Set in a post-apocalyptic Japan, humanity’s only hope lies with Emma, an outcast shunned from society for her affliction, and Koo, the blighted dog. Together, they embark on this expansive adventure in this one-person, one-dog action RPG.
Experience a journey where you feel moments of loneliness, and also the reliability and comfort of your companion. Savor a world of impermanence, where forests suddenly burst forth amidst the wasteland. As Emma and Koo travel through this beautiful yet harsh world, their bond and abilities blossom.
Customize your playstyle with unique skill trees, gear, and spirit stones to survive this beautiful yet brutal world. Define your own playstyle through your preferred loadout, including ranged, stealthy, and aggressive combat.
In this world ravaged by blight...what will you find at the end of your journey?
GAME FACTS
Release Date: 8/3/2026
MSRP: $59.99
Publisher: Factions
Developer: GAME FREAK inc
Platforms: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC/Steam
Played on: Xbox Series S
GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE
Beast of Reincarnation from Game Freak is finally available across Xbox, PlayStation and PC (sorry Switch owners), and was a day one release on Gamepass (which is where I played it).
When I first saw the trailers for Beast of Reincarnation I was absolutely awe-struck. It looked souls-like, beautiful and mysterious, and to be fair… it is all of those things, but… it’s also janky and unpolished, like some of Game Freak’s other games (I’m still salty over Pokémon Scarlet.)
I’ll get into the details of my experience, but to sum it up, Beast of Reincarnation is an underdeveloped experience that sometimes feels like “Temu Stellar Blade” and other times displays a level of beauty and creativity that reaches beyond its limits.
It has obviously borrowed A LOT of elements from ShiftUp’s magnum opus, but none of them are done nearly as well. To name just a few:
The main characters’ names and looks are similar. In Stellar Blade you play as Eve, and in BoR (I can’t keep typing out the whole name) you play as Emma. Both are human-looking, but not quite human in reality, and they are less emotional and more subdued as a result. Both Eve and Emma are attractive Asian-inspired/looking females with long dark ponytails (although Eve is a bit more, um “developed” than Emma is).
Both games have similar base combat systems with sword-based combat, perfect parry and perfect dodge systems, augmented by special powers that recharge by said parries and dodges.
Both games use “camps” that you find throughout the landscape that you have to activate, then you can use to level up your character.
Both have similar music, which is hauntingly beautiful and features a solo vocalist over instrumentals
The number of similarities were frankly quite stunning (and even more than I listed). I played A TON of Stellar Blade and it’s one of my favorite games on PS5. Trust me when I tell you the similarities are much more than mere coincidence, but the worst thing is that BoR delivers a worse version of everything it borrowed from SB (I’m done typing that one out too).
If being “Temu Stellar Blade” was all BoR had going for it, I would have stopped playing it almost immediately, but it’s so much more.
For one thing, the story and aesthetic of the blight-infected world are very different from SB, in a good way. I love everything about SB, but I also love the story being told in BoR, even though it could have used more polish (to be fair, I only know how the English-language version is; I can’t comment on the quality of the writing or voice acting in Japanese.)
The way Emma absorbs powers from defeated bosses is very cool, plus she has Koo, her trusty canine-looking companion, who really does make a big difference. Koo is there for every fight and you use him during battle in an active-time-battle like system, kind of like an RPG, and Koo also absorbs powers from the bosses you defeat. You also level up Koo’s strength and health like you do Emma’s but completely separately, which adds another element of strategy. Plus, Emma has a bunch of cool swords with elemental damage that are visually different between each other; really, the swords are badass.
Then there are the growing, harvesting, cooking mechanics that are different and add an additional element of strategy. While you don’t have to cook yourself, you do have to find the raw ingredients out in the world, plus recipes, and then tell Kagura (your petite sidekick) what meal to cook for you next; each dish gives you a different buff for your next section.
Beyond the various game mechanics, I also liked the “bloodied” visual effect where both Emma and Koo accumulate more and more blood on themselves the more they battle. You can have Emma and Koo shower back at your mobile walker base to clean the blood off. I actually found myself doing this quite often, as it bothered me to see Koo all bloody.
I also loved how you can interact with Koo back at base to build your rapport with him. Any game that lets you “pet the dog” is a winner in my book. Similar to Koo, you can also build up your rapport with Kagura which affects the meals she cooks for you.
The other major difference between BoR and SB is Emma’s hair mechanic. There are two main abilities you can use at anytime. One is a boost that can raise you up into the air by using her hair, and the other extends Emma’s hair in front of her like a bridge. You can actually rise quite high in the air using Emma’s hair and this lets you get on top of buildings and other structures fairly easily.; you can use the bridge hair ability to move towards a building you want to climb, then at the end you can use the hair raise ability to boost yourself even higher. For all of my complaints about the game mechanics, the hair abilities are very cool, and are one of the biggest differences between BoR and SB.
As for the bosses, the “Nushi”, you tend to fight each one in two phases. The first phase let’s you get familiar with their basic pattern, and once they transform into their second phase, they generally gain one or two additional abilities you need to learn how to dodge or parry, in addition to the moves from their first phase. You also end up fighting most of the bosses more than once (with the exception of the large bird boss - which I found to be the most annoying boss by far.)
The story is generally good, and I like the various twists and turns that come up, but the writing and voice acting could definitely be better and more polished. It’s fine the way it is, however, it seems like it could have benefited from a little more development.
REVIEW SCORE: 7/10
Overall, Beast of Reincarnation is a beautifully flawed experience that could have used a bit more polish and refinement, but is a stunning journey nonetheless. While it pains me to not be able to give it a higher score, it just has way too many janky and/or unpolished elements, and the amount of “inspiration” it takes from Stellar Blade borders on egregious. I’m glad I was able to play through it on Gamepass, and I’m happy to have experienced its characters, story and world, but I’m especially glad I didn’t have to pay $59.99 to do so. If the game interests you, even with its flaws, you should give it a try.
GAMEPLAY
You can watch some of my beginning gameplay on Series S in the video below. Ironically I started the game with Japanese voice overs and English subtitles, but I soon switched it to the English voice overs.