Name: Reanimal Review
Uploaded: 2026-02-12T06:27:46.000Z
Duration: 9 min 9 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

We are running through an abandoned room with a wheel we need to attach to a car outside in order to escape.

My co op partner and I scream in unison as hollow, slimy X human skins slither quickly after us.

One snap at our ankles and we will be dead.

Forced to restart the encounter, it's almost needlessly tense.

The respawn points are are very forgiving and there's nothing at risk here, but

somehow these eerie undead creatures have my heart racing and my palms sweating.

I do not want to be caught by them, whatever they are, and however they came to exist.

Where Tarsier Studios faced criticism for muting the distorted and disturbing imagery of the original Little Nightmares game in its 2021 sequel, the developer has returned to its most outlandish In Reanimal, the gut wrenching feeling of discovering a giant mutated beast of an animal is strangely comforting in a nostalgic way, meaning that not only does Reanimal live up to the legacy of Little Nightmares, it surpasses.

Despite its haunting and unsettling atmosphere, Reanimal is thoroughly enjoyable.

I find great delight in dragging my co op partner toward what appears to be a dead end, only to find a narrow crack in the brickwork that we can squeeze through to uncover collectibles or other secrets.

I'm not usually one to seek trophies or achievements, but

but Reanimal makes me want to uncover every corner of its sordid environment just to absorb more of its world.

Reanimal places you in the shoes of orphan siblings trying to rescue some missing friends.

As the game is the brainchild of former Little Nightmares creators, I already know to expect fragmented storytelling, uncovering lore as we go through the haunting experience, each secret adding more layers to the siblings narrative.

This leads to plenty of theorizing between my companion and I as we progress through the game, most of which turns out to be hilariously incorrect.

The reality is far, far darker than we could have anticipated from the game's humble beginnings, in which you find yourself in a boat alone and forced to drag your sister from the depths of the water.

From that moment on, straying too far from one another will lead to death.

For that reason, the game is played from a single camera perspective, putting emphasis on the need to stick together, work as a team, and

Agree on how many of the game's multiple secret doors, passageways and collectibles you want to uncover.

This is just one of the ways Reanimal fosters tension both between partners and the game itself.

The orphan siblings must locate and rescue their three abandoned friends by exploring a series of islands via boat and on foot traversal.

It's never explicitly stated how the friends came to be lost, and

Tarsier Studios maintains the suspense by refusing to elaborate on it further.

Instead, the narrative style forces us to come to our own conclusions, and

that's one of my favorite aspects of the game.

implications all lead to the probability that different players will settle on varying stories they consider canon.

In the Siblings world, Reanimal's strongest points are its harrowing world building and profound sense of artistry.

Each set piece is adorned with grotesque creatures and emphasized by a muted gray color palette that adds to the all encompassing hostile atmosphere.

When color is utilized, it's almost exclusively an alarming crimson red, whether that's to signal a direction to travel in or to alert you of danger.

The more prevalent the red is, the more intense the warning is.

It's executed near flawlessly throughout, especially when coming face to face with the game's concluding boss.

There are moments of respite after successfully rescuing another orphaned child, we're granted a brief glimpse of hope that everything will be okay in the end if we can just escape this nightmare series of violence.

But for the most part, Reanimal thrives in its unrelenting intensity.

For example, even in the quiet moments where we're not being stalked by monsters, hunted down by an ice cream vendor with a vindictive vendetta, or sniped from a clock tower, there's a sense that something is always watching you.

It doesn't matter if you're navigating a tight sewer pipe or stealthily creeping across a vast open field.

Part of that is due to the visuals, but it's largely down to the stunning sound design.

In one ear, I can hear the slow drip of a nearby leaking pipe, and

in the other, I hear breathing or footsteps that are so brief I almost feel I've imagined them.

It's the combination of these factors and the fact that Reanimal doesn't rely on cheap jump scares to build its atmosphere that explains why I'm so on edge.

For the entire duration of our playthrough, there's a constant sense of impending doom that nestles itself in my gut and only intensifies with each reveal.

When you dig into the intricacies of the game's narrative and what it truly means, it's even more unsettling.

Re Animal deals with more mature themes than Little Nightmares did, so casual horror fans might find it overwhelming Whereas Little Nightmares focused on the perspective of children and how they view the world, Reanimal centers on childhood trauma and how revisiting that trauma can often feel more monstrous and debilitating than the original experience.

It's more personal, raw, and closer to psychological horror than Little Nightmares surreal allegory.

However, the similarities with Little Nightmares exist more obviously in the gameplay.

The siblings need to escape an island that should feel like home, but

instead feels terribly hostile to to do so, they need to work together to successfully maneuver stealth sections, figure out puzzles, and

The addition of weapons in the form of a knife and a crowbar later in the game that are used to take out threats as well as open impassable pathways is a welcome touch.

It makes me feel like I have more control over the gameplay rather than being the controller of a visual novel.

There are doorways that resemble artwork from the original Little Nightmares games, and

wearable mask collectibles that mirror the same system Little Nightmares used.

The puzzles are of similar complexity, although I find myself wishing they were a little more challenging.

There are only two moments where we spent more than a few seconds figuring out the correct action to take to progress further.

If there were more of these, it would have led to a higher sense of accomplishment upon completion.

Sometimes you do need those challenging moments to take a breather following a tense chase scene where or a jump scare that makes your heart race.

While Reanimal only clocks in at around five to seven hours of gameplay, we intended to complete the game in two parts.

As busy parents with hectic schedules, bite sized gaming experiences suit us best, but

we found ourselves powering through it in one sitting thanks to Reanimal's expert ability to make you feel like the conclusion is just around the corner, whether you're taking down an enemy, figuring out a puzzle to clear a pathway, or or seeing the reveal of the game's final boss as it mutates and distorts through flashback cinematics, we found ourselves uttering just one more chapter repeatedly until the credits rolled, and

while we played local co op, you can also play online.

However, it's worth mentioning that Crossplay isn't available at launch, and

it's not clear whether this will be added later on.

While this game does come with a friend's pass, meaning the person you play with doesn't need to own a copy of the game themselves, Reanimal will also fill the empty slots with an AI companion if you can't find a willing participant.

Seeing Reanimal through in one sitting made me feel like I had accompanied the siblings on their journey, holding their tiny, innocent hands as they uncovered horrors beyond comprehension.

The conclusion of Reanimal leaves the door open for further explanation, so the incoming DLC for the game has me genuinely excited.

Unfortunately, I'm still left with a bunch of questions, and

with no release date for for the dlc, I'm in a state of purgatory.

The imagery and implications linger in my mind, much like the siblings nightmares.

While Reanimal is certainly unsettling, it's also quite beautiful.

It shines a light on the importance of companionship.

While you may face moments of uncertainty and unsafety, you're not alone, and that is invaluable.