Tarsier Studios has done it again. In 2017, the studio delivered the legendary Little Nightmares series to the gaming world, but their latest addition, Reanimal, is exactly what fans of the studio have been craving. It’s scary, unsettling and fun to play with friends—everything you could want from a horror game.
Reanimal was released on Feb. 13, and it’s the latest game added to Tarsier’s catalogue since Little Nightmares 2. The game breathes new life into the studio’s reputation as they choose to work on new games rather than continuing the Little Nightmares saga, whose most recent game is currently owned by Bandai Namco.
I’ve played and beaten Reanimal and Little Nightmares 3, but I’d have to say that I prefer the former. It only took me five hours to beat Reanimal, as opposed to the seven hours it took to beat Little Nightmares 3.
The biggest difference between these games is the atmosphere. In Reanimal, you and your friend play as a young boy and girl. You have to work together to travel through a hellish landscape wherein your goal is to rescue your friends while hoping to find a way out. It’s a simple story, but it’s entertaining and satisfying to play.
Each level features its own monsters. The first one you’ll encounter is a man who drives around in an ice cream truck, seeking the next victim he’ll abduct. The monster is meant to represent a pedophile, making him all the more sinister to the young main characters.
The first monster in Little Nightmares 3 is a giant baby. During our play-through, my friends and I thought, “What’s so scary about a giant baby?”
The atmosphere for Little Nightmares 3 just doesn’t hit the mark in the way that its predecessors do. It’s not as dark, and it destroys the immersion. It plays more like a puzzle game than a horror game.
Players have seen this story before. A series loses the original creators, or the dev teams change, and suddenly you’re looking at a shell of your favorite game. It’s most notable in the Yakuza, Resident Evil, and Call of Duty series. These games run on for so long that the teams behind them lose sight of what made them so enjoyable. That’s not to say that a series can’t have a comeback, but more often than not, the teams don’t realize when it’s time to draw the line. Thankfully, Tarsier Studios knew when it was best to pull the plug on Little Nightmares.
But that’s what makes Reanimal so refreshing. It feels like Little Nightmares, only with a brand new pair of glasses.
One of my favorite aspects of Reanimal is the self defense ability. After the first chapter, the game gives you a weapon that can be used to fight off birds, sand children, and even an occasional boss. In Little Nightmares 3, there were combat sections, but the major mistake they made was that dying meant completely restarting. The game’s final boss is a good example: You’re given what feels like less than a second to react, and the only way to dodge is by knowing what’s coming next. It turns into trial and error, and it takes you out of the game. It was annoying, and borderline unfair that you had no leeway.
Thankfully, Reanimal is a little more forgiving. You can miss a swing on a bird and it won’t result in an instant death. Any time I died I thought, “Yeah, I deserved that.” Sometimes I would run when I should’ve been hiding, or I’d hide when I should’ve been running, but I learned from those tries. It became clear that the best strategy to beat Reanimal was to make sure I stayed calm and patient, and I did not make any dumb decisions.
Another cool thing about Reanimal is the collectibles you can get. There are tons of different hats scattered around the game that you can find and use to customize your charcters. My friend and I only found a few of them, but there are so many left to search for. Similarly, you can stumble across concept art while you’re playing. It gives players a good insight into the games origins and makes me want to go back and find them all. The collectibles make for an excellent replayability factor.
However, one of the major downsides of Reanimal is the potential connection issues. Until Reanimal, I’ve never experienced major issues with disconnecting from a PlayStation party, but I found myself losing connection multiple times throughout the game. Along with my own experience, several sources online report their own connection issues, especially amongst cross-platform sessions. So if you’re planning on playing with a friend, let the friend with the better internet buy the game.
If you’re worried about spending an arm and a leg on a game, then the best part about Reanimal is that only one person in your group needs to buy the game. Once one person owns the game, they can send the other player a friend pass—a version of the game with no achievements that only allows the other player to join the friend who owns the game. Tons of co-ops are doing this nowadays, and fans love it. It’s super convenient, and it allows you to play Reanimal with any of your friends, regardless of platform.
Overall, Reanimal was fun, scary and creative. It’s relatively short, and if puzzles and horror games are your thing, I would highly recommend giving it a try. I had a blast playing this with my friends the first time, and we’re already playing it again. You can download Reanimal on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Velocity 
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