Beast of Reincarnation is out today — August 4 — on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and the reviews are rolling in for Game Freak’s most ambitious non-Pokémon project in the studio’s history. The early picture is one of a game with genuinely impressive combat and a compelling central duo, held back by technical issues and a story that doesn’t live up to the world around it. Here’s the breakdown.
Famitsu’s Score — 35 Out of 40
The first review out of the gate came from Japanese outlet Famitsu, shared on social media by industry tracker Genki_JPN ahead of the embargo lift. Three of Famitsu’s four reviewers awarded Beast of Reincarnation a 9 out of 10, with the fourth giving it an 8, landing it at a combined 35 out of 40. For context, Famitsu’s scoring system totals four individual critic scores out of 10, making 40 the maximum. A 35 puts Beast of Reincarnation comfortably in Very Positive territory by that outlet’s standards.
Famitsu’s enthusiasm is notably higher than the broader Western critical reception that’s emerged since then. Critic reviews on Metacritic paint a picture of a game with real potential that does not quite deliver on all of it, with several reviewers praising the world building, the bond between Emma and Koo, and the intensity of the combat system, while others flagged uneven storytelling, underdeveloped characters, and technical shortcomings as notable weak points. The game is currently sitting at a Metacritic score in the low-to-mid 70s based on aggregated critic reviews, which Metacritic classifies as “Mixed or Average.”
What Critics Agree On — The Combat Is the Star
Across positive and mixed reviews alike, one thing keeps coming up: the combat in Beast of Reincarnation is good. Genuinely good. Emma fights with fast sword attacks, dodges, parries, ranged weapons, and plant-based abilities tied to her Blighted One powers. Koo — her canine companion — isn’t just along for the ride. Players issue real-time commands to the dog during combat, combining Emma’s action gameplay with Koo’s elemental abilities in a way that adds a brief tactical layer to encounters without slowing the pace to a crawl.
Game Freak blends Emma’s Sekiro- and Stellar Blade-style swordplay, which relies on parrying, dodging, and stagger bars, with Koo’s QTE elemental abilities that are reminiscent of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to create an excellent combat system. That’s a meaningful comparison — Clair Obscur’s combat was one of the most acclaimed systems of 2025, and drawing that parallel tells you something about the ambition of what Game Freak has built here.
As Emma and Koo progress, Emma can close gaps quickly, attack from above, manipulate vegetation, and combine her powers with Koo’s skills in ways that open up new tactical options. Beast of Reincarnation stands out as a surprisingly strong action title, delivering challenging combat, rewarding progression, and an endearing protagonist duo. Multiple reviewers noted that boss encounters in particular are a highlight — large, demanding fights that reward the game’s technical systems without feeling unfair.
Where It Stumbles — Story, Pacing, and Technical Issues
The gap between what reviewers love and what they don’t is pretty consistent. The story has been criticized across multiple outlets for slow pacing, thin characters, and predictable beats. The story features predictable arcs, lackluster villains, and plot beats about Koo you’ve seen in dozens of other dog-related stories, and the cutscenes — sometimes running over 10 minutes — pull you away from the combat with exposition dumps that don’t earn the interruption.
The technical side has drawn sharper criticism. The massive frame drops, screen tearing, pop-ins, poor textures and the general lack of polish made it difficult to fully immerse in the adventure, according to one reviewer, who noted the issues were apparent even on a PS5 Pro. The Verge pointed to performance and visual issues, describing graphics that occasionally felt like a regression to the previous console generation, alongside a camera that can be difficult to manage during tense encounters. The camera complaints come up more than once — in a game built around demanding, precise combat, a camera that fights you is a meaningful problem.
Most reviewers are cautiously optimistic that patches will address the technical issues over time, and that the underlying game beneath the performance problems is worth sticking with. Whether that confidence is justified depends on how quickly Game Freak and publisher Fictions push fixes out post-launch.
What Beast of Reincarnation Actually Is
For anyone coming in cold, Beast of Reincarnation is set in post-apocalyptic Japan in the year 4026, a land ruined by corruption and overrun with monstrous beasts. Emma is an 18-year-old outcast known as a Blighted One, cursed with powers that allow her to manipulate plant life. She travels with Koo, a stray dog, and the central narrative revolves around their bond and journey toward the Capitol to defeat the titular Beast of Reincarnation and save what’s left of humanity.
It’s directed by Kota Furushima, who previously worked on the battle system and sound for various Pokémon titles, and published by Fictions — not Nintendo or Game Freak’s usual publishing partners. The game runs on Unreal Engine 5 and is Game Freak’s first genuine AAA release outside the Pokémon franchise. The studio released Giga Wrecker in 2017, but that was a smaller-scale project. This is a different tier of ambition entirely.
The Pokémon Conversation That Won’t Go Away
Beast of Reincarnation has, fairly or not, become a referendum on what Game Freak is capable of when Pokémon’s production demands aren’t dictating the terms. The game’s art direction, its combat depth, and its overall production quality have prompted the predictable response: if Game Freak can make this, why did Pokémon Scarlet and Violet look and run the way they did?
It’s a complicated question. Beast of Reincarnation is a single-platform release with a smaller scope than any mainline Pokémon title, built for current-gen hardware without the constraints of Nintendo Switch compatibility. The comparison isn’t entirely apples-to-apples. But the conversation is happening regardless, and it puts The Pokémon Company in an awkward position heading into Pokémon Winds and Waves, both of which are confirmed for Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027.
Should You Play Beast of Reincarnation?
The answer depends heavily on your platform and tolerance for rough edges. Game Pass subscribers have the easiest decision since the game is available through the service at launch. If you’re on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, this is a straightforward “download it and see” situation — the combat alone is worth the zero additional cost to find out if the game clicks for you.
At the $59.99 asking price on PS5 or PC without Game Pass, it’s a trickier call. If you’re primarily after tight action combat and a compelling companion dynamic, Beast of Reincarnation delivers those things at a high level despite its technical roughness. If you need a strong story and polished performance to stay engaged, current reviews suggest waiting for a patch or a price drop before jumping in.
A Nintendo Switch 2 version has not been announced, which has frustrated a chunk of the audience given how natural a fit the game seems for that platform. For now it remains PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC only.
For more on what’s launching and worth playing right now, our piece on Sephiria’s 1.0 launch hitting 24,000 concurrent Steam players is a strong pick if you’re after something that’s landing with near-universal praise. And for the bigger picture on where the gaming industry is heading, our coverage of FF7 Remake and Rebirth’s sales surge shows what happens when a beloved franchise finally finds the audience it always deserved.
