Very Little Nightmares

It’s not often I talk about a mobile game like this, but this is a case where, much like God of War: Betrayal, the game is considered canon to its parent series.

Following the release of the original Little Nightmares game in 2017, a mobile prequel, Very Little Nightmares, was released in 2019 for iOS and Android devices. I will admit that, when it first came out, I didn’t play it in part due to it being a paid app, but it was mostly due to my lack of understanding that it was a new game and not a mobile version of the first game (which, incidentally, exists as of 2023). It wasn’t until recently that it clicked for me how it fit in with the larger series and, with the aid of a free $2 Google Play credit, bought it after seeing it was still available as of 2025. Despite some issues, both in and outside the game, it still felt like a worthy entry in the Little Nightmares series in a smaller package.

Second Look - God of War: Betrayal

In the intervening period between God of War II and God of War III, two other games in the series were released that expanded further on the story, both developed for handheld devices. The first of these was God of War: Betrayal, the only one to be developed for mobile phones, taking place between the events of the first two games. I actually played this game quite a bit in high school, back when I had a compatible phone that could play it, though the game’s canonicity had been debated over the years and has since become unavailable to download legally. Once it was confirmed that the game was canon, via a tweet from Santa Monica Studio animation director Bruno Velasquez, I scrambled to dig out an old phone I held on to that still had the game on it, or else have to resort to emulation just to play an old mobile game. Miraculously, after having to buy a charger, I managed to uncover an old LG Rumor phone that still had the game on it, allowing me to finally play it once again in its original glory.

 

The tweet confirming its canon status.

While the game was certainly groundbreaking at the time for its ability to translate the series to the mobile space, to where it was considered one of the best mobile games to play in the era before smart phones, its quality is now more hotly contested as a result of its antiquity.