One of the most anticipated games of this year for me was Beast of Reincarnation, developed by Game Freak – the studio behind the well-known Pokémon game series.
Beast of Reincarnation
Release Date: August 03, 2026
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Adventure
The trailers built hype within me incredibly well. A setting of post-apocalyptic Japan filled with robots, animals devoured by plants that behaved like Cordyceps zombies from The Last of Us, a parry system similar to Sekiro, and a big doggo companion.
What else does a gamer need to fall in love with a certain title? Depth, polish and a finished product – and Beast of Reincarnation has a couple of problems here…
Table of Contents
The Foundations are Strong
Beast of Reincarnation certainly has a really good “on paper” setting to hook a particular niche of gamers.
In addition, the famous studio behind the title and their experiment with a totally different genre made a big media fuss – from “gotta catch them all” to “gotta slice them all”.
Our main protagonist is Emma, a human infected by “the Blight”, the same infection that possesses animals and turns them into plant-animal abominations.
If a person is infected with the Blight, it is very often a death sentence, but in Emma’s case, it has granted her the power to manipulate plants and turned her hair into a vine. This helps her fight her foes and can be used to her advantage – e.g. as a bridge, a grappling hook spot, or a lift.
Very quickly, we learn that Emma is also capable of inheriting the powers of Nushi – to not complicate things, those are BoR main story bosses – so we get new moves or abilities after beating them. After slaying the first Nushi we learn that we are not just a tool to defend humanity, but a vessel that can stop the return of the Beast of Reincarnation.
The whole concept seems pretty cool, right? We’ve got a feeling of “being the chosen one”, and the power fantasy of becoming an ultimate Nushi able to stop the Beast makes the game very enjoyable. In my case, I couldn’t wait to see Emma’s final form right before the final battle.
It’s also important to talk about our companion, Koo. We meet him fairly early after the opening cutscene and learn how he ended up as Emma’s best friend.
He’s a werewolf affected by the Blight, so of course he’s capable of shooting magic-plant-based spells, and as Emma develops new powers, so does Koo.
Fighting is the Star Here
I was craving the exact feeling that Sekiro gave me when I first played it. That “oomf” feeling of the first parries in the game and that one-of-a-kind satisfaction when you fill the stagger gauge to full with well-timed attacks and parries.
Beast of Reincarnation brought back that exact feeling, and I was not expecting that at all.
The sounds of deflecting and hitting are as well-produced as in any FromSoftware title. Beast, of course, lacks the depth that Sekiro had, but it does its job well enough.
BUT this is not something that you get from the start. At first, the fighting system feels a little off. You’ve got some basic moves triggered after hitting square (PS5 controller here) on your pad, but in the first chapter, you are so limited with them (it’s like square 4 times and done, the only combo you’ve got at this point) that you basically rely on normal attacks, parries and Koo’s skill set.
That’s when you can get a little confused and might get the feeling that your attacks are meaningless and everything that matters is filling FP points so doggo can use his skills.
Koo’s abilities are really fun to play with and use. They aren’t as demanding in terms of proper QTEs as in Expedition 33, but they add a nice extra layer to the combat. Skills can apply certain debuffs or ailments to the target, such as burn, poison, slow, etc. There are also mods you can attach to a skill of your choice, providing buffs for Emma.
For example, if the target is burning and you use a skill that has a certain mod equipped, Emma can get additional FP or a damage buff for a short time.
The more you progress through the game, the more options you have for creating your own playstyle.
I’ve spent a good 2 hours figuring out what skills, amulets, mods or equipment I should choose to optimize Emma and Koo – and believe me, this theorycrafting was so much fun.
Experimenting is Koo-l
If you’re wondering if there’s a possibility of unlocking every skill or move in one playthrough – yes, but it demands an incredible amount of grind. That’s why I appreciate the option of resetting skill trees. It’s a pretty common and basic thing, but it gets rid of FOMO.
Just look at how many options we’ve got to choose from, and those screens are only from the halfway point of the game. It might be a little obscure at first, it reminded me of Path of Exile, but the more time you invest in it, the clearer it becomes.
I was scared at first that we, as players, were going to choose if we wanted to level up Emma or Koo, but Beast of Reincarnation provides points for both characters with each level-up.
Where Troubles Start
I loved the plot of Beast of Reincarnation. Even though it wasn’t life-changing expirience like, for example, Death Stranding 2 or Persona 5 Royal; BoR is just a really okay piece of story.
I think many of you would also enjoy it just like me… unless you are expecting it to throw all its cards on the table in the first couple of hours. Here’s the thing – it’s a really slow-burn type of story. Only after Chapter 7 (about half of the game) does it start to get faster… but in a not-so-pleasant way.
The game gently explains to us what happened to the world, what exactly the eponymous Beast is, slowly develops its characters and expands the systems that are available in our base.
Then suddenly we’re on Chapters 7-8, and everything falls on our heads in such a short time that it made me really confused about what is actually happening.
Another issue is various systems included in the game. I like when games try something different than the base gameplay. Great example is Yakuza series – you’re getting minigames, side content, collecting items or even Pokémon-like content.
Unfortunately, Beast of Reincarnation had many cool ideas but the execution was just bad.
About the base systems. There are things such as:
- Upgrading weapons
- Cooking system
- Skill learning
- Mini farm with plants and chickens
- Shop
- Story arcs with characters
The cooking system and skill learning are okay – it’s an automated thing where we learn new recipes or skills we can equip on Koo. Meals provide us with permanent buffs to Emma’s and Koo’s stats, so it is worth looking around and collecting certain items to create meals.
The big problem is with upgrading weapons – here, we need to collect blue golem parts. With enough of them, we are able to bump Emma’s weapons up to +3. The issue is that I had a feeling that those upgrades didn’t matter at all. The numbers moved so slightly that it made no difference in the fight.
The blue parts are also so confusing. We need around 30 of them to unlock the final +3 upgrade, and we can obtain all of them in Chapters 4/5. So when you find them later on, you just feel like you’re collecting useless garbage, especially if it’s located at the end of an optional route, where you expect a decent reward.
Story arcs are also where the game feels unfinished.
Some of them are crucial to the plot, so you can’t miss them because of the linear parts of the game. The other ones… oh man, what a disappointment. It’s basically the same conversations on repeat: “Hey Emma, how do you feel? Can I write it in my diary?” or “I think Koo is trying to say something to me. I wish I could understand him,” and so on.
I love it when games provide an opportunity to learn more about their characters, especially if they are optional.
Beast of Reincarnation totally screws this up, making it more of a tedious duty with the feeling of “maybe this time I’ll learn something” instead of something worth doing for its own sake.
Difficulty settings are another problem
Oh, and there are also the difficulty settings – Easy, Normal and Hard. They are terribly balanced. I think Souls-likes shouldn’t have these options in the first place. Easy and Normal are basically the same; you’re playing on autopilot without any satisfaction.
Jumping into Hard makes a huge difference. At the start, it even feels unfair how drastically the AI changes, how much damage we take, and how much less damage we do. Just stick to Hard from the start.
Enemy variety is limited
The final problem is enemy variety. There are about 15 types of foes. In a 20-30-hour game. Fifteen types. Including bosses that are recycled in the plot, we often fight them 2 or even 3 times.
To be honest, for me, it wasn’t a big deal, because I enjoyed cutting through golems, fighting big bears or certain bosses. On the other hand, for others, it might be a sign of rushing the game to meet its release date in exchange for variety.
The Averageness Saved the Game
As you can see, Beast of Reincarnation seems like an unfinished product that should be given another year or so. That feeling is true if we focus on the things mentioned above.
In my case, I didn’t have expectations for it to be a masterclass AAA title that would change everything. I knew it was a project from a studio without earlier experience in that genre.
And you know what? I had a total blast with Beast of Reincarnation. I couldn’t stop playing, and I beat it in 3 days, with a total of 22 hours.
This is not a life-changing experience, a new formula, or something that will change the industry. No. This is an incredibly fun game to sink into, and Game Freak totally nailed that here.
I think we need to appreciate average games more and stop seeking gamechangers in every release. Beast of Reincarnation might be a perfect title to start.
For now – just wait a couple of months and grab it on sale, and I’m certain that you’ll have a great time if the combat system clicks with you.