Tarsier Studios, the Swedish team that earned a devoted horror fanbase with the first two Little Nightmares games, is finally ready to unleash its next nightmare. 
Their new original project, REANIMAL, is a horror adventure that marks the studio’s first full release since Little Nightmares II and a rare chance to see what the team can do when it is building a universe entirely its own.
Tarsier has now locked in a firm launch date: REANIMAL will release on February 13, 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S at a mid-range price of $39.99 USD. The announcement lands just ahead of an Xbox Partner Preview showcase where more gameplay is expected to be revealed, turning earlier promises of a vague “Q1 2026” window into a concrete date that horror fans can circle on their calendars.
Crucially, you do not have to wait until 2026 to get a feel for Tarsier’s new nightmare. A playable demo is already live on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles, letting players sample the tone, pacing, and puzzle-driven tension the studio is known for. A Nintendo Switch 2 demo is planned as well, albeit arriving a little later. It is a smart move for a brand-new IP: REANIMAL has no Little Nightmares name to lean on, so letting people test it early is the best possible introduction.
Of course, not every fan is ready to move on. A vocal part of the community had been hoping for Little Nightmares 3 before anything else, and frustration around the situation bubbles up often – especially once people remember that the Little Nightmares IP is controlled by Bandai Namco rather than by Tarsier itself. REANIMAL, then, doubles as both a statement of independence and a gamble. Instead of returning to a sure-thing sequel they do not own, the studio is betting that its distinctive mix of oppressive atmosphere, vulnerable protagonists, and environmental storytelling can carry an entirely new world.
Early hands-on impressions from Gamescom 2025 suggest that confidence is not misplaced. Journalists who played a short slice of REANIMAL came away without enough time to make sweeping declarations, but with just enough evidence that Tarsier still understands how to build a space that feels dangerous even when nothing is technically happening. Tight framing, carefully staged sound design, and environmental details quietly do most of the talking, echoing what made Little Nightmares so haunting while steering the aesthetic in a new direction.
That familiarity is exactly why expectations are so high. REANIMAL is arriving in a horror landscape that has grown more crowded and more experimental, yet few studios approach side-on horror and puzzle adventures with the same confidence as Tarsier. If the full game can expand on what the demo hints at – smart puzzles, a sense of being small and powerless in spaces designed to crush you, and a world that invites obsessive lore hunting – this could be the studio’s next long-running series rather than a one-off curiosity.
Little Nightmares has already spilled into multiple projects across different media, and REANIMAL is clearly being positioned with similar ambition. Launching on every major current platform on the same day, at a price low enough to encourage impulse buys but high enough to signal substance, Tarsier seems to be inviting a broad audience to adopt a new horror icon. Whether you are still mourning the absence of Little Nightmares 3 or ready for something completely fresh, February 13, 2026 is shaping up to be the day we find out if REANIMAL can stand shoulder to shoulder with the studio’s cult classic past.
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Switch 2 demo coming later is pain, but at least they confirmed it. Just hope it doesn’t end up as the ‘compromise’ version like so many other horror ports