the little nightmares games are weirdly hopeful tbh
every kid who tries and fails to escape either leaves something behind that helps someone else get a little bit further (a bedsheet rope leading up a shear wall you'd never be able to climb on your own) (a flashlight)
or tries to help personally (ax smashing through door after door) (outstretched hand waiting to catch or drag away from that damn tv again) (food passed between the bars) (a sausage)
or leaves hopeful traces the current kid isn't alone, a small comfort in the dark (lanterns already lit and waiting) (a yellow rain jacket in a city full of rain) (just being there to meet at all no matter how shortly or how it all ends)
it's really.... sweet. sure, a lot of the character kids die or worse, but it never feels like it was pointless. what they did never feels HOPELESS
they had choices. they did things. they didn't get a happy ending but still made things a little bit better in some small tiny way, and someone else was there to see it. none of them are alone, even when they are
it feels good. the world around them is horrible but the part of it that's them feels good