Review of Endless Pain.
After the lackluster, buggy, monotonous gameplay, and awkward co-op experience of Little Nightmares III, the release of Reanimal felt like a celebration. Tarsier Studios was entrusted with the development of this new atmospheric survival horror —and they were right. Even in the demo, gamers were hooked by the familiar atmosphere, enjoyable gameplay, and comfortable co-op.
But the game feels new because it’s based not on childhood fears and psychological trauma, but on a very specific apocalypse, with a touch of mysticism and dark magic.
Reanimal has a powerful story. It’s a story you want to unravel, and the ending exceeds expectations.
The game’s main characters are a brother and sister: a boy with a grain sack on his head and a hangman’s noose around his neck, and a frail girl wearing a bunny mask. The game begins with the boy waking up in a tiny boat. He soon finds his sister floating face down in the water, surrounded by seagulls. When she comes to, she immediately attacks her brother. It becomes clear that something terrible has happened between them, but what exactly? The game will unravel this mystery.
You’ll sail toward the light of the lighthouses—to where it all began. Along the way, you’ll meet a couple more strange people who were once your friends. The overwhelming scale of the buildings, deserted streets, secret rooms, flashes of memory, and poignant dialogue will further immerse you in the past.
But a full understanding of the plot will only come towards the end. It turns out that the protagonists’ country is engulfed in a protracted war, hinted at by the ruined buildings, floating mines, and empty trenches. The children, tired of living in fear, decided to summon supernatural powers through a bloody ritual—they sacrificed a girl. First, the children killed her rabbit to weaken the victim’s spirit, then stabbed her to death, and dumped her body in a well.
Be careful – major spoiler ahead.
The ritual was a success, the war ended, but there was a catch. A demon had entered the world, bringing order in its own way—turning it into a semblance of hell, filled with mutated animals and monsters in human form. But even this wasn’t enough for the evil creature: it took the form of a girl to find those who summoned it and devour them all!
Reanimal’s gameplay is delightfully varied. Puzzles, fights, and even tank shooting!
By a lucky chance, a friend came over on Reanimal’s release day—what a great excuse to stay up late, just like the good old days! A crimson winter sunset against a blanket of snow, a strong seagull, a large monitor, and two gamepads… I used to play similar games solo—can you imagine the anticipation?
Reanimal builds slowly, in keeping with the story, not wanting to reveal all its potential. Initially, you’re enveloped in the spirit of Little Nightmares—children in a surreal world full of strange details. But the gameplay already differs from Little Nightmares III: excellent optimization, characters move more vividly, the visuals have become more three-dimensional, and the discovered details gradually build the lore of the new story.
Another cool feature is seamless movement between locations. You can sail from the factory to the island, but then change your mind and calmly return. This is a great option for those who want to complete the game 100% and unlock the secret ending by finding all the secrets.
And the locations themselves are awesome: I was particularly impressed by the creepy cinema, the Sniffer’s lair with its piles of human skin, the secret room with the severed pig’s head, and the most beautiful field of yellow flowers. You’ve probably seen all this beauty before, but if you haven’t, here are a few shots.
The co-op deserves special praise – playing Reanimal together is truly fun. In Little Nightmares III, interactions degenerated into simple “hold,” “help,” and “help.” Here, we had fun hanging out while tied to each other with ropes, like in Chained Together; we navigated a boat between water bombs, detonating them, and shooting back at aquatic monsters; we sweated in close combat with sand mobs; and, locked in a speeding van, fought off the Sniffer.
We got through two-thirds of the game with a glimmer of excitement. The real fun was still to come – underwater walks, tank riding with the ability to shoot at anything, and the battle with the main boss. But we never got to enjoy it.
Reanimal brought happiness, but a critical bug ruined everything.
After five hours of binge-playing on my computer, one of the locations started lagging. This happens when a game isn’t optimized, but my friend and my wife were worried: “What if the graphics card is overheating?” My attempts to reassure them were in vain.
We decided to play it safe: we shut down the game, ran diagnostics, and confirmed that the temperature was fine. We launched Reanimal again—and… NO SAVES WERE FOUND.
The world collapsed before my eyes, my gaze was directed at my buddy and wife – both were looking at me with wide eyes, mixed with primal fear and incredible apologies.
I double-checked everything. We’d accurately selected a save slot at the start of the game. As we played, we both clearly saw the spots where autosaves loaded—that’s why we were so calm. Ironically, even the game’s Steam page still shows our progress and lost achievements. I pored over forums, danced with a tambourine, prayed to all sorts of gods, nervously twitched my leg, and listened to my wife apologize for her anxiety—GG, even a dark ritual like Reanimal wouldn’t have helped.
Finally resigned, I said, “So, shall we play Dispatch?” My friend spent the rest of the evening saving Nevidiva, while I sat nearby and drank tea. I still hadn’t found the energy to replay Reanimal: not the next day, not the next two, not by the end of the week.
* * *
Reanimal is an amazing game, well worth the investment. You can play it alone and finish it all in a day, but it’s best to find a companion—it’ll take longer with a real person, but the experience is worth every minute.
But I never got to play Reanimal to the end—a critical bug discouraged me from returning to it in the coming months. I found other unfortunate souls on the forums: gamers encountered softlocks, glitches in scenes and chases, complained about invisible walls, and reported autosave issues.
To be fair, the developers have already fixed most of the bugs and even announced three DLC chapters. Hopefully, by then I’ll have missed Reanimal and will be able to replay it to the end.
