The walls of the well pulse with red light as the lamb trapped inside this damp prison bleats in pain and mutates into something less sheep-like with each convulsion. Whether it’s a haunting premonition or a vivid recollection of the past is hazy, but this recurring vision is persistent across Reanimal, Tarsier Studios’ latest horror-tinged cinematic platformer. This incessant dream is as disturbing as it is mysterious, but, similar to the game itself, it is much more than a little nightmare centered around malformed livestock.
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Taking cues from Playdead’s scant yet genre-defining pair of titles and Tarsier’s most famous series, Reanimal’s premise of throwing children into hazardous scenarios within strange lands seems initially like a retread of genre classics. This foundation gives it a recognizable base that it leverages to its advantage quite well.
Rating: 4/5
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Exceptional lighting, dense environments, and haunting character designs make for a visually stunning game. | The fixed camera and trial-and-error gameplay can lead to occasional hiccups. |
| Frequent mechanical and setting changes and tight campaign length ensure it doesn’t lose its luster. | Some parts of the story are a bit too obtuse. |
Scurrying around its dark and densely detailed environments is enrapturing because of how well many of its parts gel together to form a cohesive whole. The lighting itself is a standout and is often used cleverly to subtly point players in the right direction with nary a splash of yellow paint or unnaturally white diarrheal spray from the local birds. The red neon glimmering off a dilapidated theater sign punctures the light fog surrounding it, as does the distant crimson glow of a buoy marking a shoreline of interest.
But perhaps more striking is how Reanimal withholds light. Is that floppy material slumped over the darkest bathroom stall human skin or just an unfortunate silhouette? What exactly is the misshapen humanoid freak stalking the poorly lit halls? The uneasiness that makes Reanimal tick lies in the uncertainty found in the shadows.
Reanimal Is More Polished Than Its Spiritual Predecessors
The aforementioned guiding lights play a bigger role than normal here because of how dense the world is. Because camera control is so often wrestled away from the player, Tarsier is able to carefully direct what’s visible and is able to fine-tune everything in view and make it as detailed as possible. All of these elaborately constructed dioramas get players to question the reams of untold lore and make up their own explanations. Why is there a theater filled with well-dressed corpses watching the same short snuff film on a loop? Why are these skin suits littered around and why can they sometimes slither across the ground like a snake? Once again, more questions, ones that poke at the many intriguing mysteries within Reanimal that make it what it is.
Much of this can be used to describe Tarsier’s prior work, but Reanimal puts these pieces together in a more elegant fashion and with much more flair and bombast. The aforementioned gorgeously assembled ruins that permeate throughout the game look amazing in moments of calm, yet stun during the surprising amount of set pieces. The way the many hideous beasts tear through the world is utterly spectacular as all manner of materials — wood, stone, concrete, or a mix of all three — crumble and fly across the screen at high speeds. This rain of debris can’t distract too much from the fluid and fittingly primal animations that power the creatures as they demolish their surroundings in pursuit of their carnal desires. Like the environments, Reanimal’s deliberate (but never sluggish) animation is noteworthy in times of calm but much more remarkable when chaos takes center stage and has, say, a massive, multi-limbed sheep kaiju lay siege to a war-torn city.
Reanimal Has a Surprising Amount of Variety
Reanimal’s ability to outclass genre staples transmits to the more moment-to-moment gameplay, too. It has some sections with light puzzle solving and tried-and-true segments where players have to move between cover in the foreground away from the gaze of the ill-tempered behemoth that toils away in the background. These tricks are still effective because they are used sparingly here, which highlights Reanimal’s healthy amount of variety. Light melee combat, deep-sea diving, chase scenes, drivable vehicles, and more make this more than a safe and standard entry into this subgenre; thankfully, it’s not purely about running away from big beasts. The variety of mechanics and styles — aside from giving it a stronger identity — results in smoother and more even pacing that makes it harder to put down.
The boat segments in particular are the standout parts because, aside from feeling like the most different parts of Reanimal, give players a welcome amount of freedom this typically narrow subgenre doesn’t ever provide. Tarsier even hands off camera control to the player, further adding to the newfound level of freedom the dismal dinghy brings. Creepy waterlogged threats begging for a harpoon to the chin lurk below so there’s still no time to kick back, so the game still doesn’t abandon its style when off solid ground. It’s just a continuation of that same spirit but in a different and more open form.
While Reanimal forges forward in some ways, it still inherits some of the flaws of its predecessors. The trial-and-error gameplay can occasionally be temporarily bothersome, as sometimes it can take one second too long to figure out where to go. The fixed camera angles can play a role here, too, since there are times where it is difficult to see exactly which child on screen is which — one second of hesitation is usually fatal. So while Reanimal drastically cuts down on the cheap deaths and wonky camera angles of the past, they’re still here in some form.
Reanimal‘s Narrative Is a Tad Too Obtuse for Its Own Good
Similar sentiments can be thrown at its narrative. As is the case with these types of games, very little is directly told to the player since they are meant to take in context cues and worldbuilding to craft their own interpretations. What it doesn’t have in dialogue — although, surprisingly, there is some — it makes up for in levels full of set dressing to pick apart.
However, it’s how those pieces fit together that remains too obtuse of a puzzle. The basics of the story regarding the two kids trying to find their friends isn’t complicated, but most parts outside of that early premise get a bit muddled. The way in which it folds in on itself near the end is confusing and shows the limits of a narrative that tries to say as little as possible. Having gaps and room for interpretation can work, but there needs to be enough substance in order to make the lack of answers something to chew on rather than get frustrated by.
The world itself seems cobbled together with bits of creepy imagery that don’t appear to have much to do with one another. It’s unclear how a building full of children made of sand fits into all of this or how the grotesque farm animals tie it all together. There aren’t journals or audio diaries to pilfer through, either, so it’s all up to what’s on the screen and loose metaphors can only carry it so far. So even though it’s captivating in the moment due to the sheer quality of the art and animation and its questions are initially intriguing, there’s not enough connective tissue to be able to satisfyingly tie enough of it together and make sense of these alluring yet disparate pieces.
This is one of the few areas, though, where Reanimal’s many parts don’t come together to make a fantastic whole. Even with portions that have been inspired by other titles, Reanimal is able to shine brightly in the realm of cinematic platformers through its strong variety and commitment to dazzling imagery. Some of the narrative context can be annoying to grasp, but it’s easy to overlook when witnessing a massive deformed bird level an entire barn and watching the wood splinter in a hundred different directions. Much like the many peculiar pigs scattered across its levels, Reanimal is a beautifully rendered yet grotesque beast that may seem tame at first glance but is more than it lets on and truly something special.
A PS5 copy of Reanimal was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
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