My name is Dave Mervik and I am the Narrative Director for Tarsier Studios, creators of the soon-to-be-released co-op horror game Reanimal, which launches on PS5 Feb 13, 2026.
For those of you new to the world of Reanimal, it is a story of a group of orphans bound together by the world they grew up in, and torn apart by what that world became. The Boy and The Girl are your playable characters in this story and they find each other very early on at the beginning of the game. After they’ve said their hellos, they set off in their boat to find and reclaim their missing friends – Hood, Bucket and Bandage – from a variety of unpleasant places and even more unpleasant monsters. It’s fair to say that these kids have a complicated history with this place, so don’t be surprised if they’re a bit nonplussed to see you at first, but all good friends come to those who wait!
This year we have travelled to both Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show to demo Reanimal for the public and the reaction has surpassed all our wildest dreams, hearing the screams of both joy and terror as players worked together to survive has been music to our ears and is exactly what we had hoped for when concocting this idea of being Scared Together. So to all of you who gave of your time in Cologne and Tokyo, we give our most heartfelt thanks. It’s that kind of reception that makes the many years of hard work worth it. Just about!
As the release of the full game hoves into view, we would like to take this opportunity to announce to you here today that pre-orders are now open! All pre-orders of Reanimal unlock a pair of exclusive masks – Foxhead and Muttonhead – which can be used by either character to make your travails in this hellish world a bit more fun, or to blind you to their horrors!
As a studio that cut its teeth making hats and costumes for LittleBigPlanet, it feels strangely appropriate to be back here all these years later talking about the masks of Reanimal. Those of you who have already played the Reanimal demo will know, our latest range of headwear has gone to a much darker place! Yes, gone are the days of donning your silliest hat to gambol with carefree abandon through a world of happiness and creativity. Reanimal is a wildly different beast, it is a world of loss, violence and being scared together, a birthday cake hat would ruin everything!
At Tarsier, we try to make our worlds as rich and full of character as possible, where the story lives as much in the world around you as it does in what our characters say and do. It’s both fun and rewarding to pay attention to the little things, filling the background with details that tell us more about the world we’re in and the world we came from. Masks and costumes fall into this category too. Decorating the head or obscuring the face needn’t always be a meaningless act, and in many cases the mask (or the reason for it) is as much a part of the story as the person behind it.
The process of creating masks for Reanimal begins in much the same way as in past games, the artists begin sketching ideas around the core themes that we explore in the game and then iterating these until they hit that elusive Tarsier Quality Bar™. The Foxhead and Muttonhead masks resonated especially well because they had that bestial flavour that we were looking for; while their predator/prey characterisations quietly reiterate the game’s thematic undercurrents. They felt like a fitting pair to release as exclusives, as they come with plenty of baggage, just like our protagonists.
So, while out looking for your friends, even though you may dread to do so, it is worth exploring the world around you to see what secrets might be lying around. There are extra story snippets, hidden morsels of lore, easter eggs; and, of course, some of the most unpleasant masks we’ve ever created. We can’t guarantee that wearing them will keep you safe from what lies ahead, but you will at least look like you belong here!
Godfall developer Counterplay Games reportedly shut down earlier this year, so seeing it suddenly reappear with Armatus, a full-blown roguelite shooter coming to PC and consoles in 2026, might be somewhat of a shock.
A trailer, including everything from far-along cinematics and tense gameplay, materialized during today’s November 2025 Xbox Partner Preview. It’s undeniably got that Godfall flair to it, as its main character can be seen smashing and blasting their way through a post-post-apocalyptic Paris.
It’s not often a game developer seemingly closes down only to reemerge months later with a brand-new video game for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S. We sat down with Counterplay studio head and creative director Ming Zhang to learn more about Armatus, its roguelike gameplay, and what it’s been like for the team to continue its work when those rumors were kicked up. You can see the full interview below.
IGN: To set the stage, tell me about Armatus and this trailer we’re going to see. What are players looking at in this first trailer?
Ming Zhang: What you see in this trailer is snippets of gameplay, largely with a little bit of cinematic footage from our game. You know, it’s been a number of years in the making, and this is Counterplay’s next entry in our love of visceral combat. You see some of the abilities, some of the enemies, and some of the cool moves that you’re going to be you’re going to be able to do, in this case.
What can you tell me, in a little more detail, about its gameplay, its story, and, especially, the world it takes place in?
Zhang: It’s a third-person roguelite shooter, and in order to build the world, what we did, is we took the concept of urban fantasy, which is the grim supernatural underneath the real world, and we took it to the nines. What happens in the post-post-apocalypse of an urban fantasy world? Well, you know, the real world kind of starts to break apart, and underneath, all the supernatural stuff starts to spill forth, right? When you think about, ‘What is a city that evokes classic but also modern, and has all the right tone and tambre, even un-supernatural?’ It would be Paris. Starting from there, we then said, ‘Well, what is the kind of character that we would have bring here? We wanted to create the supernatural character, who was powerful and had access to these celestial abilities that you would be able to use, but we also wanted to take the sound and fury of modern firearms and put that in the hands of this supernatural being. So, you’ve got the magic and the firepower, and put it together.
I saw The Vanishing is what triggered this Paris to look like this. What can you tell me about that event and how it resulted in something like that?
Zhang: There’s something about the word spoiler that is coming up (laughs), so you’ll have to, you’ll have to play and find out, but it is the pivotal event. That kicks off the game.
That’s totally fair. You talked about it a little bit there, but what else is it about Paris that makes it the location you go to for this instead of somewhere else around the world?
Zhang: Paris just has incredible visuals, as a city. Again, when you think urban fantasy, it’s impossible to avoid a lot of the gothic undertones. The architecture of the city already evokes the emotions that we wanted from those from the supernatural side of the world, so combining that real world with the supernatural was a big part of the setting as well.
I’m curious if you can tell us more about the different tools players will have at their disposal. Are there different guns, weapon modifiers, or abilities? What can we generally look forward to?
Zhang: This is a run-based game, and the primary, I say, means of combat that the player has is, of course, your gun. So, you have your gun, you will be able to shoot it, but you also have a melee weapon at your disposal, and you have several locomotion kits and several abilities that you will be able to pick. One of the things that was really important to us was that players do this thing that we internally call ‘creative expression through combat,’ where not only is it that, you have all these amazing tools that you can use in your in your player kit, it’s that you get to customize the player kit that you’re taking on the run as you play each run. Just as it’s important to have visceral fidelity in the gameplay, it was important for us to have the build craft to go along with it.
Armatus is described as a third-person, roguelite shooter. Are there any specific games that inspired Counterplay when crafting its gameplay?
Zhang: We have a lot of references, as all game designers do. I think you’ll have to play and discover all the references, but I think fans of the genre will be very pleased with what we have to offer.
I don’t know if maybe you’d have the same answer, then, for some of the different movies, books, and games or shows that inspired the story and universe this takes place in?
Zhang: Well, one of the things that we always look for at Counterplay, and we’ve done this since the beginning, was interesting genre blends. Without getting you know too nerdy (laughs), we always look for combinations. We always look for the chocolate and peanut butter or whatnot, and so I think a lot of the fun in doing that is for our players to figure it out on on their own, but I think you’ll see the inspirations worn pretty heavily on our sleeves.
Roguelite, I think, is a term that a lot of people hear, and they feel like if they’ve played one, they’ve played them all. What does Armatus do to stand apart from other rogue lights and shooters?
Zhang: I tend to think of roguelite as a design framework. It’d be like saying, ‘If you played one RPG, you played them all.’ The design framework is the thing that you scaffold the game on top of, but it’s not the only thing in the game. As we emphasized, our game really sings when you get into the combat. Creative expression through combat is a core pillar of what we wanted to do. If you came into this game and you just wanted to slaughter demons using abilities and guns and melee, this is the game for you, and if you wanted to be the kind of person who strategically picks every single upgrade in order to hit the perfect combination and eradicate rooms that way, this is also the game for you. So that’s kind of how we think about it.
How long is your average run going to be? Is this the kind of thing where you can play quick run before bed, or do you really need to sit down and lock in for hours and hours?
Zhang: We’re still working on the game, so I prefer not to give a number at this at this point, but what I will say is, like many games that have come before and after, both in the third-person action genre, as well as the roguelite genre, the choices that you make have a big impact on how much you can do.
I think at the end of the trailer, you tease a boss fight. I’m not looking for specifics here, but are bosses something players can look forward to in Armatus, and what can you tell me about them?
Zhang: Yeah, bosses are definitely a part of the game. Thank you for that. Bosses are definitely a part of the game, and we call them Greater Demons. What they represent is, if you think of the demonic incursion that’s happening in Paris, in the post-apocalypse that we talked about, the Greater Demons are the ones that anchor. They’re more solid than the other ones. They’re bigger, they’re scarier, they are figures of nightmare, and I think players will have a great time being killed and killing them as well.
So would you call Armatus a particularly difficult game, then, or is that in the hands of the player through different options?
Zhang: I think that’s going to be up to the player, but I guess you’ll have to wait and see on that one, too.
What are some of the lessons the team learned from, specifically, Godfall, because it’s really easy to compare these two, that the team brought into the development of Armatus?
Zhang: I think the biggest one is this: Coming out of Godfall, one of the things we consistently received feedback on, and it was almost all positive, but basically the big discussion point was the starting point in the game felt almost primordial. Then, as you unlocked moves in the skill tree, suddenly you were doing this and you were doing that. The combat in that game felt like a conversation with the developers. Again, I’m paraphrasing, you know, one or two reviews here, but that was a major source of feedback we got across the board. Fans really resonated with the dynamic combat that we had in Godfall, and they really liked this conversation with the developer-style of play that they had. So as we moved into our next project, we said, ‘Hey, we did it for melee. Can we pull it off for shooters as well?’ So we took that, and that’s where this emphasis on build craft comes from.
I saw a lot of rumors earlier this year that Counterplay had shut down, and sitting here now, that’s obviously not the case. So, I’m curious if you have any comment on that situation you’d like to share, and more specifically, what it’s been like for the studio to see those rumors swirl while knowing full well that Counterplay’s next game is very much still in development, despite that.
Zhang: I think most of the studio was too busy working on the game (laughs) to really pay attention to rumours that don’t really apply to their day-to-day. I think the only comment I really have on it is, the announcement and future release of Armatus is a celebration of Counterplay Games, of our camaraderie, and this team that has gone through thick and thin together. It means the world to us that players are going to be able to see this game. They’re going to play it, and we think that people are going to have a lot of fun. So, my comment is, go play Armatus, and then you can tell us how you feel about, right? (laughs)
Moving back to the game itself, I couldn’t tell based on the trailer alone. Is this an entirely single-player experience, or are there any multiplayer elements, even scoreboards, or anything like that?
Zhang: It’s a single-player game, and as for features, again, we’re, we’re still in development, so wait and find out.
I get it. It’s hard to talk about these things when the pieces are always moving, I’m sure.
Zhang: I think it’s harder not to talk about these things, right? That’s kind of the challenge here.
PC, PlayStation, and Xbox versions are on the way, but I also saw that a Nintendo Switch 2 version is in development. Were there any challenges in bringing Armatus to that console, and is the Switch 2 version expected to launch at the same time as other platforms?
Zhang: Yes, they are all expected to launch together. The challenge with these things is always optimization, but if you’ve seen Godfall, a PlayStation 5 launch title, you know that, if there’s one thing that we do well, it’s optimizing game systems.
Is there anything about Armatus that you want to talk about or that you want players to know now that they’re finally seeing what this looks like?
This game is a love letter to action combat in all its forms. It’s a love letter to the urban fantasy, gothic horror inspirations that we see in so many games and fiction all over, and the thing that is most important to us here at Counterplay is for players to see this letter that we’ve written. So, I can come up here and yammer about systems and features all day long, and all I would be doing is making promises to the audience, but the promise I will make is that if you play our game, you’re going to have a really great experience of butchering all these demons.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Biff! Smash! Spear to the groin! Asteroid to the jaw! It must be a new gameplay video for Tides Of Annihilation, the Arthurian fantasy action game from Eclipse Glow Games that’s out to steal either Stellar Blade, Final Fantasy XVI or Bayonetta‘s lunch – do me a favour and pick one, because I can’t decide. I can’t stop comparing this game to things. I think there’s something wrong with me. Help.
Reanimal, the upcoming co-op horror game from the creators of Little Nightmares, now has a release date announced at the Xbox Partner Presents. It’s coming out on February 13, 2026 for Xbox, PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2.
We got a look at a new trailer today during the presentation, which showed off the pair of siblings you play as traveling through some new locations.
Reanimal is incredibly unsettling, as is fitting for the Little Nightmares folks. First announced at Gamescom 2024, you play as a brother and sister trying to rescue their missing friends. You’ll solve environmental puzzles and travel both by land and boat on this quest, haunted by horrible monsters and pieces of the childrens’ past.
The good news is, if you don’t have a friend to play with, you can play Reanimal in single-player, as well as with both local and online co-op.
You can catch up on everything announced at today’s Partner Showcase right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
80 Days and Heaven’s Vault developers Inkle are making a new “narrative deduction game” and audio drama called TR-49, in which you fiddle with a bunch of creepy old machines. It’s based – or so they tell us – on a family connection to World War 2 espionage, and takes inspiration from Return of the Obra Dinn and The Roottrees Are Dead.
One of the reasons I adore N64-gen Rare so much is because they loved testing the boundaries. What could they get away with in a cheeky, charming 3D platformer? Banjo-Kazooie was already dipping its toe in the water in a few subtle (and less-subtle) ways. “How’s your nuts, bark breath?” is funny, but perhaps funnier with that adult context. And the 1998 platformer was more than ready to get a little bit scary – did anyone else freak out the first time they saw Clanker? No?
But Banjo-Tooie pushes things to a whole new level. It rips the band-aid off and tosses it off of a steep cliff into the volcano of Hailfire Peaks, almost with complete disregard for what came before it. Rare is unafraid to tell you that this is a very different game tonally from the first. In fact, growing up, it was one of the scariest games I’d played. I still feel that way 25 years later. And I love it, warts and all, for that reason.
Free Play Days – Nowhere Prophet, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, For the King II, Wildgate and more
Kyle OceanMarketing Manager, Xbox
Plenty to explore this weekend with Free Play Days! Police Simulator: Patrol Officers (XPA), Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game and Wildgate are available this weekend for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and Essential members to play from Thursday, November 20 until Sunday, November 23.
Nowhere Prophet, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, and For the King II are free for all Xbox members to try during Free Play Days (Xbox Game Pass Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and Essential membership not required).
How To Start Playing
Scroll down and find and install the games on each of the individual game details pages on Xbox.com. Clicking through will send you to the Microsoft Store, where you must be signed in to see the option to install with your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and Essential membership. To download on console, click on the Subscriptions tab in the Xbox Store and navigate down to the Free Play Days collection on your Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S.
Keep The Fun Going
Purchase the game and other editions at a limited time discount and continue playing while keeping your Gamerscore and achievements earned during the event! Please note that discounts, percentages, and title availability may vary by title and region.
Wildgate Optimized for Xbox Series X|S Wildgate is a PvP multiplayer shooter that blends tactical ship-to-ship combat with fast-paced first-person action. The latest update, Wildgate: Emergence, is out now for the spacefaring crew-based first-person shooter. Emergence introduces highly requested new game modes, Treasure Hunt and Fleet Battle, Psionic prospector Charlie, the Outlaw solo or two-person crew ship, the ability to create custom game lobbies, and more.
Police Simulator: Patrol Officers Optimized for Xbox Series X|S, Smart Delivery, Xbox Play Anywhere Welcome to Brighton! Join the ranks of this fictitious American city’s police force and experience the everyday life of a police officer. Begin with parking violations and work your way up to shouldering greater responsibilities. Be part of Brighton’s community, get to know your neighborhood, and fulfill the daily duties of a police officer as you fight crime during your shift.
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game Optimized for Xbox Series X|S, Smart Delivery Embark on ever-rewarding scientific expeditions and unravel the mysteries of uncharted lands for free as part of Xbox Free Play Days. To celebrate the release of Season 4: Amber Dusk, you can also grab the game for 50% off. Jump in alone or with your friends now – adventure awaits!
Nowhere Prophet Xbox Play Anywhere Prepare your decks and go on a pilgrimage through the wasteland! Nowhere Prophet is a unique single-player card game. Travel across randomly generated maps and lead your followers in deep tactical combat. Discover new cards and build your deck as you explore this, strange, broken world. Try Nowhere Prophet for free as part of Xbox Free Play Days, and grab the full game at 70% off.
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 All aboard, pirates! Battle your way through waves of enemies as your favorite One Piece characters in One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4. In search of treasure, relive some of the One Piece series’ most memorable moments from Alabasta all the way to the Land of Wano. Experience the latest evolution of Pirate Warriors action and prepare for an even more thrilling gameplay with enhanced graphics on Xbox Series X|S and check out the upcoming DLC, Character Pack No. 7.The new Legendary Edition is on sale at 50% off this weekend — don’t miss your chance to own the most complete One Piece experience!
For the King II Optimized for Xbox Series X|S, Smart Delivery, Xbox Play Anywhere Battle against Fahrul’s tyrannical Queen alone or as a party of four players in the sequel to For The King, the massively popular turn-based roguelite tabletop RPG. Will you unravel the once beloved Queen’s terrible secret?
Don’t miss out on these exciting Free Play Days for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and Essential members! Learn more about Free Play Days here and stay tuned to Xbox Wire to find out about future Free Play Days and all the latest Xbox gaming news.
Microsoft will soon dive into the November 2025 Xbox Partner Preview as Xbox Series X | S closes out the year with a brand-new showcase.
As promised earlier this week, today’s third-party-focused presentation will soon unveil a slew of announcements for some of Microsoft’s gaming partners. Fans have been told to expect showings for 007 First Light, Tides of Annihilation, and Reanimal, with the rest of the show’s contents keeping fans guessing.
Today’s Xbox Partner Preview has a lot to live up to after the last equivalent showcase, which arrived October 2024 and featured highlights like Phasmophobia, Animal Well, and Alan Wake 2. We’ll know more when the show begins at 10am PT / 1pm ET, so be sure to keep checking in with this story for every new game and game update for Xbox players.
Developing…
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
It’s happening — the brilliant Silent Hill 2 Remake is finally arriving on Xbox Series X/S, and it’s being released with a hefty 50% launch discount.
Fans have spotted that the game is already available to purchase via the Xbox Store in Australia, where it’s already Friday, November 21. Store pages for the game in other regions are also available, though the game cannot yet be purchased elsewhere.
When it does become available — likely when midnight passes tonight — the game looks to have launched at half price. The Australian version has a recommended retail price of AU $99, currently reduced to AU $50, which is something at least after the long wait.
As of yet, publisher Konami is yet to make the launch official, though we are just hours away from Microsoft’s impending Xbox Partner Preview showcase, where the console maker is set to detail a raft of new third-party announcements. You can tune into that later today, Thursday, November 20 from 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern, or 6pm UK time.
Silent Hill 2 Remake has sold 2.5 million worldwide, something which has propelled sales of the overall franchise past the 10 million mark. IGN’s Silent Hill 2 Remake review returned an 8/10. We said: “Silent Hill 2 is a great way to visit – or revisit – one of the most dread-inducing destinations in the history of survival horror.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Show me your quacking war face. Well, show the swarm of rubber ducks Arc Raiders devs Embark have seemingly unleashed upon your character’s living quarters your quacking war face. Otherwise you’d better be careful where you put your feet, lest you upset them and loose avian anarchy on the world. Also, a gun which might have been your favourite for decimating squads of poor shootery fools with other loadouts has been nerfed.
