The 20 Best Games Like 'Little Nightmares'

The monochromatic Limbo is close in spirit to Little Nightmares, especially since it's dark, cinematic, and abjectly terrifying. You take on the role of a young boy who wakes up in a dark forest, where a spider is trying to kill him. The nameless child has to escape the dangers of the forest while snapping off spider legs, escaping spike traps, and all the humans who wish to attack him or kill him. It's challenging, sure, but it's also extremely chilling. If you're looking for 1:1 games like Little Nightmares, then Limbo should be your first option.

Inside is cut from the same cloth as Limbo, and from the same developer. It follows another nameless young boy who finds himself in a deep, dark forest, forced to escape masked guards, all armed with flashlights. He must avoid shambling hordes of zombie-like people, navigate a massive factory filled with flooded rooms, and a laboratory where it appears people are being experimented on. Much like Limbo, it's a dark journey that requires an iron will to complete, chock full of grisly deaths and jump scares.

This first-person adventure is seen through the eyes of a toddler named David, who's essentially completely helpless. David gets in the middle of feuding parents, which is difficult to process as he's still a child. He receives a teddy bear as a gift, and the bear takes on a life of its own and guides David on a terrifying adventure to find his mother Zoey after she disappears. David is too young to fight back against the terrors that strike as he makes his way throughout the game, so getting acclimated to what little you can do as a toddler makes for most of the scare factor throughout Among the Sleep.

Fran Bow is a graphic adventure game that follows the titular 10-year-old Fran, who finds herself dealing with mental illness after seeing her parents murdered. She receives pills as part of a treatment that causes violent hallucinations of a parallel universe. She's imprisoned because of these visions and works to escape the asylum she's forced to remain in. Having done so, she finds herself in a nocturnal forest that she must work through to find her way home. The game is rife with nightmarish imagery and the characters must continually grapple with trauma, abuse from outsiders, and horrible pitfalls that betray them at every turn.

This eerie adventure centers around the titular Sally Face, or "Sal Fisher," a boy with a prosthetic face. Together with his friends, he investigates a series of local murders. Across five episodes, he gets to the bottom of grisly murderers, gets mixed up in some demonic curses, and encrypted messages. While some of the content isn't as horrific as what we see in Little Nightmares, Sally Face's unsettling aesthetic should be more than enough to creep some players out, especially when you factor in humanity being enveloped by darkness even in the game's better ending. Lots of fridge horror to be found here, which makes it a perfect candidate for games like Little Nightmares.

This first-person survival horror game is all about Henry Stein, a retired animator who receives a mysterious letter one day asking him to return to his old workplace. When he arrives, he discovers a series of bizarre paranormal events being caused by the "Ink Machine." While dealing with this strange, unsettling entity, players have to work to complete puzzles, defeat enemies, and collect objects, all the while piecing together what's happening by way of creepy audio logs planted throughout the studio. Its classic animation style only serves to amplify its scare factor, too -- kind of like a horror-centric Cuphead. The creep factor is off the charts here, which makes it just the right selection for games like Little Nightmares.

What kind of a list would this be without a shout-out to the sequel to Little Nightmares? It's further down in terms of recommendations only due to the fact that it's actually a sequel, however, instead of a continuation of the story proper. Still, it serves up more of the story of Six and adds another player to the mix, too: Mono. Six and Mono find themselves trapped in a creepy world that's been distorted by the disturbing hum of a distant tower, and they've got to work together to figure a way out. Oh, and it's every bit as spine-tingling as the original game if you were worried. There are plenty of reasons to freak out anytime anything happens. Trust us. This is the logical next game to play after the original Little Nightmares, but you may want something else a bit different before diving right in for your nerves to handle it.

Detention is more than just punishment for misbehaving in school. It's also a nightmarish title for Red Candle Games. It's set in 1960s Taiwan during the White Terror period, where students Wei and ray are trapped in Greenwood High School, a remote school in the mountains. They no longer recognize the area they once knew, as it's now teeming with demons known as the "lingered." While dodging and attempting to fight these creatures off, both students must devise a way to make their school normal once more without succumbing to a grisly death. Plus, there are multiple endings to experience, a couple of which mask the true conclusion. It's absolutely not for the faint of heart.

This physics-based adventure introduces Yarny, a creature crafted from a thread of yarn. As you move throughout each level, Yarny unravels a bit to move, swing, and interact with items on his journey. Meant as the representation of the ties that bind people together, Yarny actually looks a little creepy -- and while this story is a heartfelt one, it's also silent. There are more than a few heart-pounding moments, and ways to see Unravel as more of a horrific adventure than anything else. It also controls similarly to Little Nightmares, so fans will notice this immediately.

Just about every facet of Pathologic is meant to scare the pants off of players, from its aesthetic to its eerie voice acting. It takes place over the course of 12 in-game days as you work to uncover the source of a bizarre sickness known as the "sand plague" that's taken over a small town. You can play as each of the three characters in the town (Bachelor, Changeling, and Haruspex) to uncover the secrets of the town and where the sickness stems from. While it's not overtly horrific, there's a silent, disturbing air to Pathologic that makes it impossible to play in the darkness in the middle of the night. Prepare to sleep with the lights on after you've fully experienced this equally horrifying game like Little Nightmares.

Yume Nikki may seem unassuming: it's a cult RPG Maker 2003 classic from the mysterious developer Kikiyama that follows a young girl named Madotsuki. The unassuming protagonist leads players through a series of seemingly unconnected dreams at first, but as players delve ever deeper into the game, things suddenly begin becoming a little clearer. That's not before she happens across some particularly creepy locales such as a world full of bizarre, bleeding shape-like creatures, bird-women, and a monochromatic monster named Uboa. None of it really makes much sense, but it's one of the scariest pixel-centric games you'll ever play. Don't believe us? Just play it.

Video games love to play tricks on your perceived sanity, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent is no exception. Players control protagonist Daniel as he's forced to explore the dark, harrowing halls of the Prussian Brennenburg Castle with not a shred of memories about why he's there, who he is, or what his story is. He can only remember his name and that something is hunting him – but what? Throughout the dark, inky blackness of the castle and the terror waiting around every corner, Daniel must keep his cool (and keep his wits about him) to avoid monsters, which will chase him recklessly to track him down. It may sound like a demented game of hide and seek, but it's more than that: it's a race to regain Daniel's peace of mind, and probably your own after the game's over.

The Pathless is a third-person action-adventure where players control the Hunter, tasked with lifting the curse on a massive island. The Hunter is a master archer who must use her talents as well as her pointed bow and arrow skills in a bid to navigate the land while searching for a way to bring peace back to the world. Players must keep an eye on their dash meter and keep it refilled by shooting at talismans found throughout the world. Her eagle companion can carry her short distances as well, which occasionally helps her to explore new areas. While it's a gorgeous game, it's also quite unsettling.

In the future, everyone's strung out on Joy. Yes, everyone. And no, we're not talking emotions here. Joy is a drug that everyone pops like candy, and it makes things rosy, beautiful, and oh-so-perfect. Who needs to know about anything going on in the real world when everything can be amazing at all times? That's what Joy offers the people of Wellington Wells. Except no one is actually happy, which makes for a shocking and terrifying narrative to explore. There's crafting, combat, and puzzle-solving with surprises around every corner, and new reasons to recoil in horror, too. We Happy Few is the kind of scary we're talking about when the topic of games like Little Nightmares springs up before you start planning your Halloween gaming playlist.

Step into the shoes of Dawn, an acrobatic performer with a host of shape-shifting abilities, in Contrast. Her forte is shifting into shadows, which transforms a 3D world into a 2D platformer when the need arises. Dawn can take objects with her into the 2D plane, which is advantageous when faced with quandaries that simply can't be solved the conventional way. The shadows cast on walls by crowds of folks on the city streets open up new paths for Dawn to take as she flits through the whimsical sights and sounds of 1920s Paris. It's unsettling from the get-go, especially thanks to the way Dawn gets around, and you'll be on the edge of the seat the entirety of the game. All in all, Contrast is a perfect candidate for games like Little Nightmares.

A young girl goes out in the middle of the night with her dog Poro and suffers a tragic accident. She returns home to her sister, who goes out to look for Poro. When the sister doesn't return, the younger girl decides to locate her missing sister and dog. But when she heads out, she realizes nothing's the same about her town or where she lives. There are spirits stalking about, hunting humans, and she's got to figure out how to track down her loved ones, all without succumbing to the demons who want them all dead.

Don't let this horror game's pixelated graphics fool you. You control a nameless protagonist as you make your way through a post-apocalyptic hellscape after escaping your apartment. A disease has turned most of the world's inhabitants into zombies, and you're unsure if there are any other survivors milling about. You have to find food, weapons, and anyone else who may have survived the outbreak, all while mapping out where to go next and how best to avoid succumbing to the disease yourself. You feel the loneliness that permeates every single part of the game, and that's part of what makes it such a memorable adventure, as well as absolutely spine-tingling.

DARQ is a beautifully crafted nightmare that feels quite unlike anything you've ever played before. Lloyd is a young boy who knows he's dreaming. Unfortunately, instead of his dream turning into sunshine and rainbows, it's a nightmare, and he can't seem to wake up. Lloyd must explore his unconscious mind to survive the nightmare, all while solving gravity-defying puzzles, defeating bizarre creatures, and eventually escaping the dream world. This may be one of the most accurate representations of what a nightmare could feel like, especially since you're so utterly helpless as Lloyd and can't seem to escape the weird world you find yourself in.

Kyle is a 10-year-old boy with a brain disorder that forces him to see things from terrifying parallel worlds. After suffering a terrible accident, Kyle slips into a coma. Though he's paralyzed and unable to move, his brain still functions. This allows him to explore his trauma, understand what happened with the accident, and figure out a way to get back to normal. Throughout three unique maze maps, Kyle will collect pieces of his memories and confront parts of himself that he didn't realize were locked away. Kukui is a must-play for anyone who enjoys games like Little Nightmares.

Another Sight is unique in that it takes place in an alternative vision of London in 1899. It follows two protagonists: teenager Kit and a cat named Hodge. Kit loses her sight after being caught in the collapse of a London Underground construction sight. Hodge becomes her eyes as the pair team up for an intriguing fantasy adventure through a surreal, emotional world. It may not be as scary as Little Nightmares, but it's well worth experiencing, especially since it features a disabled protagonist who's trying to navigate her world with an alternate method of sight, something that's a much different narrative path than so many other games out there.