"What would happen if we combined Wind Waker and Silent Hill?": Original Little Nightmares devs talk inspirations for their new horror game

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Reanimal is inspired by two all-time greats from wildly different genres

Reanimal
(Image credit: Tarsier)

Possibly the only commonality amongst The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Silent Hill 2 is the fact that both games inspired the new game from the original Little Nightmares studio, Tarsier.

Somewhat coincidentally, Tarsier lifted the lid off of Reanimal at the same Gamescom event that saw Bandai Namco reveal a new trailer for Little Nightmares 3. Tarsier made the first two Little Nightmares games, but when the studio was sold to Embracer, Bandai Namco held onto the IP and handed development over to Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games. It just so happens that Supermassive is working on a new Little Nightmares game in tandem with Tarsier developing its own new game that looks a whole lot like another new Little Nightmares game.

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Reanimal narrative director Dave Mervik, however, recently said during a group interview I attended that the game is a mash-up of elements from Wind Waker and Silent Hill 2.

"It was literally just one of those horrible smash things together where you have to say what your game is in two games, and I hate doing it, but it is like 'What if we get that sense of adventure with a slightly diminished scope of Wind Waker, but with the sense of adventure with that kind of thick, claustrophobic dread that you feel in Silent Hill 2?'", Mervik said.

I'll be honest, I haven't seen a whole lot of Reanimal at this point, but to me it just looks like a really good Little Nightmares game. Yes, there is a boat that you can use to travel between areas of the game, and yes, there is certainly a dark, foreboding atmosphere and some pretty wicked-looking creatures, but I think calling Reanimal a Silent Hill/Wind Waker mash-up is underselling the very distinctive and enjoyable DNA at the heart of Tarsier's work.

Either way, Little Nightmares fans are eating good, folks.

For everything spooky on the horizon, check out our guide to upcoming horror games.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.