Reanimal Is Another Little Nightmare That I’m Excited To Suffer
If you type ‘scariest animals’ into Google, the search engine spits out a variety of expected results: killer spiders, disgusting centipedes, hideous fish, and flying snakes. You will notice that ‘sheep’ are not on that list. Watch the debut trailer for Reanimal, though, and you’ll quickly develop a fear for the woolly bleaters – particularly giant mutant ewes with far, far too many arms.
Developed by Tarsier, the studio behind the first two Little Nightmares games, Reanimal is both a continuation and an extension of the team’s prior work. At gamescom 2024 I was able to play a half-hour hands-on demonstration, and what I saw suggests that Reanimal is very, very close to its predecessors in the broad strokes. Like Little Nightmares, it is a creepy adventure in which you guide children through a variety of horrifying events. It has a similar balance of puzzles, platforming, and all-out-terror escape sequences. And, once again, it’s all brought to life with the same stop motion-like animation style that makes the developer’s work look like a beautifully f*cked up Coraline. It’s just that this time instead of grotesque chefs and rubbernecked teachers, your tiny protagonists are on the run from a farm’s worth of warped, demented animals.
Note the ‘s’ at the end of protagonists. This time around there’s always two of you – a pair of siblings – and that means co-op play, both online and local. But before you conjure up images of a nightmarish version of It Takes Two, it’s worth reigning in your expectations. Reanimal’s narrative designer, Dave Mervik, explained to me that the 2021 co-op hit’s novel, constantly inventive approach wasn’t suited to maintaining the dark, tense atmosphere Tarsier is aiming for. Instead, Reanimal’s cooperative side will be more about experiencing and surviving the horror together. To emphasise that, both players will always be on the same screen together – you can’t wander off to new places viewed through a split-screen half. It’s vital (and
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