Tarsier, the new game studio that has great potential, has recently made a Steam demo of its upcoming game Reanimal available to the public for testing, and it has already been played by the gamers. The creator also made the demo release announcement through a very straightforward tweet, which, just like that, made the gaming community super thrilled and curious at once. While Steam gamers delight in it, console players are still waiting for their turn to sample the game’s demo.
You may be asking what’s the big deal about Reanimal. If you have experienced the awesome Little Nightmares, which Tarsier created, you may get a little bit of the answer. Players have already begun to differentiate the demo between two games, and some are even saying Reanimal could be a major surprise over the third part of the Little Nightmares trilogy. A user Tarek Kazaz tweeted, “Damn it looks so good 😳, might be better than little nightmares 3?” That is indeed a very nice compliment!
The demo has caused an almost universal positive response from the gamers. Toasted simply commented, “Demo was so fun!” Another player, Reminder, admitted, “im playing it right now and its fckin amazing, but have some problems with gameplay and some shadows.” So, the game still needs some polishing, but the fun is already there. TheNumberOneAceYT has informed that they are “playing the demo and will be copping that full version too,” which is a good indication that this small sampling is already doing its work in terms of getting the players to purchase the complete game.
The next thing you know, the situation worsens – the demo is out only on Steam for the moment. This has really upset the console gamers. They have filled the replies with questions about the release date of the demo for PS5, and users like Faris are asking, “When will it be available for Ps5?” and Nicola is pleading, “PS5, please.” Even the PlayStation Game Size account has weighed in with the comment, “the fact that most demos skip the consoles is really annoying.” Ouch!
One might inquire why it is so, and a user by the name of Yikesity provided an apt explanation: “u gotta understand making demos on consoles is a pretty hefty process, on Steam you can just do it easily since it has a designated option for demos.” Thus, it is not that Tarsier is oblivious to the existence of console players; it is merely that the demo process is just a tad more manageable on Steam. Nonetheless, the PlayStation and Xbox owners are still not feeling any better.
There is still the question of why the developers would want to make a game somewhat similar in style to the Little Nightmares series after they had left it. A user was asking the same question as a curious one, “Why did you guys leave little nightmares to make something that’s like little nightmares????” Meanwhile, another user HotShotQ8 made a guess “Probably the devs wanted to try new IP” which does sound reasonable – sometimes the creators simply want to play with new ideas even if they are of the same style.
The Little Nightmares 3 comparisons are abundant in the players’ comments. Jayage17 even suggested “This is what little nightmares 3 should have been” while Alexander Perez shared a more balanced criticism about how the two games cope with character screen sharing in antonym ways. This situation gives rise to two very closely related games with the same developers competing against each other, and gamers are already choosing sides.
Then again, there are some die-hard fans who do not need a demo to be convinced. A user with the moniker wronggarty declared, “I don’t need a demo, I’ll be there day one. Just tell me when.” That is quite a serious commitment if one may say so. The PlayStation Game Size account expressed similar sentiments, that they would “definitely play REANIMAL on Day One” without even needing to try the demo first.
The hype has not only been confined to English-speaking communities, as user DoctorJopa12 also asked for a “Démo Switch 2 please” in French, signifying the demand from around the globe. Not only that, user riquekkkjj tweeted in Portuguese “@wscs6seis vamos jg” which translates to “let’s play” – the excitement is indeed global.
Along with that, content creators are already getting their plans to cover the demo. Celina tweeted “Gonna try it out on stream today👁️👁️” which means that a lot of Reanimal gameplay streams coming on Twitch and YouTube are going to be a common sight in the next few days.
An interesting point is that the whole situation around the demo release has incited a debate in the gamers’ community about the noticeably longer process of getting the demos made available across the different platforms. One user expressed their frustration at the unavailability of the demo saying, “I wish these steam demos would come to consoles i want to play reanimal and painkiller.” It is really not just about one game but rather the widening gap between PC and console gamers with regard to who gets to try out the games before purchasing them.
Not only will the action be limited to one platform, but it also means that everyone will be watching what is happening on the other side. The timing of this is quite clever as it coincides with the Little Nightmares 3 hype and the drop of a demo for what seems to be a spiritual successor in the market, which naturally provokes comparisons and hype. It appears some gamers already regard Reanimal as an even stronger competitor than its popular predecessor to the trilogy throne, which is quite unbelievable given the high popularity of the Little Nightmares series.
So what’s the final result? The Reanimal demo is now available on Steam for you to try, with the developers receiving very good initial feedback, but console players have to wait. Tarsier Studios has cleverly generated interest but at the same time has highlighted the unresolved issue regarding the availability of demos across different platforms. It is still an open question whether Reanimal will overshadow its predecessor, Little Nightmares, but one thing is certain, the gaming community knows about it and is eager to play it no matter what platform it is released on. With or without a demo, gamers are left counting the days until the full game release.
