REANIMAL (Edward Goreyian Slaughterhouse Horror)
Does the perfect horror game exist? Not with shooting things through the skull, but with searching, what I often refer to as the “seek-and-find” genre? I believe this time has finally arrived, with instant cult hit (to me at least) REANIMAL. First, let me specify what I mean by the earlier reference. The majority of horror games that avoid killing the dead and such normally rely on finding items to pass further, making it more of what people call a “walking simulator” focused on story over play. Such titles are fine, but are best when the writing is solid, which is not often the case. Here, however, we find something different. Though aspects of this approach exist, REANIMAL is in most ways a thing onto itself, though reviews have been quite divided between the haves and the have-nots, the latter lacking in brains. This is one time I agree more with the critics over the players.
Taking an aesthetic approach that reminds one of the art of Edward Gorey combined with slaughterhouse slasher films of the 1980s, REANIMAL places you in control of a nameless broth and sister duo with dark secrets surviving in an unspecified, dark land teeming with bloated, monstrous animals and eldritch urbanism. One notable feature is the lack of a clearly explained plot. In fact, most of the story is slowly pieced together as you locate your friends and face a variety of disturbing creatures such as the “Sniffer,” who wears human skins but who you never actually get to see. Ultimately the sister hides the key, which is revealed through flashbacks and details, but even by the end the player is left with a puzzling series of events that make sense, yet in ways that are more individual than specific (meaning as you see it). REANIMAL can be rather linear if you play the barebones path, but there are a number of hidden secrets that require non-linear play that elevate REANIMAL above the majority of games of its ilk. The atmosphere alone should sell you on it, in fact it’s worth experiencing more than once, but don’t expect a delicate spoon with plot going into your mouth. Whether or not your mind can think above the obvious is not the developer’s concern.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
REANIMAL
Tarsier Studios (developer), THQ Nordic and Amplifier Studios (publisher)
4.5 / 5
