'Our monsters can't beat what's going on in the real world' – Tarsier talks Reanimal's smaller scares

Following the recent launch of its new cinematic horror platformer, Reanimal, we sit down with the folks at developer Tarsier to learn more about its road to release.

If you’re a
Little Nightmaresfan who was let down by the franchise’s third entry from last year, odds are you’ll be able to get your desired fix with Reanimal. The latest small-scale horror platformer from Tarsier Studios, the developer behind the first two Little Nightmares games, it aims to seriously step up the scares thanks to an all-new setting, more imposing story, and even more unnerving unknowns to explore. It released this week to critical acclaim, and in my review I liked it a lot, dubbing it a ‘creepier but familiar beast’. It’s often comfortably so.

After rolling credits multiple times I was left curious about Tarsier’s unique work continuing to push this oddly specific genre realm forward, as well as how well Reanimal approached the challenge of keeping players scared but engaged. To learn more, I sat down with studio co-founder Andreas Johnsson and the game’s writer David Merik and picked their brains.

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First off, before diving into all things Reanimal, the first two Little Nightmares games have built up a fervent fanbase. Are you still shocked at how much they still resonate with people?

Andreas Johnsson:

I mean, it didn't start off like that. The first game was quite slow in getting a broader player base. I mean it wasn't bad; it just wasn't that huge. But then, when Little Nightmares 2 was announced... Maybe more when [it] was about to be released, it just took off. I mean I remember those numbers. It was several million copies sold of Little Nightmares 1 during that time when Little Nightmares 2 was to be about to released. But yeah that was like, ‘what is going on?’.

David Mervik:

You know what we should have done though, Andreas. We really should have called this game Re-Animal 2 [chuckles].

Andreas: Too late now, man.

Dave: It’s weird because I remember the very beginning of that project, back when it was a few of us just chatting. Then you look at where things are now and what we're about to release now and the cool little like figurines and stuff that me and you were gawping over yesterday. It's just insanity that we've got here. You know what I mean? Doing something that we really love. It's really surreal.

And what was it explicitly about Reanimal was it that made you want to integrate co-op?

Dave: The story definitely came first. It was a concept someone had pitched as a game [about] this group of orphans trying to escape somewhere and that really kind of stuck with us. There's just something about that, which felt really interesting to us this time around. So once we started developing that idea, and what world that could take place in, I think it was you, Andreas, that was like, ‘should we think about co-op again?’. And we knew it was something we had to really give consideration to.

Did it make for an extra challenge in terms of you would have to factor in puzzles?

Andreas:

[There’s] so many elements to consider. Making a game that is good in single-player and local co-op but also online is similar. But the reason why they're similar for our game is because we only have this one camera – no split-screen in local. In one way that helped us, but it also creates a lot of limitations. Designing a game for a single player [with] an AI buddy that should be part of the world, should be active but not too active and not helping you too much… it shouldn't be like a point of irritation either and there needs to be some kind of challenge. You should still be involved.

It's been a huge challenge to create these interesting moments. But I think with those restrictions, it also becomes stronger. Because the core, the centre pillar of Reanimal is ‘being scared together’. For us it was important to capture everything with one camera, and let the camera help tell the story. The result with these limitations and challenges just makes the game stronger. But yes, for the design team and tech team [it means] going out of their comfort zone.

I feel like Tarsier has a reputation for building bleak but interesting worlds. What is it about Reanimal’s world that’s different?

Dave:

I would say one of the terms that we used a lot in all areas, like with the dialog and the way we design the characters and how the world should feel, it was just grounded. It needs to feel more grounded this one, because that fantastical element didn't belong in the story we want to tell. You needed to feel that these kids belonged here in the way that the kids in Little Nightmares didn't. The way Six was designed visually, she wasn't of that place. She was designed to stand out whereas here these kids are of this place.

Even though we like to kind of obscure the kids’ faces and make them a bit more enigmatic, they're still very much part of this world and this world is the thing that's around them. So it was that really. It was turning something that should feel like home and somewhere that you once felt safe into somewhere that you are scared of now. That's all wrapped up in these kids backstory and how things conclude.

Are you worried about how Reanimal having a higher age rating than Little Nightmares might potentially affect sales? How much was this part of the conversation?

Andreas: We didn't really think about it that much. It's always interesting when you create something new, like a new world, a new IP, that you don't limit yourself. Definitely not rating-wise. That would be kind of boring to think about. ‘We need to have a 16 rating here’. But then I guess at one point during the project, we became aware that, ‘OK, this is not going to be 16’.

Then when I've read the kind of description that they have at ESRB, for me that's something completely… it's another world. But then regarding if it limits our audience, yes, I assume it will a bit, [but then] they've grown up now. It's fine.

Given the higher rating, were you guys ever wondered about the dangers of scaring players too much? Does the co-op aspect potentially offset that?

Dave:

I think things don't feel as scary when you're together. It's a different vibe in the room, isn't it? You laugh a little bit; you have that nervous energy. You can dial it up a little bit on the scare factor when you know you've got people playing co-op together, because we also want to plunge people into it a bit more and not just have them messing about a little bit too much.

Feeling that fear [is when] they stay immersed, they stay in that world a little bit more. But the rest of it, we've always been that way. If it feels a bit excessive, like it's just there to shock, it doesn't belong then, does it? It's still got to feel part of this world. And if this world is based a lot more in violence, it's always on your own judgment.

You’ve carved out a very unique niche with these dark cinematic platformers. Will this always be the area Tarsier works in?

Andreas:

We've gone through a couple of phases at Tarsier, and the last one was after we launched Statik, and then a bit later on, Stretchers. That's when we kind of knew that, ‘okay, Stretchers is not our kind of game, that's not what we're supposed to do’. Statik, however, that was an amazing game. It was so much fun to do as well. It was obviously a lot smaller in scope on all sides.

But I think the thread here includes games like Statik because they have some commonality. You have these offbeat, layers of information that you have to peel. We have a couple of like things that we think are things that should be part of our games. It's not genre specific. It’s things that we do like and I think we will continue on doing.

Dave:

We are interested in a bunch of different stuff and it's always what captures our interest at that time. I don't know how our monsters can beat what's going on in the real world at the moment, so maybe we need to take a fresh look at what we're doing. You know, we've got some competition.

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