The first batch of Little Nightmares DLC, aptly called ‘The Depths’, is the first of three downloadable episodes in the Secret of the Maw story arc. Following on from the original Little Nightmares adventure, where you played as a young girl called Six, The Depths places you into the shoes of another lost soul known as the Kid, who is also attempting to escape the clutches of The Maw.
You begin your valiant escape attempt with the aid of another kid and you quickly find yourself separated from your new companion, and in even more trouble than you were before. Following on from this spout of bad luck, your main adversary soon shows up. Known as the Granny, this formidable foe lurks in the deep depths of the flooded waters, stopping at nothing to drag you under as you swim to the next safe spot. While the Granny presents no real threat, she can be annoying to avoid at times, especially when the timing of a jump is not perfect, or a platform floats off into the distance. Compared to the enemies from the original game, The Granny is not as creepy, nor is she as scary. This is somewhat disappointing as the atmosphere in the originally levels was spot on.
The bulk of The Depths finds you swimming from box to box to avoid being drowned, with the occasional logic puzzle thrown in. The puzzles that can be found though are nothing new, and sometimes nearly impossible to pass unless you time your jumps to absolute perfection, which can be a little frustrating. Perhaps due to the lack of content, the difficulty was raised to prolong the duration of this Little Nightmares expansion, which clocks in at around an hour.
Away from the puzzles there are a number of collectibles to find, and locating all the mysterious bottles is the most enjoyable part of the game as they can be challenging and fun to find. It did make more wonder though if the developer had spent most of its time finding hiding spots for these bottles rather than focusing on the rest of the level which lacks the impact of the main game.
Overall, Little Nightmares The Depths is a very short adventure which sets the scene for the upcoming DLC levels that are being released in the coming months. Whilst this DLC may not be anything special, we do find out about our protagonist and even more about Six which should appease fans of the game, but you may be better off holding out until the entire extra content is released.