The Reanimal demo, released as part of the Steam festival, lasts about half an hour, but that's more than enough time to add Tarsier Studios' new project to your Wishlist.
This is an atmospheric, sometimes disgusting (in a good way) and frightening game, set in some kind of terrible world inhabited by grotesque monsters, and the story tells about ordinary children trying to save their friends and escape from the island that used to be their home.
Given that Tarsier has mastered the technique of visual storytelling, players will have to find most of the features of the Reanimal world and the secrets of its inhabitants on their own. Most likely, it won't be that difficult, since the characters in Reanimal talk to each other, which was not the case in Little Nightmares and Little Nightmares 2.
Moreover, Reanimal is fully localized into Russian, and the developers have found good actors who convincingly convey the emotions of the melancholic characters.
The demo features the same section of the game that the developers showed during Gamescom 2025 in August. A little boy with a bag on his head and a noose around his neck wakes up in a boat in the middle of the sea. Who he is and what he's doing here remains a mystery. Without hesitation, the boy starts the boat and begins to sail, using the beacons on the buoys as a guide.
After a while, he finds the body of a young girl swaying on the waves, who quickly comes to her senses and attacks the boy. After a short scuffle, she realizes that he is not her enemy, and they continue their adventure together.
Next comes a small section where the duo tries to get through some factory into the forest using a railcar. The only problem is that the railcar is missing a wheel, which they need to find.
It's pointless to go into further details of the demo, let's just say that it does an excellent job of intriguing. I really want to know: who are these children, what are they looking for, why is something hunting them and how are they going to get out of this place.
Of course, it's too early to judge the puzzles and their complexity - we've only seen a tiny part of the game. But the few tasks that the characters had to solve in the demo seemed too simple.
The demo ends with the heroes trying to escape from some disgusting creature resembling a human, but moving like an animal and bending its limbs with an unpleasant crunch at unnatural angles.
Comparing Reanimal and Little Nighmares 3 is almost inevitable, and it's worth saying that Supermassive Games' creation will not stand on a par with Tarsier's new game. And this applies not only to the atmosphere itself, but even to the technical execution of both games. Reanimal looks much better than Little Nightmares 3 and is well optimized. Not to mention more important and genre-forming things.
The only thing the two games have in common is the sound design, which creates an atmosphere of sadness and despair.
Analysis
Reanimal is the real Little Nightmares 3 that we will get soon. Full translation into Russian, mysterious atmosphere, interesting puzzles and mysterious characters. The game is scary, impressive and definitely deserves your attention - or at least adding to your Wishlist.