room, where several dozen of them are seated at a long, fancy dinner table. When we first see the Pretender herself, she's having tea with more of them.
72	* MundaneUtility: The Butler is frequently seen using his [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] to complete menial household tasks such as laundry and ironing.
73	* MysteriousPast: Very little is known about the girl's past, besides the fact that she accidentally crashed at the Nest in a hot-air balloon.
74	* NobodyHereButUsStatues: After pulling the plug in the TV room, the girl has to run back to the empty seat amongst the Pretender's {{Creepy Doll}}s and pretend to be one as the Butler floats past.
75	* NoBodyLeftBehind: The Pretender can apparently make people disappear entirely just by touching them.
76	* NoEscapeButDown: At the end of the laundry room sequence, the girl in the raincoat must drop down through a hatch to escape the Butler, which results in a rather long fall.
77	* NoNameGiven: She's only referred to as "the girl in the yellow raincoat."
78	* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:The Pretender appears to be dead after Six drops a boulder on her, but then she suddenly lunges at the girl in the raincoat, sending them both over the side of the cliff.]]
79	* OddlySmallOrganization: A mansion the size of the Nest should require tens of servants to keep it running, yet the Pretender's only employees seem to be the Craftsman and the Butler.
80	* OminousKnocking: In the cutscene at the beginning of the game, the girl barricades herself inside the tool shed and slowly backs away from the door while an unknown pursuer pounds on it. When we [[HowWeGotHere catch back up to that place in the story]], we see that [[SubvertedTrope it was only the little girl from the nest knocking to be let in]].
81	* PastimesProvePersonality: The Pretender's main (possibly only) hobby is playing house with her hundred-plus [[WaxMuseumMorgue dead child dolls]]. She also tries to kill you.
82	* PlayerCharacter: You control a young girl [[RaincoatOfHorror in a yellow raincoat]].
83	* {{Prequel}}: The game was advertised as taking place before the events of ''Little Nightmares'', though its only connection to the main game is by a character. [[spoiler:[[DecoyProtagonist And it's not who you're led to believe.]]]]
84	* ProtagonistWithoutAPast: We learn virtually nothing about who the girl is or what she's doing in the Nest.
85	* RaincoatOfHorror: The girl wears a bright yellow raincoat throughout the game. [[spoiler:At the end, it floats away in the water, [[TakingUpTheMantle where it will eventually find its way to Six in Little Nightmares II.]]]]
86	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:It's not until the raincoat girl's braid flies out of her hood while she's falling to her death that we realize [[DecoyProtagonist she's not Six]].]]
87	* RoomEscapeGame: It's primarily this. The objective is always just to progress to the next room or area--which is easier said than done given the player character's size.
88	* RopeBridge: In the climactic chase scene, the girl eventually escapes the Butler by running across a precarious rope bridge stretched between two cliffs. He uses his telekinesis to break the bridge, but if you're far enough across you end up on the far side and can climb back up it like a ladder.
89	* RuleOfSymbolism: [[spoiler:There's no real reason for there to be a flickering TV [[SwordOfDamocles hanging by a thread]] above the vulnerable baby bird in the secret room, except that in the ''Little Nightmares'' universe [=TVs=] tend to symbolize danger to children.]]
90	* RunOrDie: Except for the steam room and [[spoiler:the very end]], the player has no way of fighting back against the monsters and [[StealthBasedGame must flee or hide from them]].
91	* ScaryJackInTheBox: The jack-in-the-box achievements are quite [[JumpScare startling]] when they pop open, and most of them contain mini versions of the ''Little Nightmares'' monsters.
92	* ShrineToSelf: The Pretender has a massive statue of herself being worshiped by children in the main foyer, as well as dozens of portraits of herself on the walls.
93	* TheSpeechless: Neither the girl in the raincoat nor any of the Nest's inhabitants utters a sound, apart from the Pretender, who screams at the girl and can at one point be seen berating the doll that was knocked out of its chair.
94	* SpoiledBrat: The Pretender seems to be this, in command of an immense mansion with servants waiting on her hand-and-foot while catering to her delusions.
95	* SteamVentObstacle: There are several puzzles involving steam in the laundry area. At one point, the player must walk across a pipe, avoiding the jets of steam that periodically emerge from its holes, and another involves strategically blocking and opening vents in a pipe in order to get by it while the steam is turned on.
96	* StockVideoGamePuzzle:
97	** Stepping Stone Puzzle: The eye-light puzzle requires getting a crowbar and push another block to hide behind down from its ledge.
98	** Weighted Switch Puzzle: The salt barrel room is one of these. You have to get a smaller barrel down from a shelf and corral it onto the button to get through the door.
99	* SuperScream: When the Pretender catches sight of the player on the cliff, she utters an ear-splitting scream that stuns the girl for a moment.
100	* SurrealHorror: For many of the same reasons as the main game. Who [[HumanoidAbomination or what]] is the Pretender, and why does she live in the Nest?
101	* TakenForGranite: In a scene right out of the original game, the girl must sneak past a series of [[EyeMotifs eye-shaped]] searchlights that literally turn you to stone if you stay in them long enough.
102	* TakingUpTheMantle: [[spoiler:At the end of the game, the girl in the raincoat falls to her death in the water below the cliff, and after a few seconds her [[IconicOutfit empty coat]] resurfaces. After the credits, the young girl who has been helping her (presumably Six) can be seen climbing down the cliff as if to retrieve it.]]
103	* TakingYouWithMe: The Pretender manages to knock the protagonist off the edge of a cliff with her.
104	* TaxidermyIsCreepy: Some of the most unsettling levels take place in the Craftsman's taxidermy workshop, where skins are drying on display.
105	* TeamSpirit: Surviving the final chase sequence requires collaborating with the younger escapee. First, you have to time your shoves with hers to push open the main gate, and then later the Pretender will corner and kill you if you don't stop to help the little girl off her ledge by pushing over a dead tree for her.
106	* ThwartedEscape: After descending the grand staircase, the player finds themself in the main foyer of the mansion, where the double doors are wide open. Careful though! Right as you're about to cross the threshold, the Butler will emerge from the door at the left and crush you with a FallingChandelierOfDoom if you don't move quickly enough.
107	* TrashLanding: At one point the girl falls down a garbage chute into [[DownInTheDumps the dump]], where a bin of trash bags cushions her fall.
108	* VagueAge: The Pretender appears childlike, but the decrepit state of the mansion and its employees (as well as the sheer number of skin-dolls) seem to suggest they've been living like this for quite some time.
109	* WainscotSociety: As in the Maw, the Nomes seem to have their own little world built up within the walls of the Nest. Various EasterEgg rooms show them painting, swimming, and even engaged in some sort of prayer before shrines to their favorite doll children.
110	* WaxMuseumMorgue: The Craftsman's job seems to be to [[TaxidermyIsCreepy turn children into dolls using their own skin and hair]] for the Pretender to play with. Many of the later levels are filled with these lifelike dolls.

Context VideoGame / VeryLittleNightmares