After stepping away from the frequently mind-bending and slightly damp Little Nightmares franchise, Tarsier are back with another of their not-so-patented “tiny guys, big monsters” games. Reanimal is not a grand departure from what the studio made its name on, but it does take a few bold steps while focusing on what they do best: endangered children, running towards the screen a lot, and ambiguous storytelling that launches a hundred new lore channels on YouTube.
This time around, you play as an unnamed brother and sister, bringing back a similar dynamic to the one that Mono and Six shared in Little Nightmares II. You’re searching for your friends on a mysterious island, with them all captured by different beasties. It’s up to you (and a pal, either in online or couch co-op) to flip switches, climb ladders, and crouch patiently behind objects until you can run when the enemy isn’t looking.
For those who ever bounced off Tarsier’s earlier games for not giving you much control, you’ll be pleased to know that this is their most gamey game yet. You’re able to more reliably fend off smaller critters with weapons, drive vehicles, and even fire guns at some points. The combat is certainly better than how it was awkwardly implemented in Little Nightmares II, but is still fairly basic. I’m obviously not asking for one of the kids to pull off a crescent kick, mind you.
The moment-to-moment gameplay is a familiar routine of avoiding monsters and finding the MacGuffin to unlock a door/explode a wall/give a whale a new eye. There’s a pretty clever sequence where you have to load up an AA gun in order to blast away an Eldritchian goat thing blocking your path, but the process to actually do that involves some clever investigation and fairly involved mechanics. This, however, is just about the most complicated puzzle in the game. I’d be lying if I, a certified puzzle unenjoyer, said that any of the puzzles here tripped me up for more than five minutes. I can’t imagine a duo in co-op would take more than two minutes, especially if your partner is smarter than the finicky AI.
This lack of complexity could be looked at in a couple of ways: those who love puzzles will be a bit disappointed by the selection here, but it also mean the tension is maintained without the frustration of an obtuse puzzle taking you out of what the hell is that slithering towards me. I wasn’t terrified during my time with Reanimal, but I was absolutely locked in for the majority. It was always exciting to see what Tarsier had nightmared up next. If you think every creature design trope has been exhausted, you’re in for a treat.
It also feels like a much larger game than anything Tarsier has attempted before in pretty much every aspect, including the introduction of voice acting. The kids have maybe about 12 lines across the whole game, but they’re all delivered with an effective sense of melancholy that will remind you of how it felt when your dad got mad at your mum at the dinner table for messing with the lasagne — perfect. It even seems like it’s cribbing from God of War 2018 at points, with you able to drive a boat around an outrageously dark environment to uncover secrets. Every area feels wholly distinct, with the final section probably being my favourite of any horror game in recent memory. Tarsier clearly didn’t want someone else to perfect their recipe, as they changed the ingredients here in some surprising, exciting ways.
Which makes it all the more surprising that it only took me just under 5 hours to roll the credits. And that includes about 20 or so deaths. Even failure is barely an annoyance this time out, as the checkpointing is so frequent that it will often just put you 30 seconds back. This short playtime isn’t anything new for Tarsier, but it felt like there was perhaps a sequence or two missing here, an extra hour to really buff out the playtime. The cynic in me wants to question why three story-based DLC chapters have already been announced as part of a Season Pass when the main game is this brief.
That said, there is a lot of extra content here, from shrines to masks to concept art, and it’s all quite hard to find. I rolled the credits with only 9 out of 31 achievements unlocked on Steam, and 10 of them are still hidden. Completionists will probably get way past 10 hours of gameplay from Reanimal, and there’s even a secret ending to discover and no doubt obsess over.
Reanimal itself is largely worth discovering. Every frame is a gloopy, horrid painting and I was slamming F12 so much that I almost saw an FPS counter pop up in my screenshot gallery at one point. This is a stunning, absorbing game with best in business art and sound design. It’s just a shame there’s not a lot of it.
A Steam key was provided by PR for the purpose of this review.
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