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Reanimal features Little Nightmares-style gameplay in a similarly broken world.
After a long break since Little Nightmares II, Tarsier Studios is back with another horror adventure for PlayStation 5 (reviewed on PS5 Pro), Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. Despite featuring a completely separate world and characters, it’s a very familiar experience that brings over some of Little Nightmares’s best aspects. However, an even vaguer narrative and lack of memorable moments stop this from surpassing the team’s previous work.
Reanimal sees you waking up on a boat as boy with sack for a mask and a noose around their neck. Venturing forward, he finds a girl in the water, who attempts to attack him before backing down. While you’ll only play as the boy in single-player, a friend can take control of the girl in local and online co-op.
The pair’s journey sees them travelling through a number of strange locations, from flooded buildings to a crumbling orphanage. Along the way they’re hunted by a number of twisted creatures, most requiring them to hide or run. From what little the children say they’re making this journey to rescue their friends, but you’re not really told much more than that.
In general, Reanimal keeps things incredibly vague. There’s dialogue but characters usually only say a few lines at most, and even when you meet up with the rest of the cast you’re not much closer to figuring out what’s going on. Despite beating the game more than once, I couldn’t really conclusively tell you what actually happened.
This isn’t wholly unique to Reanimal. Both Little Nightmares games rarely told the player directly what was happening, and it took a little more work to discern the story. However, in this case I think it’s been taken to far. Some things might be cleared up in the DLC chapters releasing in the coming year, yet I don’t think that makes up for the core narrative being lacking.
On the gameplay side, it’s a fairly familiar experience. For the most part you’ll be running around environments far larger than your character, jumping and climbing your way to the next area. Environments are detailed with a great use of shadows and lighting, aiding the game’s atmosphere as you explore the next twisted location.
I think where Reanimal falters is how simplified the moment to moment exploration has become. Puzzles were already rather simple in the Little Nightmares games, and they’ve been dumbed down even further. A lot just boil down to finding a specific item, such as bolt cutters to unlock a chained up door.
Stealth and chases suffer from this too. I understand why these would be made easier, since trial and error can get annoying (especially if playing co-op.) Yet I’d argue there has to be at least some sense of danger to match the bleak vibes, and that’s just not here. I did at least enjoy a few of the setpieces, especially when you start running into the larger creatures near the end.
Creatures are another odd part of Reanimal though. Based on the name and early trailers, I had assumed that freakish oversized animals would be the main enemies. Instead, the enemy that gets the most screen time and encounters by far is essentially just a large human. Not that those scenes were bad, it just seems like things weren’t balanced out correctly.
I’d also argue that the whole two character aspect is underutilised as well. I played solo, with the AI controlling the girl’s actions most of the time (occasionally you direct her to use specific items or light up areas while on the boat.) Most of the time both characters are just doing the same thing, running to the same places or pushing the same object.
Only a few puzzles have you using them in a slightly interesting way. This still generally boils down to one person waiting somewhere after boosting the other up to a high platform, but it’s at least something. It never really felt like I was missing out by playing solo, outside of the AI pathfinding being wonky at times.
My biggest complaint with Reanimal however is that it just comes across as unfinished. I’m fine with shorter games regardless of pricing, but Reanimal never feels like a game that was supposed to be under 5 hours. The unbalanced enemy screentime, lacking story, and an abrupt ending all lead to a less than satisfying time.
This wouldn’t be the worst thing on its own. And yet with the existence of the aforementioned upcoming DLC, I can’t shake off the feeling that I’ve only experienced half the story. There are DLCs 3 in total as part of the season pass, explicitly described as continuing the main game’s story with new characters, areas, and enemies.
Final Thoughts
Reanimal is an okay game that has trouble living up to the legacy left by Little Nightmares. Some pretty environments and an initially spooky atmosphere give way to repetitive gameplay and a threadbare story. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in what the DLC has to offer, but I also think that the base game should have felt like a complete experience without it.
THQ Nordic provided us with a PS5 copy of Reanimal. We captured the screenshots on PS5 Pro.