Supermassive Games' new interactive horror game Little Hope offers players the opportunity to guide a group of uncooperative characters through the haunted ghost town of Little Hope. Along the way, you will need to make choices that determine what each character will do and say. Depending on the choice you make, it's possible to get the entire cast out of Little Hope alive. It isn't easy to do or even easy to understand, but once you learn which choices to look out for, you'll have everything you need to achieve the game's best possible ending. The most important mechanic to understand here is locking and unlocking traits.

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Little Hope Locked Traits

At the start of Chapter 3 (the bus crash site), each character is introduced with a pair of locked traits. These are the starting traits for each character:

  • Angela: Abrasive, Understanding
  • Daniel: Amiable, Defensive
  • Andrew: Anxious, Detached
  • Taylor: Headstrong, Sensitive
  • John: Rational, Overbearing

These locked traits will inform the choice that you will have when playing each character. Every choice-point presents the player with two options: a head choice and a heart choice. These categories represent the ways in which characters communicate or act with either logic or emotion. Each character's starting traits represent either the head or the heart. For example, John will have a lot of "rational" head options and a lot of "overbearing" heart options.

As you play through the game and make choices, you'll have the opportunity to unlock these traits by choosing options that counter them. In John's case, his Overbearing trait means that he has the tendency to try to control others and overstep his bounds. By helping John make choices that change his overbearing nature, you can unlock this trait and give John a better chance of survival.

On the other hand, it's also possible to lock in even more negative traits. By making certain negative choices, characters can collect more locked traits that will eventually lead to their deaths. Unlocking negative traits and avoiding new negative traits is the best way to ensure each character's survival.

The Effect Of Locked Traits In Little Hope

Simply put, locked traits will doom each character. The more locked traits a character has, the more likely it is that they will die. If you are unable to unlock their traits or prevent new traits from getting locked, you may notice the quick-time events getting harder and harder as the story nears the finale.

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In Little Hope, QTEs are used as skill checks to determine whether a character lives or dies. Earlier in the game, it's okay to fail some QTEs, but as the story progresses there will be fewer chances to fail. If you have managed to unlock traits, you'll find that the QTEs get easier. The window to move the cursor and click the action are much wider and you get more chances to fail before the character gets killed. Conversely, too many locked traits mean that the QTEs are almost impossible. If you're finding that you have a split second to move the cursor or can't pass these skill checks no matter how fast you move, it's likely that the character has too many locked traits. Unlocking traits makes it more likely a character will survive because the QTEs are much easier.

Little Hope Breaking Locked Traits With Heroic And Reassuring Choices

If you allow The Curator to give you a hint early in the game, he'll tell you that each person has their own demons and that they must face them alone. This is the clue that leads to the second most important mechanic to ensure each character's survival: Heroic Choices.

The four killable characters (not including Andrew) will eventually be presented with an ultimate choice to either face their demon alone or not. By making the heroic or reassuring choice, all of that character's locked traits will be instantly unlocked and they will be guaranteed to survive (unless, of course, you choose the bad ending).

Here are each of the character's heroic choices:

  • Angela: Before entering the burned home, Angela will be faced with her demon alongside John. Angela must choose the reassuring option to stand by John and break her locked traits.
  • Daniel: At the Textile Factory, Daniel falls down in a pit and has to fight his demon. After a QTE, Andrew tries to pull Daniel up using a pipe. As Daniel, choose the Reassuring option to drop back down and fight the demon alone. This will unlock Daniel's traits
  • Taylor: When Taylor gets grabbed by her demon outside of the derelict building, make Daniel go search for her. When he finds her, Taylor will have to choose the reassuring option to tell Daniel to let her go. She'll fight off the demon and unlock her traits.
  • John: Right after John's demon first appears, the group will run inside the burned house and John will hold the door shut behind them. If John makes the heroic choice and tells everyone else to run while he holds the demons back, he'll unlock his traits.

If you keep your character alive long enough to reach these heroic moments, you'll be able to see the ending in which all five of them make it out of Little Hope alive.

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