With the Little Nightmares series, Swedish development studio Tarsier Studios entered the map of survival horror fans with some rather unique experiences that managed to blend the genre’s staples with some puzzle and platforming elements that made the franchise rather popular. Having had to leave the franchise behind after getting acquired by Amplifier Game Invest in late 2019, Tarsier Studios started working on Reanimal, a survival horror game featuring everything that made their survival horror series so popular, with some choice enhancements, including co-op.
Although Tarsier Studios isn’t adding co-op as an answer to Supermassive Games doing the same in the third entry in the series the Swedish studio has created launching this year, the gameplay similarities between Reanimal and Little Nightmares 3 were uncanny, with setting and characters doing most of the differentiating work. In the Tarsier Studios’ developed game, two players, or a player with an AI-controlled partner, will take on the role of an unnamed brother and sister as they traverse a hellish version of their home and attempt to save three friends. As they make their dangerous journey through this world, the two will have to cooperate to solve puzzles, which include activating different contraptions at the same time, moving objects to create platforms upon which the other can climb to reach important items or switches, and avoiding getting captured by massive enemies.
Beginning after getting stranded on a beach, the Reanimal Gamescom demo provided a decent look at the game and what its co-op-focused experience offered. While the puzzles were nicely designed, but not very surprising, I felt the game was at its best during a hectic escape sequence where the players had to combine stealth and platforming to escape from a nicely designed and animated giant doll-like creature. These escaping sequences were undoubtedly the highlight of the short demo, and the most hilarious, which made it easy to look past the puzzle design, which was too familiar at times, even with the tweaks made necessary by the co-op approach of the game.
Familiar is possibly the best way to describe what I have seen of Reanimal during this year’s Gamescom. While an around 20-min session is obviously not enough to paint a whole picture, there’s no denying that Tarsier Studio’s first game after the Little Nightmares series will not disappoint fans of the series looking for an experience carrying the developer’s trademark style when it launches sometime next year on PC and consoles.
