From Tarsier Studios, the minds behind Little Nightmares and Little Nightmares II, comes REANIMAL—an utterly skin-crawling adventure which makes their other ventures into horror feel like child's play. Between an overwhelmingly large world inhabited by creatures designed to petrify you, to a heavy story about a brother & sister having to face it all mostly alone, the narrative that unfolds is bound to be a haunting one. However, despite the weighty nature and constant fear, there's an odd sense of hope that keeps you pushing through.
From the very moment you step foot in REANIMAL, you feel stranded, even though you may not necessarily be alone. This feeling is certainly helped by the fact you are, quite literally, stranded in the middle of the sea with no real sense of direction. With only a flashing light to really lead the way, you can't help but follow it. But what waits beyond the horizon is much more chilling than you'd expect. The world only seems to grow from there, and as you get closer to the shore you start to feel like you're getting smaller, which only makes things more intimidating.
The only way to progress is by solving these puzzles and making your way through each section. There's no way around it, and no way for you to skip certain areas. So, the lack of choice makes the world feel a lot more evil. You don't have the option to sit and wait for everything to blow over, instead you simply have to soldier on no matter how tough things seem to get. As a result, figuring these puzzles out feels a lot more challenging due to the added pressure to get things right quickly and correctly so you can get out of areas faster, and simple things like opening doors and turning corners becomes a lot slower as there's no guarantee whether or not it's safe where you're headed. However, with the obvious threats aside, it's actually the quiet moments that feel the most threatening.
In fact, REANIMAL does a fantastic job at making you constantly doubt yourself due the design of the entire world. With the environment doused in a thick darkness and only lit by the occasional flickering light, you'll no doubt feel the pressure to constantly check over your shoulder, or question if what you're looking at in the distance really is a shadow or if it's some sort of monster waiting for you to walk into its trap.
But there's a good reason you feel the need to tread carefully, and that's down to the fact the monsters aren't by any means pleasant encounters either. If you're used to the unsettling beasts you come across in Little Nightmares, then be warned—REANIMAL really steps things up a notch. What makes the things you stumble across in REANIMAL so terrifying is the fact you can never really tell what they are.
Although they generally resemble vaguely human features, at least to begin before they start morphing into more animalistic beasts, the uncanny nature of each design makes you want to stop and stare. But, with the short amount of time you have between being spotted and meeting your demise, you don't really have that privilege. If you don't run or hide out of sight, you probably won't make it out alive. Which is a lesson a lot of Tarsier Studios' horror games like to teach.
Each enemy you come across feels like an immense boss as well. There's no level one grunts you have to defend yourself against, every single creature you come across feels just as terrifying as the last, and even though you feel miniscule in comparison to them, you'll still attempt to defeat them. REANIMAL utilises mechanics like quick time events while the protagonists are being chased to keep emotional high, alongside moments where you have to sneak past enemies and pray they don't spot you. This, combined with the already established puzzle solving mechanics, gives a palpable sense of constant tension rather than relying on easy jumpscares for the sake of it.
One moment it's a tense sprint to escape a warehouse filled with deflated human-ish skin suits, while the next you're ducking between stacks of luggage to avoid being grabbed by a tall male whose skin doesn't quite fit right. The question of "how could this possibly get worse" becomes something of a mantra, and each time you enter a new area REANIMAL sets a new level of fear through its character design.
Yet the little spark of hope suggesting that things might improve the further you get is something that resonates with the protagonist and the player, and is just enough to push you through each location, paired with the morbid curiosity of what horrors might be waiting for you. It might not remove any doubt or terror you feel the second you're running for dear life from any sort of hellish beast, but it's the driving force throughout the whole game, no matter how nightmare-inducing it gets.
REANIMAL is available to pre-purchase now on Steam, and will release on February 13, 2026.
