Summary
- Reanimal by Tarsier is an upcoming horror game similar to Little Nightmares, exploring grotesque animal body horror in a familiar atmosphere.
- Reanimal and Little Nightmares 3 share similarities and could even launch around the same time, with Reanimal being a chance for Tarsier to explore a new IP within its horror niche.
- Reanimal will be a test of players' love for Little Nightmares as an IP or for what Tarsier achieved with that framework.
Reanimal has been revealed as the new horror game Tarsier is developing while it is not actually developing Little Nightmares 3, but the distinction between both is nearly impossible to make at a passing glance. The Gamescom Opening Night Live announcement trailer for Tarsier’s Reanimal confirms that the developer has basically replicated the same atmosphere, gameplay, and design ethos of Little Nightmares and applied that coat of paint to a new property, which leans decidedly more on grotesque animal body horror.
It’s certainly an interesting choice to have Reanimal be so unabashedly indiscernible from Little Nightmares, but this conviction suggests that Tarsier has found an incredibly specific niche and perhaps wanted to explore a new IP with it rather than be stuck trudging through the same mud of established lore it would need to continue building against as opposed to creating a new narrative framework. Little Nightmares’ story is arguably less enticing or engrossing than the atmosphere it’s steeped in, too, and Tarsier branching out with its now-seminal horror niche could ironically pave the way for endless creativity.
Little Nightmares 3's Co-op Puts a Limiter On What Made the IP Dreary
Little Nightmares 3 is set to introduce a new co-op mechanic to the series, and that has the real possibility of stripping away the series' horror.
Reanimal Launching Anywhere Near Little Nightmares 3 Will Expose Each Other’s Achilles’ Heels
Because Reanimal and Little Nightmares 3 are both in development and both were given a trailer at Gamescom Opening Night Live it will be interesting to see how they are each received, especially if they are released around the same time as one another. Tarsier’s Reanimal and Supermassive’s Little Nightmares 3 do have distinguishing qualities when examined closely, but their similarities are unmistakable and any erroneous gameplay or atmospheric decisions might weigh heavily on either as a result.
Many games nowadays are compared to others when there is hardly any genuine connective tissue between them, such as when anyone compares errant open-world or action-RPG games, though Reanimal and Little Nightmares 3 invite this discourse by how little actively separates them. To be fair, Supermassive is only coming into the franchise with this third entry while Tarsier helmed it beforehand, meaning that Reanimal has an opportunity to impress players more by being a new title by the series creator.
If anything, Reanimal and Little Nightmares 3 will be a chance to demonstrate whether players enjoy Little Nightmares as an IP or if they simply adore what Tarsier achieved with it.
After all, Supermassive may do a superb job with Little Nightmares 3. But if it’s competing with a new Tarsier IP that’s essentially an identical game—with an emphasis on what appears to be amalgamated, reanimated animal corpses among other body horror tropes and haunting character designs that Tarsier has relished—it could be judged much more harshly than it would if Reanimal bore no resemblance to Little Nightmares at all.
Reanimal is Tarsier’s Way of Moving on from Little Nightmares, But Not Really
Reanimal has the upper hand since the unexpected and unprecedented is typically more alluring in horror, and seeing what Tarsier has in the oven while Supermassive has taken Little Nightmares under its wing was always going to be intriguing. That said, Reanimal will hopefully find ways to be inventive aside from its gameplay, tone, and overall visual aesthetic. Even if it doesn’t make great strides to be unique, Tarsier of all studios would earn itself a pass since it conceived Little Nightmares in the first place.
Whereas The Callisto Protocol tried and debatably failed to emulate what made Dead Space so beloved, for example, Tarsier has the advantage of not distancing itself too far from Little Nightmares before trying something new with Reanimal. Plus, Tarsier clearly wants to maintain as much of its iconic, successful signature as possible and that could be its biggest boon when the dust has cleared with Reanimal being the breath of fresh air that Tarsier’s brand of horror-platformer needs.
Reanimal is currently in development.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 71 /100 Critics Rec: 60%
- Released
- October 10, 2025
- ESRB
- Teen / Blood and Gore, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Supermassive Games
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Franchise
- Little Nightmares
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
- Genre(s)
- Puzzle, Platformer, Horror
