Beast of Reincarnation, developer Game Freak's first action RPG outside the Pokemon franchise, launched August 4, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Reviews arriving ahead of and on launch day paint a consistent picture: a satisfying, parry-driven combat system wrapped around a story and world that multiple critics found stiff, repetitive, or emotionally hollow. Xbox Wire has also published an official starter tips guide to help new players through the opening hours. Here is what reviewers are saying about Beast of Reincarnation and how to get started.
Game Informer's review, titled "Boring World, Beguiling Combat," lands near the center of the critical consensus. Reviewer Wesley LeBlanc calls protagonist Emma, a synthetic human without a soul, appropriately stiff and lifeless, alongside companions Brad and Kagura and a world he describes as unchanging despite its post-post-apocalyptic Japan setting. The review is explicit that combat is the game's clear highlight, built on Sekiro and Stellar Blade-style parrying, dodging, and stagger bars, layered with wolf companion Koo's QTE-driven Bloom Arts, which the review compares to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's turn-based flourishes. Game Informer praises the depth of Emma and Koo's skill trees and build variety, from elemental status-effect builds to ranged and stealth approaches, while criticizing repetitive recurring boss fights, a formulaic stage structure, and long, exposition-heavy cutscenes that interrupt combat's momentum. The review closes on a mixed note, saying the ending left the reviewer feeling nothing, though the arrival of New Game+ was enough to keep them from uninstalling.
Other outlets largely echo Game Informer's split verdict. Reviews from PC Gamer, TechRaptor, and Video Games Chronicle describe combat as the clear strength, with several reviewers directly comparing Beast of Reincarnation's tone and structure to NieR: Automata, citing director Kota Furushima's team as clearly drawing from Yoko Taro's work. A recurring criticism across reviews is that the game's strongest hours come early, with several critics noting the first ten or so hours impress before the game becomes more linear, story-heavy, and predictable in its second half. TheSixthAxis offered one of the more positive takes, praising the melancholic tone and emotional depth of Emma's arc alongside Koo, while still acknowledging the familiar, well-worn ground the game covers stylistically.
Critical consensus suggests Beast of Reincarnation is worth playing primarily for its combat system, which nearly every review singles out as excellent regardless of overall score. Players who prioritize narrative depth or world variety may find less to love, since multiple reviews cite repetitive environments, thin characters, and predictable story beats as the game's most consistent weaknesses.
Xbox Wire's official starter tips guide focuses on parrying, which it describes as far more central to Beast of Reincarnation's combat loop than in most action games rather than an optional high-risk technique. The guide explains that pressing the parry button as an enemy's attacking limb begins to swing builds Florescence Points, the resource needed to activate Koo's Bloom Arts, a set of skills that slow the game to a near standstill for a more tactical, deliberate approach to a fight. Xbox Wire recommends new players spend time in the game's early, forgiving encounters against respawning robots and stags specifically to practice observing enemy tells and parrying consistently, since successful parries also build the enemy stagger bar needed for instant-kill executions.
Beyond Xbox Wire's parry-focused guidance, other outlets have published complementary starter tips. Guides recommend using Koo's Emergency Medicine ability to cure status effects like burning or poison in a pinch, since these can be finite in the field, and later investing skill points into the Healing Energy mod for a more sustainable long-term cure. Guides also stress prioritizing unlockable combination attacks over standard raising of attack and defense stats, since combo skills deal significantly more damage than incremental stat increases. Several guides additionally flag that Beast of Reincarnation supports an English voice acting track that the game does not clearly surface in its settings menu, worth manually enabling for players who prefer not to rely on subtitles during fast-paced combat encounters.
Beast of Reincarnation's traversal is closely tied to its combat design. Emma's vine-like hair can be used to glide, form temporary platforms, and reach vertical secrets, and the same tools double as combat positioning options, letting players get above enemies or set up death-from-above attacks. Combat itself cycles between full-speed real-time action, a slowed Overdrive state, and Koo's more tactical Bloom Art commands, a rhythm that several guides note takes new players a few hours to fully internalize, especially those coming from more traditional dodge-focused action games.
Beast of Reincarnation is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, published by Fictions and developed by Game Freak, best known for the mainline Pokemon series. The game carries a Teen rating and launched at a standard $60 price point. Beast of Reincarnation represents Game Freak's first non-Pokemon title outside its long-running core franchise, marking a notable departure for the studio and the first Game Freak title built around this kind of aggressive combat. PC players should note the game recommends an Nvidia GeForce GTX-class graphics card and roughly 40GB of available space for installation.
The latest news and updates about Beast of Reincarnation come primarily through Xbox Wire, which published both the launch announcement and the official starter tips guide. Game Freak and publisher Fictions also post updates on their official social accounts, while outlets like IGN continue covering post-launch patches.
Beast of Reincarnation's release date follows a winding six-year development history. The project began in 2020 as director Kota Furushima's solo pitch within Game Freak's internal Gear Project initiative for original IP outside Pokemon. It was first announced in May 2023 under the working title Project Bloom, revealed as a partnership between Game Freak and publisher Private Division. Upon announcement, scarce details were provided beyond the reveal of Furushima as director, a projected 2026 release window, and a single piece of concept art showing a lone woman in a forest. Its official title and first gameplay trailer arrived two years later at the June 2025 Xbox Games Showcase, followed by a deeper look during a January 2026 Xbox Developer Direct. Along the way, publisher Private Division was sold and renamed Fictions, though the change caused no apparent disruption to actual development work. Notably, Game Freak's own staff primarily handled creative direction and overall project management, while much of the game's hands-on development was outsourced to external partners. Beast of Reincarnation is confirmed for Xbox Game Pass on day one for Xbox and PC subscribers.
Set in a post-apocalyptic Far East Japan of the year 4026, Beast of Reincarnation follows Emma the Sealer, an eighteen-year-old woman with blight powers letting her manipulate plants for traversal and Emma's sword abilities in combat. Her companion is dog Koo, a giant stray dog, and together they work to free the natural world from a corrupted creature that has blighted the land, aided by various techniques drawn from unique skill trees spread across both characters. Development of the game began in 2020, and for the first time, Game Freak built its combat entirely around this kind of parry-driven system. Players face various enemies ranging from oversized mutant creatures to robotic Malefacts. Critics have consistently compared the game's art style and story to Studio Ghibli works, particularly Princess Mononoke, while its combat system draws direct comparisons to Black Myth: Wukong, NieR: Automata, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, with some reviews also citing Final Fantasy VII Remake's blend of action and turn-based mechanics as an influence on Koo's Bloom Arts. That mix of familiar inspirations and Game Freak's own aggressive combat design has left critics divided on whether Beast of Reincarnation amounts to a revolutionary action RPG experience or a well-crafted homage, though most agree its profound story and the intertwined fates of Emma and Koo carry real emotional weight once the game's dangerous truth and brutal narrative beats begin to unfold across its blighted forest setting and the broader world of impermanence it depicts.
Olivia Blake · Editor
Editor
