'Reanimal' Review
Developer: Tarsier Studio | Platform: PS5 | Playtime: 5:10 | Platinum: 8:50
After concluding work on Little Nightmares 2, Tarsier announced they were moving away from the franchise to work on something new. Bandai Namco took the IP which saw its third entry come from Super Massive Games as well as a new expansive empire for the franchise. While that was happening, Tarsier were working on their new IP, the decidedly very Little Nightmares like game, Reanimal. How does it fare against what came before and on its own merits? Unfortunately, not very well. Reanimal is a game of one step forward and two steps back.
The story is vague by design and a lot is left open to interpretation but I’m talking about it in detail so I suppose MAJOR STORY SPOILERS and MODERATE GAMEPLAY SPOILERS follow. Reader discretion advised.
I want to start with the positives before I get into negatives because there are definitely positives here. Visual and Audio design is Tarsier at their peak, locations look eerie and haunting, with the sound design to boot – every creak and drip resonate. I’d describe the style as Little Nightmares meets Playdead’s Inside. There seems to be a new camera system at work here allowing more free view of what is happening which is appreciated. That’s where my praise ends however.
The story follows a nameless boy searching for his friends on a large imposing island inhabited by strange people and giant mutant animals yet despite being the premise, the animals have such minimal screentime that it’s a wonder why they’re even here. The game is split into 9 chapters and the Animals don’t appear until Chapter 4. The first 3 chapters feel like a cut DLC from Little Nightmares 2 which is still good but I feel like there should have been some sort of fakeout like this isn’t Little Nightmares, this is Reanimal. Besides from the last couple chapters with the main Sheep monster, none of the Animals get more than 10 minutes screen time.
The game is a smidgen more open ended than previous titles thanks to locations being reached via boat. I thought this might have meant some exploring but it’s moreso the boat takes you to the next linear section. Areas feel connected rather arbitrarily too with fade to blacks teleporting characters to the next relevant section. Rather than cohesive design, the game instead seems to want to focus on set pieces. Little Nightmares had it’s chase sequences but here it feels like that’s all there is. There’s certainly no puzzles in the levels, not a single point where I had to stop to think about what I was doing – the outcome immediately obvious upon entering a room. The only thing close to a puzzle was an underwater section which was admittedly cool but so short lived it’s barely a footnote in an already short experience.
New to Tarsier is voice acting but considering there’s maybe four lines of dialogue in the entire game, I do wonder why they even bothered. The journey here is to save your friends, starting with The Girl (your AI or Coop Partner companion) but the rest may as well not be there. When entering new areas, they’ll wait behind at the boat or entrance to a place so it’s only The Boy and The Girl. Two of your friends speak later on but hell if I know which one spoke, or why I should even care. If they weren’t in the game it wouldn’t make a lick of difference to the narrative.
I think Tarsier really wanted to make another Little Nightmares before whatever went down with the publisher but I think they should have taken it as a clean break to do something new – the potential and ideas are there. As it stands, Reanimal feels like Little Nightmares, diluted down to the basics with still more stripped out. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more apathetic to a game in my life. Disappointing, from a studio I really enjoy.
