This Image Is Viewable By Members Only

Even though the acquisition of Tarsier Studios by Embracer Group has resulted in Little Nightmares 3 being developed by another studio (Supermassive Games), that hasn't stopped the Swedish videogame developer from working on its own projects - namely the upcoming Reanimal. Scheduled to be released on PlayStation 5, XBox Series, PC, and Switch 2, Tarsier is promising Reanimal to be "a darker, more terrifying journey than ever before. In this co-op horror adventure game, you play as a brother & sister who go through hell to rescue their missing friends. Exploring by boat and on land, you must use your wits to survive, work together to escape the hellish island, and the dark secret that haunts you."

I spoke to Oliver Merlov (CEO, Tarsier Studios) about Reanimal, and got to ask him as to whether he envisages the game to become its own long-standing franchise, what effect being acquired by Embracer Group has had on the studio, and whether he thinks the studio would be open to working on its own version of an existing fairy tale. All this and so much more in what is (ultimately) quite an extensive interview... Enjoy!

This Video Is Viewable By Members Only

Let's start from the beginning... You did Little Nightmares 1 and Little Nightmares 2... With regards to Little Nightmares 3, you're not working on the game because you were bought out by Embracer, and Bandai Namco own the franchise IP. Obviously, Bandai Namco contracted you to work on Little Nightmares 1 and 2, but now that you're owned by Embracer, what's it been like to be owned by them, and how has being owned by them affected development of Reanimal?

So let's roll it back a bit... We created the Little Nightmares universe in the first and second game. Before that, we took over and worked on Little Big Planet from Media Molecule, and made it into a Tarsier thing. At the end of development of Little Nightmares 2, we were acquired by Embracer, and we already knew by then that since the IP is owned by Bandai, that we were happy to do something else. Bec