Reanimal’s Co-op Mode Proves Being Afraid Is More Fun With A Friend
Share the nightmare.
Horror games aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but even if you’re a scaredy-cat like me, having someone get scared alongside you makes them easier to play. And that’s handy to know, because just looking at screenshots of the upcoming co-op horror game Reanimal makes my skin crawl. Set to be released on February 13, Reanimal now has a free Nintendo Switch 2 demo, after getting a demo on Steam and other consoles late last year.
Reanimal is the next game from Tarsier Studios, creators of the Little Nightmares series, a fact made clear from the first look at the new game. After developing the first two Little Nightmares, Tarsier handed the series off to Supermassive Games for the third entry, which got a considerably worse reception than the previous two. That decision was made so Tarsier could shift its focus to this new co-op spiritual successor, and from the looks of it, it may have recaptured the magic that made Little Nightmares great in the first place.
Reanimal is playable alone, but playing with a friend is clearly the intended experience, with both local and online multiplayer available. In co-op mode, each player takes control of one of the game’s masked child protagonists, and you must help each other through the game’s terrifying world.
The demo opens with a boatride to a mysterious island, where you’ll need to hide from grotesque monsters and solve puzzles to navigate disturbing environments. Borrowing from the Little Nightmares series, Reanimal doesn’t make its story immediately obvious, instead leaving clues to gather while keeping the actual events more metaphorical than concrete. What is clear is that the island is home to a group of masked children just like your characters, and that you’re returning for some reason after having escaped or being forced out.
Even in the early stages, Reanimal makes good use of its multiplayer. You’ll often need to boost your co-op partner onto high ledges to proceed, and many of its puzzles require coordination. In one example, one player needs to hold down a switch to stop a giant piece of machinery that the second player can climb through, and in another, you need to time your button presses to power a mine cart across a chasm. It’s pretty simple stuff, but the focus on coordination builds a sense of the characters’ relationship and demands that the players learn to work together.
It’s no less haunting than Little Nightmares, but Reanimal’s co-op mode could make it easier to get through.
On top of just giving you someone to help solve puzzles with, playing Reanimal in co-op changes the stakes from the solo approach of Little Nightmares. It’s easier to push through the scares with someone there to share the terror, and hearing your friend laugh when you scream at a jump scare helps break the tension. But it also means you’re not just fighting for your own survival, and tasks like sneaking past patrolling enemies can actually be tougher with two players. Rather than thinking only of your own safety, you need to help each other through tight spots, which adds an entirely new dimension to the horror.
There’s still a month left until Reanimal’s release, but having played the demo on both PC and Switch 2, I’m not entirely sold on the latter’s performance. I experienced some slowdown and choppy frame rates on Nintendo’s console that weren’t present in the Steam version, and while that could be fixed by launch, it’s probably worth investigating the demo first to see if those issues hinder your enjoyment.
I may opt for the PC version on release, but Reanimal’s demo definitely made me interested in playing the full version. Something about the child-like protagonists and the ghoulish monsters of Little Nightmares always made it a bit too much for me to handle, but I felt much better going through Reanimal with a friend. It’s no less scary, but knowing you’re not alone could make it more manageable for horror-averse players.
