"Reanimal": Atmospheric co-op platformer
The makers of the creepy "Little Nightmares" games are back with a new brand. Much looks familiar, but there are significant differences.
Creepy, but designed entirely for cooperation – Artwork for "Reanimal".
(Image: THQ Nordic)
You don't expect colorful games with cuddly hop heroes from Tarsier Studios. Although parts of the team were previously involved in productions such as "Little Big Planet" or "Tearaway", the Swedes have long since left these cheerful worlds behind them: Tarsier's best-known games are the first two parts of the "Little Nightmares" series. While the third part of this series is currently in development at the British company Supermassive Games ("Until Dawn", "The Quarry") and is scheduled for release in the fall of 2025, the original creators are now embarking on something new in the world of spooky platformers. "Reanimal."".
Creepy kids in creepy worlds
This can also be seen in the game's heroes, who are simply called "The Girl" and "The Boy": two undefined children, brother and sister, he wears a sack over his head, she wears a "Donnie Darko"-compatible creepy bunny mask. Why? Part of the answer will be revealed in the course of the adventure. But here, too, the developers clearly emphasize that they are not aiming to answer all questions without exception. Some things are deliberately intended to remain mysteries in the minds of the players.
"Reanimal" auf der Gamescom 2025 angespielt (6 Bilder)
Reanimal
THQ Nordic
)Not a game for egotists
"Players", mind you. Plural. Because one of the most important differences to "Little Nightmares 1&2" is that "Reanimal" is no longer purely a solo game. Although you can, of course, tackle it alone again, the developers emphasize that cooperation is the central core of the game design, both together on a couch and together over the Internet.
So it's no wonder that practically all the game's puzzles are designed for boys and girls to work together. Sometimes they have to turn off a giant fan together in such a well-timed way that one of them can always quickly whiz past the razor-sharp blades before they start spinning again. Occasionally the two of them first have to find the missing wheels of a cart before they can set it in motion by rhythmically moving the respective gamepad sticks. And sometimes an obstacle is too high – then one of them has to help the other up first, while the second pulls the first up towards them.
Videos by heise
Egoists have no place in this game. And they won't get very far either. This is because the siblings are always together on one screen and are not allowed to move very far away from each other. The camera does zoom out a little if, for example, two switches that have to be pressed in parallel are placed a little further apart. However, the developers have deliberately decided against a split screen, which would allow greater distances, to preserve the atmosphere. If the boy and girl are too far apart for too long, they die.
You die less alone together
And even if you don't go all out, the protagonists in "Reanimal" die very quickly – and very often! Razor-sharp fan blades, sloshing ocean waves, biting monsters that you couldn't escape fast enough, inexplicably tentacled creepy creatures or a gigantic horror clown that (once it has picked up the scent) relentlessly searches for the children and is instantly fatal on contact. Boy and girl find themselves in an extremely hostile environment. But of course this isn't a Souls-like game, the developers don't want to frustrate the players, they want to challenge them. So if you die, you simply start the current scene all over again.
Maintaining the dark theme, the design of the game is also very atmospheric and creepy: Shades of gray and blue dominate the picture, fog billows, dust and smoke make it difficult to see.
"Reanimal" will be released in early 2026 on PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2.
(nie)
