Beast of Reincarnation Review

Game Freak's Beast of Reincarnation is a flawed but admirable attempt with its potential that the company can build upon for its next AAA titles.

It’s Game Freak’s first(?) foray into an AAA action RPG, and there’s a whole lot of hopes and expectations on this one. Can Nintendo’s household Pokemon developer make something that stands out? Or is this going to be a formulaic approach in spirit of the tried and tested monster catcher battler? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z! Oh wait, wrong one. Beast of Reincarnation has been out for a month. It’s a day one on Game Pass, and I was kinda deep into Hell is Us during that time. So, after 20-ish hours of playing Game Freak’s newest action RPG, to give you the lowdown. It’s hella fun, but it’s not without flaws.

Right off the bat, you can tell where Beast of Reincarnation draws its inspiration from. From the music to the environment, there’s plenty of NieR: AutomatA with its post apocalypse and ethereal music. A sprawling world reclaimed by mother earth, robots, and a lot of robots. Music tracks that’s very reminiscent of MONACA and Keiichi Okabe with hauntingly soft and beautiful melancholic music. Props to Kow Otani (Shadow of the Colossus, Gundam Wing, Gozilla) and his team for the music. And if you’re playing this with the Japanese dub, right away you’ll recognize Yui Ishikawa, too! Hey, that’s 2B! It’s all quite nostalgic, especially if you’re a fan of Yoko Taro’s works. Of course, Beast of Reincarnation still manages to become its own thing with its own story and characters.

Sidenote: It's better to play this on the Japanese dub since there are cutscenes that probably wouldn't work when it becomes a direct translation just for the nuances and all.

Outside of its inspirations, though, how is it as a game?

Set 2000 years into the future, Beast of Reincarnation has you play as Emma, a sealer set to defeat the titular character. Together with her massive wolf companion Koo, slay beasts, robots, and grow chicken and harvest crops. 

Beast of Reincarnation is a hack and slash game that wants to have a systematic combat, but it’s a system that refuses to work from time to time outside of boss battles. There’s a parry mechanic in place with combat timings of Sekiro and its contemporaries, but it has a hard time when you’re dealing with multiple targets. Sometimes due to bugs, sometimes due to skill issues. The combat on the standard difficulty is pretty acceptable and challenging at times, but it’s sometimes annoying when the system is working against you. There’s an encounter in the prologue where you’re given introductions on how parrying works, but the beast doesn’t want to attack and just circles around. Dodging and healing even have problems when it may be an issue of timing when you want to retreat and heal. Enemy attacks have ridiculous tracking that when you think you’ve created enough space to heal, an attack from a random encounter damages you for a quarter of your HP. 

When the system does work, pulling off strings of combos is a very rewarding experience. You can start off with an attack from Koo, your massive wolf companion, and from there execute devastating combos to melt your opponent’s HP. You’ll get the chance to do this, not always, but at least you do.

There’s just so much to say about the combat here, for better or worse. For one, you can tell it wants to be faster and fluid. Emma can control plants to traverse and fight enemies and explore the lands, but it’s somewhat quite limiting. As much as you want to help this connect your attacks, you don’t have the option to do so. Even air combo finishers sometimes fail when the game doesn’t want to cooperate with you. 

I encountered one major glitch in a boss fight where I already defeated it but the finishing strike doesn’t want to register, and this boss just kept flying and repeating its attacks. That certainly was an annoying fight with that flying Nushi. 

And as much as I want to dive into the skill tree, it’s just… there. Sure, you’ll get more out of it, but branching paths for combos and finishers feel more of a side improvement than an actual upgrade. The only thing I find noteworthy are the projectile upgrades in the skill tree to be honest. Raining bolts upon bosses with additional attacks sometimes feel like cheesing to be honest, but it does get the job done whenever you’re caught by any phase 2 surprises. Min maxing isn't exactly useful, and hell, I even think finding boss weaknesses feels more of a chore than an actual advantage. Because oftentimes, I find myself wanting more of the combat and mechanics than just finding what's most effective to get the most fun out of it.

There’s no penalty in death, too. Not that I’m aware of. And I’m glad Game Freak went this way instead of finding your floating souls where you die or losing it all when you die again. 

To put it simply, when it comes to Beast of Reincarnation’s combat, it wants more. It asks for more and you can feel that it’s capable, and I do wish Game Freak would update the game to add more fluidity to its combat. 

Now, if we’re talking about where all my time is spent, it’s searching every nook and cranny for any items, lore drops, and most especially, strong enemies. Exploration is a big part of the experience here. And as I mentioned, movement is a bit clunky, and having the patience to push through can be rewarding… at times. While the lore isn’t exactly too deep (not to mention you’ll likely get lost in the narrative like I did), it’s fun and rewarding whenever I find stuff. And yeah, probably similar to its combat, the lore can go further if Game Freak would. There are so much well designed, intricate set pieces here that they can further flesh out - massive deity structures, murals, and so many to be found in this world that I just want to let my imagination play it out. 

Beast of Reincarnation also wants you to further deepen your bond with Koo as it places game mechanics like petting him or keeping him alive. I am not sure since halfway through the game I already maxed that, and I did not even have Koo die during combat. So, Game Freak, please note in the unlikely chance that you’re reading this, you can flesh this out further by giving it an endgame result that improves Koo’s mechanics or skills, or maybe a design that progresses with each level. 

As far as graphics go, Game Freak did well using Unreal Engine 5 here. Character designs are well made from Emma’s gorgeously styled flowered hair to Koo’s furs, it’s all beautiful here. Even the environments reclaimed by nature look impressive with dilapidated structures, rusted rigs, and asphalt roads engulfed with vegetation. I played this on a 21:9 ultrawide and having to see the detail in the works is amazing. If there’s one thing I wish though, Emma and Koo could have had more clothing options we can choose from. Like different jackets or styles, or even adding armor for Koo. (Oh, wait. These are locked out if you don’t have the pre-order and paid DLC. bummer.)

Some people did complain about the lack of enemy variety. This really was a non-issue for me since there’s plenty of things to see in its open field. The repeats are too far apart for me since I tend to explore areas thoroughly. Plus, the hunt for dragon shrines, knowledge golems, and elite enemies for those duels can be really fun and challenging. 

20-ish hours in for the main campaign of Beast of Reincarnation and I certainly had a good time with it. And of course, a new game+ will be in order after the next game I'm playing. Despite its flaws, I loved this game and what it can potentially be. Sure, operative word there being “potential.” I’m not expecting an update that overhauls this game’s movement and mechanics, but I really am hoping that Game Freak can build upon what Beast of Reincarnation did right and improve the ones in dire need of a fix. 

There's a captivating world that brims with mystery, accompanied with a hauntingly melancholic music that will keep you immersed. Beast of Reincarnation is an easy recommend if you’re looking for a game to play on Xbox/PC Game Pass. If you're buying it on Steam, waiting for a sale is strongly suggested.