The idea to build REANIMAL around both a solo and co-op experience started really early on, admits Andreas Johnson, producer on REANIMAL and co-founder of the studio itself. "It was your bloody idea", laughs David Mervik, narrative director, who's sat next to him on the sofa as we join them for a co-op section that kicks right off at the start of the game.
"It was quite early on in development, not at the very start but quite early," says Johnson. "Our own experiences from Little Nightmares and reading how players play the games mostly at home, but with their partners or their kids on the couch pass-and-play style. The idea of 'what if we could give them one controller each', coupled with the idea of us wanting to do something a little darker felt quite fitting."
What's even more fitting is its release date. Spooky Friday February 13, but also, you know, just in time for Valentine's Day weekend. With Tarsier making its first co-op horror experience with REANIMAL, it feels perfectly timed to make the most of grabbing a loved one for some nightmare fuel.
"If you watch a horror movie by yourself, or you watch it together with someone, it becomes a completely different experience, and that's what we wanted to achieve here," adds Johnson.
As you can see from our time with REANIMAL here, with possibly the best guides we can get in Johnson and Mervik, this isn't a game for the faint-hearted. It's a quirky horror game where you play as two orphans, who are travelling through a strange world literally full of dangers.
Tarsier has always had a knack of making particularly unsettling and creepy worlds filled with equally creepy and unsettling characters, which manage to twist expectations just enough from reality that everything just feels off.
Whether you're going to grab your loved one this Valentine's or play it with someone remotely, you've got plenty of co-op options with REANIMAL. Between local and online-co-op, you've also got the option of utilizing Friend Pass. That means if you own the game and your chosen partner in creep doesn't, then you can share it with them online for no additional cost. It's literally the least scary part of REANIMAL.
REANIMAL is available on PS5, Xbox Series X, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 from February 13.
