The Little Nightmares franchise (or at least the events of the first game) may take place in an alternate version of World War II Japan. This could be supported by several prominent elements featured in the series
- The most obvious piece of evidence to support this theory is that The Maw is run by The Lady, a woman whose appearance resembles a geisha, or hostess, in Japanese culture. In the DLC "The Residence", it is confirmed that she is in fact an actual geisha, as portraits in her private quarters reveal that she was working as one when she was a normal human woman at some point prior to the events of the first game. Since The Maw is specifically stated to be a restaurant catering to insatiable appetites, this would indicate that The Lady has served as its hostess for quite some time. Additionally, The Maw's Guest Area is clearly based off a classic Japanese eatery, complete with sliding fusuma doors and tachiwaki-style wallpaper, and some of the Guests themselves can be seen donning masks which resembling yōkai, or spirits and demons from Japanese mythology.
- In the beginning of the first game, Six awakens in a suitcase where several black-and-white photos can be seen attached to the suitcase's inner lid, baring a heavy resemblance to black-and-white photos of the 1940s, before colored photos were invented. Bits of newspapers can also be seen scattered on the floor in The Maw's library while Six attempts to escape The Janitor, and are written in a Basalt font and format appropriate to newspapers of that time period. The television Six uses to distract The Janitor also conveys the black-and-white image of a housewife cooking and singing a bizarre jingle in a kitchen, dressed in a skirt and hair bow appropriate to 1940s women's fashion.
- The sea of shoes that The Shoe Monster dwells in strongly resembles shoes left behind from those victimized in concentration camps.
- Televisions in the Little Nightmares world are square-shaped boxes with dials and cable wires, in line with vintage TVs ranging from the 40s-60s eras, and display channels with images of hands, eyes, and intersecting triangles, which could indicate some type of propaganda. Television networks during the second World War were infamous for encouraging people to take up arms and join the military, and men 18 and over were drafted to serve in them against their will. In the Little Nightmares universe, The Broadcaster influences televisions from inside a tower, and may spellbind his Viewers into similarly fighting for his cause. This could also explain why there is such a sparse population of inhabitants seen in different locations within the franchise.
- Eyes, specifically, are featured heavily throughout the series, with one eye notably located in The Prison that is used to turn any child attempting to escape the facility into stone. The function and purpose of this eye bares some resemblance to World War II watchtowers used to keep prisoners trapped in concentration camps. Children in the Little Nightmares universe seem to be largely despised, imprisoned, and/or tortured, which may be an allusion to the antisemitic crimes committed against Jews.
- In The Lady's official description, she describes the world outside of The Maw as chaotic; in real life, Japan was allied with Nazi Germany and was bombed in retaliation by the United States shortly after Pearl Harbor, which may be one of the contributing factors for The Lady refusing to leave her home beneath the sea, the "only place that makes sense". This may be supported by the evident condition of the sky at the end of the first game as Six stands outside of The Maw; bumpy, sickly yellow clouds, which could indicate the aftereffects of nuclear radiation. This may also explain why the Guests are horrifically malformed, misshapen and willing to eat anything they can find, as they may be mutated.
- Mono, the name of the titular protagonist of Little Nightmares 2, derives from the Greek word monos, meaning "one"; in Japanese, it translates to "thing", which could indicate that he is no ordinary child similar to Six; this is displayed in the official Little Nightmares 2 trailer, where he can be seen exhibiting his own supernatural influence over televisions.