Reanimal Review – What Little Nightmares 3 Wasn’t

I’ve covered Little Nightmares 3 in the past, I thought it was rather neat but at the same time it didn’t feel like it carried the same weight as the previous two titles due to being done by a different studio. I was surprised to have the chance to do a Reanimal Review, and I would just describe the whole game with two words, horrifyingly awesome. This is what Little Nightmares 3 should have been, and in fact it does feel like this might have been an early build for a third part, but then it got repurposed for something different.

Reanimal plays pretty much like other games in the Little Nightmares series, in fact someone would need to be told that this isn’t a Little Nightmares game in the first place, and that it is its own original game. For someone like me who sees new series as an opportunity to try out something new it is quite disheartening, but the formula for Little Nightmares is so good it can be applied to a ton of games. It is a personal belief of mine that Tarsier Studios should have been the ones that did Little Nightmares 3 in the first place, but now I will consider Reanimal as an spiritual successor of what could have been.

As always the environments we see in the game are pristine, the story telling is mostly done in a visual story telling way, and the world building is simply exquisite. Its a feast of lots of ideas, focused primarily around animals and their symbolism around cruelty and mistreatment and how this bleak world is primarily based on exploitation as its core value. Everything is disturbing, from the first minutes of gameplay to the last, the mysterious girl that accompanies us being one of the most interesting characters in the game, who’s role will be revealed as you keep advancing.

The puzzles are tight and well crafted, using every bit of the environment to play with and there’s also tons of secrets to be found in the island, along with an ominous and foreboding atmosphere that will keep you haunted till you finish the game. That’s not to say this game does not have its beautiful views, there is a section where you reach a barn, and the whole road towards it is chock full of flowers and blades of grass that react as you step on them, showcasing the power of Unreal Engine.

It is amazing to see how Reanimal does not waste any minute from you because something is always happening, an scenario that might have seemed peaceful at first will eventually twist into an horrid nightmare filled with monsters whose designs still live in my mind. The amount of effort put into designing each and every creature was impressive, even from the first boss you face, the Sniffer, who looks like a deformed man manages to bring to you a sense of urgency that not even the most ruthless creatures in Little Nightmares 3 did, in short, horror is done perfectly.

Perhaps I would argue that pacing can be a bit chaotic at times, you might be traversing the island solving simple puzzles, and then you are just hit from everywhere with terrible abominations and think quick scenarios that you may fail to do well at the first attempt, but it is fine really, Reanimal is paced in a frenetic way that makes you feel like being hunted by an animal, you may think the hunt ended when it reality you have already been caught by the predator. You can even see the ties of these concepts across the maps, at least that was my personal interpretation of Reanimal.

As you advance you save your friends who are scattered through the different parts of the island, making the group bigger and bigger as you progress until you have a squad of friends there to help you, but the most helpful ally is the mysterious girl from the beginning, who can provide the strongest source of light and also carries the best weapon, a knife. For those who have played games in the Little Nightmares series, you may know that there is always multiple secrets to find, multiple endings and most importantly tons of interpretations to be had too.

I would argue Reanimal falls into the bin of games that are artsy and show that the medium can be used to make art, the developers have expressed their view on many things through the characters, such as the oppressive nature of adults and how neglect can go a long way to create yet another bigger monster that might as well remain forgotten. I feel like every elements is perfect, and compared to Little Nightmares 3 even the issues with the game being too dark have been avoided. It is true that this game recycles a ton of material from Little Nightmares but, is it even a bad thing?

What is broken shouldn’t be fixed, except the feelings of someone who gets to one of the many endings in any of these games, a common theme is that of being back stabbed by those closest to you but you never know who is the one who will carry the treason. What matters the most about Reanimal and other games like this is the journey, taking in every moment, every melody, every sound and every visual cue you can to understand the bigger picture, to not miss the forest of context with the trees of mere words as I like to say.

A feature people might adore in this game is cooperative mode, you can play with friends across devices since its cross compatible, and there’s even a dedicated application called Reanimal Friend’s Pass that you can install for free and that way you can play alongside anyone who wants to jump in. I believe Reanimal might be one of the best releases of 2026, yet I’m quite biased since I usually love these kind of games, if you are fan of Little Nightmares rest assured that Reanimal will feel extremely similar to you.

Reanimal Review – Verdict

[Editor’s Note: Reanimal was reviewed on PC and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.]