Events Little Nightmares begin with the main character, a girl in a yellow raincoat, getting out of a huge suitcase. Her name is Six and she ended up in the Maw – a ship inhabited by grotesque insatiable creatures. The guests of this place eat small children, such as the protagonist. She doesn’t want to die, and therefore she makes her way from the lower compartments of the Womb to the top to get out. Along the way, the girl has to fight her own hunger, which turns out to be not so easy to satisfy.

As Little Nightmares progresses, Six will encounter several bosses, such as:

• Watchman A blind, twisted creature with long arms that guards cages with other children.
• Shoemaker. A monster of an unknown species hiding under thousands of shoes.
• Cooks. Two twins, overfed and cruel, preparing dishes for monster guests.
• Mistress. The owner of the ship and also the main antagonist, hiding her face behind a white mask.

The gameplay is a 3D puzzle platformer. The protagonist runs around the locations, trying to find the way forward. Along the way, she will often have to hide or escape from monsters and solve physics puzzles. Objects and the world around the heroine are much larger than herself. In addition, in the face of dangers, she is practically defenseless. Therefore, her main weapons are attentiveness, insight and environment, which can be used to achieve goals.