Little Nightmares DNA is very much present in Tarsier Studios’ new game. So much so that I assumed the trailer I watched at an online preview event last week was for a new installment in the cinematic horror platformer series, until the name Reanimal appeared on screen, followed shortly by a snippet of voice dialogue.
It’s not just the horror setting, but the menace of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, the deformed adults created by monsters through the trauma-tinged prism of a child’s imagination. A lanky man on a bicycle in a worn suit chases children down an alley. A lanky pursuer in a bowler hat slithers down a long table like a spider. It’s familiar enough territory, at least at first glance. But when Tarsier has a body of work unconsciously marked by fantasy, these vivid, recurring nightmares are just as potent.
Reanimal does have a few new features, though, that even if it were a direct sequel to Tarsier's previous works, it would still be considered a notable departure. It's a two-player co-op game, for starters. Local or online, but you can still play solo.
“The easiest solution would have been to go split-screen… but we didn’t want players to feel alone. We wanted to force players to play together,” says narrative director David Mervik, who also wrote for both Little Nightmares games. Mervik cites Hazelight’s It Takes Two as an influence, but adds that Tarsier was aiming for a more minimalist approach with Reanimal.
Mervik describes the lens as offering “this cathartic experience of going through something horrible together.” Another new feature is the directed and shared camera, which is different from the fixed, side-on perspective of Little Nightmares. The goal here is to offer more organized and directed scenes, even when exploring optional locations.
The question that gave rise to Reanimal's new direction was, Mervik explains, “What if we could achieve that sense of adventure – with a slightly reduced scope compared to The Windwaker – with that thick, claustrophobic dread that you feel in, say, Silent Hill 2?”
“For us, [adventure] “That’s the name of the game,” he continues. “We want that sense of excitement, but also that sense of abject terror. But if that’s all you feel, you start to feel nothing.” So you’ll be able to travel by boat, discover smaller areas off the main path, and maybe help your orphan crew learn more about what’s going on in this world.
But the most striking thing about Reanimal in Little Nightmares is its newfound preoccupation with big, fat barnyard bastards. Bloated, titanic farm animals scurry through crumbling walls as if hungry for tamacco, and a multi-armed sheep that never skip leg day climbs between two buildings. A giant pig perched on its hind legs slowly turns toward the camera and our protagonists as they flee through a rotting wooden shack. There is another beast that eludes classification, scurrying into the trailer with limbs emerging from a vast cocoon.
The appearance of the characters and monsters is “centered around these kids’ shared past,” Mervik explains. Ah, that Silent Hill inspiration. The story centers on five orphans, but you’ll play as one of two: a bored girl in a rabbit mask, or a boy who presumably tried to find a rabbit mask, failed, and just put a bag over his head. The Tarsiers don’t say much about what these kids are up to, but it’ll be your job to figure it out.
When Mervik talks about the tones and themes of Reanimal, he uses words that evoke a malformed peace and vitality. A comforting smell turned repulsive, like someone urinated in your bread machine while you weren’t looking. Corruption. Distortion. Defilement. Violence. “The world itself? I would say violent is the word I would use most. What this world is—why it is the way it is. What it reflects. It’s violence. Oh, it’s a beautiful pine forest. How can we destroy that? There are very industrial environments, and what should be a beautiful water forest…”
And this is where Mervik digresses slightly to talk about the possibilities the new camera offers to compose scenes in new ways, to give the player a sense of solitude. As a journalist trying to report on the game, I find this sudden change a little unsettling. But as someone who has enjoyed both Little Nightmares games immensely, Mervik's enthusiasm is infectious. It feels, despite the digression, like this is a deeply focused and intentional project.
Tarsier has never shied away from cutting corners on design, to the point where one could criticize the Little Nightmares games for being a bit short for their asking price. Short, but never truncated. Perfectly formed and perfectly disturbing. Reanimal seems to be continuing that tradition. I'll be counting the days, even though I don't think counting sheep is going to work for me.
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