Tarsier refines its horror formula to deliver its best game yet.

*REANIMAL*. Credit: Tarsier Studios / THQ Nordic

After its acquisition by the Embracer Group, Tarsier Studios could no longer continue the Little Nightmares series, since Bandai Namco retained the rights. Their new horror adventure, Reanimal, is a spiritual successor that takes a leap forward and becomes Tarsier’s strongest work to date.

Like Little Nightmares, Reanimal is built around co-op play. Two unnamed children—brother and sister—return to the island they once escaped in order to rescue their friends. The place has grown even more hostile since they left, packed with dangers eager to swallow them whole. Storytelling remains largely atmospheric, relying on environmental detail rather than dialogue, which suits the game’s unsettling tone and deepens the mystery.

The creature design is extraordinary. Across the dilapidated, decaying, and eventually war-torn landscapes, you encounter horrors that linger in memory: empty human skins slithering like snakes, a whale-sized skeletal horse stalking the sea, a furry insectoid monstrosity commanding children made of ash, a towering flightless pelican, and faceless World War I soldiers intent on killing you with grenades. These deliberately symbolic monsters invite players to interpret how they relate to the game’s themes of trauma and the cycle of violence.

Gameplay has two primary modes: at sea on a boat and exploration on foot. The boat carries you between areas as you weave through floating mines; later, harpoons allow you to blow them up and spear swimming creatures. On land, puzzles gate progression, sometimes involving operating light machinery, and often requiring coordination between the siblings. The co-operative gameplay never approaches the complexity of games like It Takes Two, perhaps because Reanimal can be played alone. Occasional vehicle sequences—one involving an ice cream truck, another I won’t spoil—add welcome variety.

Gameplay felt great. The characters are limber and agile, yet there’s still convincing weight in their movement, thanks to great animation. My only frustration was with the camera, which sometimes feels a little too restrictive, but I understand the developer’s choice behind the controlled framing.

Early on, you acquire a crowbar for dealing with smaller threats. Even then, stealth is the more frequent choice, because anything bigger than the kids will instantly kill them. Most boss encounters focus on survival and escape, with a couple involving combat, including a climactic final battle. One of the game’s greatest successes in its horror is how harrowing all the encounters are, and it’s achieved entirely without jump scares.

The environments are creepy, shrouded in shadow, dust, and fog. All of them are oppressive and foreboding; frequent use of wide shots and shallow focus makes the characters feel tiny in massive spaces, pushing the sense of vulnerability beyond what Little Nightmares achieved. The boy’s lighter and the girl’s lantern can clear some darkness, but even with these, visibility is low. Whenever I got stuck, it was usually because I missed a detail in the shadows; nothing a little careful observation won’t fix.

Reanimal is one of the most visually striking games I’ve played in recent memory. The world is frightening and hauntingly beautiful at the same time. I often slowed down just to soak it all in. The art direction’s gorgeous visual design feels slightly less expressionistic than Tim Burton's work, and much of its success comes from the masterful use of light and shadow to highlight exactly what the developers want you to see.

The 7-8 hours I spent with the game flew by. I missed most collectibles and an extra ending, so I plan to dive into Reanimal again, this time in co-op, to find everything I missed. Reanimal is captivating, unsettling, and gorgeous. This is a must-play.

Reanimal is available now on Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.