Game Freak, the studio best known for Pokemon, has released Beast of Reincarnation, and the first wave of reviews paints a game that fights well but struggles to explain itself.
Set in a drizzly post-apocalyptic Japan in the year 4026, the action RPG casts you as Emma, a hunter described as having neither heart nor soul, roaming a ruined landscape alongside a giant dog companion named Koo. Your job across each region is to track down and kill towering nature-beast bosses called Nushi, taking their power before moving on.
What the critics like
The combat draws the most warmth. Eurogamer calls the battle system a highpoint when it isn't undone by "troublingly persistent issues," praising how it slowly settles into an "enjoyably distinctive rhythm." The game leans heavily on Sekiro-style katana parrying, Soulsian respawn campsites, and grapple-based traversal, plus a novel set of "magic hair" abilities that let Emma launch skyward, conjure bridges, and swing between grapple points. Eurogamer says the traversal toolkit lends movement "an invigorating sense of fluidity and forward momentum."
Game Freak borrows openly from big genre hits. Reviewers spotted echoes of Horizon in its pretty ruins, Bayonetta in the hair powers, Sekiro throughout, and even Monster Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus in its behemoth hunts.
Where it stumbles
The knock across outlets is structure and storytelling. Eurogamer describes the opening hours as "a lot," a chaotic grab-bag of ideas thrown out fast with little explanation, to the point that the in-game manual becomes near-mandatory. VGC's verdict sums up the split reaction: "endearing characters and combat wrapped in a disappointingly dull journey." The Verge frames its review around the idea that the Pokemon studio struggles to find its own voice here.
A hidden easy mode for parry-haters
If precise parrying isn't your thing, PC Gamer found a way around it. The site reports that Emma's crossbow and longbow, which most players might write off as throwaway weapons, become "basically the game's easy mode" if you pour upgrades into them. Skills like Tracking Shot, Magic Bullet, and Scatter-Shot, combined with ammo-replenishing perks and weapon upgrades to at least +11, let projectiles "shred" boss health from a safe distance. Arrows and bolts refill at the frequent campsites, so PC Gamer says you can lean on ranged fire from roughly a third of the way in. The catch: some multi-phase bosses outlast your ammo, and enemies can still close the gap, so dodging never fully goes away.
For players tracking it, Beast of Reincarnation is out now on PS5, Xbox, and PC. VGC has also published console graphics-mode comparisons and a list of Strongbox codes for the loot chests scattered across its regions. Go in expecting sharp fights and inventive movement, but be ready for a story that takes its time finding a shape, and consider the crossbow route if parrying isn't your strength.
