WARNING: I gotta start this post off with a content warning. This game discussion contains spoilers, so if you don’t want to know about plot details of these games then you should come back to this later.

And with that our of the way, let’s get into it!

Hello Dazzle! Thanks for coming and hanging out with me today, I’m glad that you are here. Today I want to talk about how the Little Nightmares games tell the same story that Scorn tells. They go about it in different ways, but they do tell the same story and use many of the same tropes to tell that story.

Both of these games tell their story with visual story telling. Neither game has any dialogue, lore nuggets to read or listen to or other types of gaming exposition. That means that with both of these games the only way to get to the story is to dive into and explore the world. Both games have a superficial story that they tell as the characters move through the world. But they both also weave a deeper meaning with the use of elements in the background, the actions of the characters and the symbolism used.

Existentialism is the philosophical belief that we are each responsible for creating purpose or meaning in our own lives. Our individual purpose and meaning is not given to us by Gods, governments, teachers or other authorities, but rather given to us by ourselves. This philosophy has given rise to an entire literary genre that focuses on the meaning and value of human life. Common concepts in existentialist story telling include dread and anxiety in the face of an absurd world and free will, as well as authenticity, courage, and virtue. The existential crisis is a frequent plot element that centers on the inner conflict characterized by the impression that life lacks meaning or feelings of confusion about one’s personal identity.

In both of these games we see existentialist elements. The characters move forward without any obvious purpose. They are left to decide for themselves what it is that they must do within their world. Neither game offers an explanation for the character. They simply are and they exist. Nothing beyond this is given. Combat in both of these games is brutal. The characters are not given adequate resources to readily conquers their enemies, but rather they defeat them with their courage and drive to survive. In both cases, survival is not a guarantee, but rather the result of the choices that the characters make.

These characters transverse through dystopian, apocalyptic landscapes as survivors of the fall of humanity. As we move through the world, we are given evidence of how completely human society has fallen. Piles of corpses and twisted human forms seem to be all that is left of humanity. Scorn shows us twisted and mangled flesh while Little Nightmares gives us piles of shoes and hanging corpses. With these visuals, both games present a world with death and decay at its center.

Dark, bleak colors paint the landscape with the brighter colors being reserved for things that the viewer is asked to take particular note of. In the world of Scorn, red highlights the horror of the world with blood and viscera. Little Nightmares gives us the yellow jacket that comes to represent the character herself. In both cases, these games use the color to focus our visual attention onto the things that matter so that we can better follow the narrative. Scorn uses this to demonstrate the brutality of the world. While the yellow jacket is used to ensure that we recognize the character in the second game; providing a narrative thread.

Visually, these games took different approaches. Scorn draws on the visual narratives previously established by other creators by leaning into the art styles of H. R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński. Scorn is beautiful, never shying away from presenting the horror of the world in frank detail. On the other hand, Little Nightmares took a softer approach. The chibi art style lulls us into a sense of security with the impression of cuteness and the innocence of children woven into the the fabric of the art style. But they use this as a means to shock you as they demonstrate that this world is completely horrific through the actions of the characters and the background details.

Each character is put into the position of needing to consume other characters in order to gain power and to survive in the world. Within Scorn we are presented with the requirement of using another living creature as a key in order to progress through this world. The death of this other creature allows us to gain the power to transverse the world. While Little Nightmares took a more literal approach to the consumption as Six is driven to devour other creatures in order to sustain herself and increase her power which manifests as her dark ability to drain the life from those around her.

As we move into Little Nightmares 2 we see an expansion on this idea of consumption as the game presents multiple characters consuming other humans in their own way. And if you didn’t fully appreciate the horror of Six eating the gnome, the DLC Secrets of the Maw drives the point home as it demonstrates to us that the gnomes are actually other children. Like wise, Scorn doubles down on this theme as it moves you through the game. You cannot progress until you have squashed three creatures into paste so that you can use them as a battery to power the biological automatons that carry you to your potential divinity.

In both games, we are asked to slow down and to look at the world around us. In the case of Scorn this is done by forcing us into a plod while we repeatedly transverse the same areas to discover our way forward. While Little Nightmares demands that we hide and sneak to get past out foes. Neither game allows us to run through the world. Instead, they constantly slow us down and present us with a barrage of visuals that tell us more about the world we are desperately trying to survive.

Despite all the desperate consumption of humanity that both these world present, they also present that there is an ever present need for human connection; suggesting that the desire to connect with others is partly the cause of our consuming other humans. Scorn presents images of humans embracing each other in acts of intimacy and carnal pleasure. Again, Little Nightmares takes a less direct approach by having us hugging the gnomes and showing us how Mono helps Six.

In scorn, the first character that we played returns and binds itself to the second character we are playing. Together, these two characters work through the world towards their goal of divine unity. But there is an act of betrayal where one character chooses to discard the other in order to progress onwards on their own. This parallels the story we see in Little Nightmares 2. Mono and Six fight together in order to stay alive and progress towards their goal of becoming more powerful. But there is an act of betrayal where one character chooses to discard the other in order to progress onwards on their own.

This act of betrayal serves to demonstrate the lack of empathy and human connection in these characters living a world driven by consumption. Suggesting that humanity is incapable of achieving real empathy and connection in a setting where they are forced to feed upon each other in order to survive and thrive. In both worlds, humanity is reduced to little more then the other tools that we use in our every day lives.

At the conclusion of the games, we see a transformation take place. Both characters have given up everything that is core to our humanity and becomes a monster as a result. Scorn presents this is a literal twisting of the flesh as the two characters finally merge completely and become a horrific mound of mangled flesh. While Little Nightmares concludes with both Six and Mono attaining their power by destroying their predecessors. In achieving their power, they have fallen into monstrosity.

In both worlds, the steps that the characters are required (forced?) to take are inherently self destructive. Thus making the final statement that the destruction and consumption of others results in us only destroying and consuming ourselves. There is no manner in which we can rise above this fate. Both worlds demand that the characters live in a way that will inevitably destroy them, speaking to our fragile mortality and our desperate efforts to avoid this final fate.

And in the end, every character in both these worlds is feeding on humanity. One could argue that both games present a strong criticism for the way that capitalism encourages us to look at humanity as just another resource to be exploited for profit. These are cautionary tales, warning us that our desires to modify our bodies and grow in power must remain tempered by our capacity to love and connect with others. Failure in maintain our ability to hold compassion results in a hollowing out of everything that makes us human and we become monsters.

Well, that’s about it for my rambling today. Thanks for coming and spending some time with me. If you like my rambling then click on that like button. It really does help! Until we talk again, you take care of yourselves!