REANIMAL Demo: First Thoughts
Some games tap you on the shoulder with their atmosphere; others, like the REANIMAL demo, grip you tightly and don't let go until the credits... or at least until the “Thank you for playing” screen rolls by. After wandering through Little Nightmares III’s faded corridors and feeling that trademark tension stretched a bit too thin, stepping into Tarsier Studios’ REANIMAL felt oddly like a homecoming, just with the danger dial twisted into something MUCH much sharper.
REANIMAL definitely doesn’t hide its roots. From the first moments you land on that abandoned beach, the world is unmistakably Tarsier. The demo draws those comparisons to the Little Nightmares franchise easily, with its sullen color palette and fragile-looking child heroes, and it doubles down on what made those games memorable: environments that breathe a kind of lurking dread, platforming that feels perilous, and a dash of the surreal in every corner.
Chasing down a strange, gnome-like companion through half-ruined landscapes very much sent echoes of Six and Mono through my mind. If someone had claimed this was secretly Little Nightmares III, I would’ve believed them. Yet, the more time I spent in REANIMAL’s broken world, the more it grew into something of its own... A story ready to bare its teeth and gnaw at deeper fears.
Tarsier’s mastery of building anxiety is on full display in this relatively short demo: the soundtrack tightens around you, the puzzles nudge you forward just slow enough to make every corner feel threatening, and before long, I did find myself being jump-scared a couple of times. If Little Nightmares III sometimes pulled its punches, REANIMAL draws blood and left me wanting another round.
While I enjoyed this demo immensely. there were ghosts that haunted me... technical issues. Intrigued by the promise of co-op, something I sorely missed in couch form with Little Nightmares III, I grabbed my husband for an online test run. What followed was a mess of glitches, black screens, and restarts that broke the immersion and, for him, the fun. (I don't know why that keeps happening to him!) After a bit of attempting to trouble shoot, I ended up running the demo alone. Playing solo with the AI sidekick smoothed things out, echoing the companionship of earlier Tarsier games, but the hope is that these issues wash away by launch so the sharing of scares isn’t just left to the imagination.
Despite the technical snags, REANIMAL’s demo had me intrigued. For a bite-sized slice of horror, there’s already something complete and confident here. There is the sense that Tarsier, having let go of the official Little Nightmares IP, is ready to haunt us all over again on their own terms. With its art style, emotional weight, and the subtle brutality in its design, REANIMAL doesn’t just revisit old tricks; it refines them into something far more alive and, perhaps, a little more scary.
When the screen faded out basically mid-jump, I found myself hoping for more than just familiar nightmares. REANIMAL feels poised to take all that worked before and push it somewhere bolder, and that’s what keeps my anticipation high. If you’re still chasing that first brush with the uncanny, keep REANIMAL firmly on your radar... It’s a storm worth watching as it gathers on the horizon.
REANIMAL is set to be released for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S sometime in 2026.