Little Nightmares – The Prison

The first area in Little Nightmares is known as The Prison. This is the beginning of the game where you should get adjusted to the controls and learn how to maneuver your character. There isn’t a central enemy in The Prison level of Little Nightmares, so you don’t have to worry about that like you will in later areas.

Instead, The Prison level contains little slime enemies that will attack you if they get close. These are relatively easy to avoid if you run and jump to stay away from them.

Little Nightmares – The Prison

The Prison

• Nomes: 3
• Statues: 2

When the game first begins, head to the far right and use your lighter to ignite the lantern on the ground. Grab the hatch to the right with R2 / RT, and pull left to open it, then hold L2 / LT to crouch and start crawling through the hatch. Continue all the way to the right until you reach the next room.

Head up the stairs to the right and pick up the statue (hold R2 / RT) in the alcove before continuing onward. Break the statue by throwing it on the floor (X / A), then climb up onto the bed and jump up to the small opening on the right.

In the next room, push the chair over to the door on the right, then climb up onto the chair and jump to open the door. Move through the next room and grab the refrigerator door to pull it open and reveal a makeshift ladder.

However, before you climb up the fridge, head to the far right, crouch down and move into the small opening. In the secret room to the right you’ll find a Nome. Pick him up and he’ll follow you around the room. Unfortunately he won’t leave the room with you.

Head back to the left and climb up the fridge. Continue to the right, running past the slimes that drop from the ceiling. When you make it to the next room, climb onto the box and jump to access the switch above. This opens the door to the right.

Continue through the door and grab the board at the bottom of the boarded up doorway on the far right. Pull away from the board to remove it and reveal an opening you can crawl through. As you move through the next room, the floor will give away and you’ll fall into a room below that’s filled with slimes.

Quickly run to the far right and push down the door to get out of the room. If you have trouble navigating the slimes, remember that you can jump over them with X or A.

Jump over the gap in the walkway, light the lantern, then climb up the boards to the right that form a makeshift ladder. Continue across the beam to the left, then up the stairs on the far side. When you reach a junction in the path, turn toward the screen and move to the end of the walkway. Jump across the gap to the right and continue up the stairs.

There’s no light along the path to the left, so be careful as you navigate it. When you reach the lever on the far side, turn it until it can’t be turned any further. This opens the door to the far right, but it will begin to close as soon as you release the lever. Quickly run to the right (hold Square or Y) and jump across the gap in the path so you can make it to the door before it closes.

Pull open the hatch in the background of the next room to reveal the Nome you’ve been chasing. It scrambles into the hole to the far right. In the next room run all the way to the right and climb up the rope. Light the lantern in the background of the next room, then head through the cracked door to the right.

Close the door behind you to reveal a switch on the wall. This controls the electricity running through this room and the room to the right.

Both rooms have electrified doorways that will not allow you to pass until the electricity is turned off. Move the box of toilet paper over to the switch, climb on top of it, then pull the switch to turn off the electricity running through the doorways.

Quickly run to the right and squeeze through the first doorway, then continue to the far right of the next room to squeeze through the second doorway before the power is back on.

If you move too slowly and fail to make it to the second doorway, you can climb up the dresser on the left side of the room (or use the see-saw), then crawl through the small opening above to get back into the previous room and try again.

As long as you run as soon as the power goes off, you should have plenty of time to make it through both rooms.

Head past the cells and into the next room where a spotlight will light up in the background. Use the shadow from the pillar as cover and wait until the spotlight moves to the right. Stop behind the overturned bed to stay out of the light and avoid being spotted until the spotlight moves back to the left and you can move again.

Climb up near the left side of the wall of crates and light the lantern as you go. Stop when you reach the highest set of crates. There’s a Nome in a cage to the far right.

You can reach the cage by walking along the top row of cages, then jumping to the right, or by taking a running jump to the right and grabbing the ledge (if you’re just short) by holding R2 or RT to stop yourself from falling to the floor (and dying).

Crawl through the cage and into the next room, then grab the Nome, light the lantern and head back into the previous room.

Head back up to the top of the crate mountain. Before you continue to the right, head to the left and through the background to find a small room with a statue. Break the statue, then continue all the way to the right and through the next door.

The door closes behind you and a door in the middle of the room opens with a large body moving into the room. Hide under one of the beds until the large body passes through the door you just came through, then continue to the far right.

Climb up the cages on the left side of the room and make your way to the right using the path above. Crawl into the small opening on the far right and continue through the next room. You will stop a couple of times as your stomach hurts from not eating anything.

Toward the right side of the room there’s another child in the background eating food. Lift yourself up on the bars close to the child and he’ll throw you his food. Pick it up and eat the food before moving on.

Make your way up the boxes to the right and into the next room. Continue to the right through the rooms until you cross a bridge and reach another electrified gate.

Climb up the boxes near the gate and make your way through the background. When it seems as though you can’t climb any further, jump to the right and continue climbing until you reach the end.

Light the lantern, then jump across to the clump of boxes hanging from the ceiling. Climb up the boxes, then use the chain the boxes are hanging from to climb up to the level above. Wait until the chain swings close enough for you to jump over to the right, then climb up the boxes and pull down the lever on the wall in the background.

The lever pulls up the chain and boxes to your level and allows you to move the nearby lever on the ground to the left or right, which controls the direction the chain moves. First move the second lever to the right so the boxes move as close to you as possible.

Once that’s done, shift the lever to the left and quickly run over and jump onto the boxes. Remember to hold R2 or RT to make sure you grab the side of the boxes if your jump falls short.

Once you’re on top of the boxes and moving left, climb up the chain so you can jump over to the ledge on the far side once the chain and boxes stop moving. Head to the left and into the next room to find three sets of filing cabinets and a switch high on the wall to the right.

Pull out the bottom filing cabinet on the far left, then climb on top of it and pull out the next filing cabinet up. Climb on top of the second cabinet and you can jump over to the top of the cabinets to the right.

Head through the gate to the left now that the power has been turned off. Don’t worry, unlike the last two electrified gates, this one will not turn back on. Move to the far left side of the room and light the lantern, then look in the background and pull open the crate to free the Nome.

It runs back into the room to the right and hides in the left corner of the room. Go back into the previous room and hug the Nome.

With that out of the way, head back into the room to the left and push the metal crate off the ledge and into the hole in the middle of the room. This brings a noose up to your level. Jump over and grab the noose to slowly move down to the lower level.

This is the same place you were just at, but with the power out you can make it through the gate on the far right. Unfortunately, this also means there are slimes in the shower room. Keep your lighter on so you can see and stay around the middle of the room as you move to the right to avoid most of the slimes.

Cross the bridge and head through the gate on the right. In the next room another spotlight awaits you. Use the pile of crates and the moving garbage can to take cover from the light as you make your way to the right.

As you cross the next bridge it will start pulling in from either side, meaning you need to quickly run to the right and jump across the enlarging gap. In addition, you need to climb on top of the larger crate and jump to the ledge on the far right as quickly as possible.

Find all of the Nomes and Statues in The Prison, continue on to the next area, The Lair, or head back to our Little Nightmares game hub for more strategy and advice.