Summary
I remember playing the firstLittle Nightmaresback in 2017 and not really understanding why everyone was raving about it. I felt it was a great game that had plenty of creepy moments, but it was nowhere near the terrifying horror masterpiece that everyone was making it out to be.
Little Nightmares 2was much better than the first and was a personal favourite of mine in 2021, but my feelings about its fear factor remained mostly the same. It was creepy and icky, but most of its horror was implied and based on anticipation. Running into the long-necked teacher was nowhere near as spine-tingling as walking through the corridors and dreading what was coming next.
From what I’ve seen of the third game(which is developed byUntil DawnandThe Quarry’s Supermassive this time around), that focus on more abstract fear seems to be continuing, but with a co-op focus. As happy as I am that Little Nightmares lives on, I couldn’t help but wonder where the series’ original developers, Tarsier Studios, would have taken the concept next.
A Bigger Little Nightmare
I didn’t have to wonder for very long, mind.As revealed during THQ’s Summer Showcase, Tarsier isn’t pushing the boat out very far with its next game,Reanimal, which once again focuses on strange creatures, tiny kids who have to be kept alive from unimaginable horror, all of which is presented with Tarsier’s iconic claymation-esque visuals.
There is an actual boat in Reanimal, though, which you use to get around and explore the world.
Even though I would have been more than happy to have a double helping of Little Nightmares goodness over the next few years, after getting to go hands-on with Reanimal atGamescom, I’m happy to say that it does enough to stand out from Tarsier’s past, even if it clearly has a lot of love and respect for it.
The demo I played showed the brother and sister protagonists venturing through what looked like an abandoned factory. One of the first things that stood out to me is that Reanimal actually features voice-acting instead of little grunts and groans, with the siblings screaming at one another to run when they were being chased at one point.
Don’t go expecting a bunch of dialogue from Reanimal, though. While it’s effective at making this feel like an evolution of Little Nightmares, it’s used sparingly as the atmosphere and dread do the teeth-chattering talking. The massive factory was home to the same environmental puzzles you’d expect, with the brother and sister clambering around platforms, sprinting away from danger, and interacting with objects to find their way out.
The same sense of unknown terror that pulsed through every second of Little Nightmares is present in Reanimal, but there’s also much more tangible terror. At one point in the demo, the siblings came face-to-face with a horrifically hairy creature with spindly legs that seemed to have been eating children. Wouldn’t be a Tarsier game without that.
The reveal trailer for Reanimal also showed off a creepy pig with its intestines swinging about, suggesting a bigger focus on body horror.
Not wanting to be next, this led to a classic chase scene where the siblings ran through the factory at top speed, involving some tight jumps and sweaty palms. It’s very familiar to what Tarsier has done before, but considering how well it was done there, I don’t mind it here one bit. The real difference is that I was actually scared while playing Reanimal, instead of just being a little uneasy. Even though I was in a room with some of the game’s developers and a few journalists, I almost let out a little squeak as I was being chased around by the hairy hulking beasts.
I’m not really sure why Reanimal actively scared me when Little Nightmares didn’t, but it’s likely to do with the animal enemies over the more cartoonish close-to-human creatures from that series. Don’t get me wrong, some of them were right weirdos, but it’s just a bit scarier seeing a demonic goat than it is a lanky lecturer.
The demo I played was single-player, so I don’t really know much about the co-op elements of the game beyond it being very funny that Little Nightmares 3 is doing the same thing.
Combine that with Reanimal’s visuals going for a more grimy and photorealistic look, and it just hits on a different level than Little Nightmares did for me. My demo was very brief overall and only let me see a slice of a more action-packed section of the game, but I’m just as excited about the bits I didn’t see like the boat exploration.
More than anything, my time with Reanimal proved that Tarsier Studios hasn’t missed a beat from its Little Nightmares days and has even jumped ahead a few steps with its horror.
