It was developed primarily by Sumo Digital, with XDev and series creator Media Molecule assisting in an undisclosed capacity.

The core gameplay revolves around navigating colourful and vibrant levels with a set character, using power ups, jumping, swimming, swinging, grabbing, interacting with switches and non-player characters, defeating enemies, completing the main objectives, and finding collectibles, such as Collectibells, stickers, materials, objects, and gadgets.

[11] The larger version, called Big Toggle, is much heavier than Sackboy and can weigh down platforms or pressure plates.

[9] His miniature version is called Little Toggle, and can walk quickly on the surface of water, is very small and can fit through tight spaces.

[20] LittleBigPlanet 3 begins in a white void, as the Narrator (Stephen Fry) teaches controls on how to use the player character Sackboy.

Newton begins to tell a story on how Nana Pud is going to unleash three Titans that were sealed away long ago in a tea tin by Bunkum's heroes.

Newton appears, revealing that it was his plan to unleash the titans to make Bunkum more creative, and that Nana Pud was his mother, who warned him not to open the jar.

[22] Other actors for the game include Hugh Laurie as Newton, the main antagonist of the game, Lewis MacLeod as Oleg and Captain Pud, Newton's father, Tara Strong as Coach Rock and Vera Oblonsky, Robbie Stevens as Larry Da Vinci, Peter Serafinowicz as Dr. Maxim, El Jeff, and Papal Mache, Lorelei King as Elena and Felica, John Guerrasio as Guard 1 and Guard 2, Martin T. Sherman as Gustavo, Glenn Wrage as Head Guard, Clare Corbett as Hildur, Lucy Newman-Williams as Irene, Nolan North as Marlon Random,[23] Susan Brown as Nana Pud (Newton's mother), Alix Wilton Regan as Pinky Buflooms, Judith Sweeney as Victoria von Bathysphere, and Simon Greenall as Zom-Zom The Far-Out.

Most of the development was handled by Sumo Digital; however, series creator Media Molecule provided assistance, particularly during the project's early stages.

[27] Additional developers included XDev Europe, Tarsier Studios, Supermassive Games, The Station, and Testology.

Media Molecule stressed to Sumo Digital that the game's story must set a good example to what players can accomplish themselves in Create mode.

[29] Additionally, the game's introduction sequence – which is a combination of live action footage and visual effects – was produced by the UK studio Carbon Digital.

The developers created "loads" of silhouettes and chose the best ones, which were then fully designed, and eventually became Oddsock, Swoop, and Toggle.

[32] On 12 March 2021, the LittleBigPlanet servers started experiencing DDoS attacks, and users reported that hackers were posting transphobic messages in the online mode.

[41] Justin Clark from Joystiq gave the game a 4.5/5, praising the level design, change of pacing and scale in adventure mode, new characters and items, as well as the Hook Hat, a new feature in LittleBigPlanet 3.

He stated that "LittleBigPlanet 3 is a foundation, upon which eager minds can start building even more inspiring content, and that process has been made more accessible than ever before.

"[47] Louise Blain from GamesRadar gave the game an 8/10, praising the inclusion of a tutorial, distant characters and intuitive menu.

She summarized the review by saying: "Beautiful, creative and filled with knitted joy, LittleBigPlanet 3 does however disappoint in its Adventure mode's comparatively sparse content.

The end-game possibilities are endless thanks to the co-op, level creator and millions of community driven stages imported from past titles, but it's held back due to Sumo Digital's unwillingness to fully flesh out their ideas.

"[12] Polygon's Philip Kollar scored the game a 7 out of 10 and wrote: "Despite switching to a new developer, it has the big ideas and wide-eyed, arms-open demeanor of the series at its best.

He said: "With all of the innovations LittleBigPlanet 3 brings with Toggle, Oddsock, and Swoop, it's a shame they aren't allowed to show off their stuff on a regular basis, because they are the best thing to happen to the series in years.

It would be nice to see them return in a big way in a potential sequel, but for now hardcore LBP fans should have enough creation options to last them until that point.

Schilling summed up the review by stating: "Held together by Sellotape rather than superglue, LittleBigPlanet 3 is in constant danger of falling apart.

[Its] Adventure mode is beautifully designed, and new power-ups and character abilities switch up the usual bread-and-butter platforming gameplay, but it's let down by limited options for co-operative play and most significantly, a number of game-breaking bugs on the PlayStation 4.

While a little daunting for newcomers, its supersized creation toolkit has enormous potential for creating deep and diverse play, and it's here where LittleBigPlanet 3 justifies its existence.