Beast of Reincarnation review: an emotional, action-packed experience | Daily Reports Online

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Beast of Reincarnation is a fantastic and immersive action-adventure role-playing game (RPG) with an emotional narrative that keeps you guessing at the end of every chapter. Game Freak, the developer responsible for the beloved Pokémon games, has taken a step into a completely new direction and done so in fine fashion.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release date: August 4, 2026

Throughout the journey, you’ll encounter formidable foes, from basic enemies to mini and major bosses, in combat encounters with an excellent feel of ebb and flow. Game Freak has nailed the concept of traversing a rundown yet beautiful post-apocalyptic Japan, with abilities that let players explore multiple regions and uncover a plethora of secrets.

I didn’t expect Beast of Reincarnation to deliver an immersive and engaging experience to this degree; certainly not within the story, combat, and atmospheric aspects of the experience.

What it means to be human

(Image credit: Game Freak)

In Beast of Reincarnation, a post-apocalyptic Japan set in the year 4026 is center stage. The parasitic entity or force known as the blight has taken over the world, corrupting animals, humans, and just about every living creature there is.

You play as Emma, a blight-stained young girl alongside her blighted wolf-dog companion, Koo. As a purifier, Emma is humanity’s last hope to defeat the beast of reincarnation and restore the world from blight. She will need to absorb Nushi, the corrupt (or blight-stained) monsters that come in all different shapes, species, and sizes.

During the journey, Emma will discover what it’s like to be human and consider a very specific aspect of her nature — avoiding spoilers, you’ll slowly unravel what that means for Emma, those closest to her, and, frankly, humanity’s fate.

While Beast of Reincarnation is focused on the restoration of the world, one of its central themes is love and what one will do to embrace it. It’s very much an emotional rollercoaster, full of surprises that I genuinely couldn’t see coming, and by the time the credits rolled, I was clapping and tearing up just a little.

Beast of Reincarnation also features a rapport system, specifically with Koo and other supporting characters like Kagura. Essentially, the more interactions you have with these characters, such as feeding Koo when hungry, can increase the rapport, resulting in benefits such as extra skill or equipment slots.

The rapport with these characters directly ties into the story, specifically with how they respond to Emma or help. Fortunately, it doesn’t take too much effort to increase rapport, and with the emotional weight of Emma’s story arc, you’ll want to interact with other characters as much as possible.

Aside from being incredibly adorable, Koo is easily one of the best companions in gaming, providing support in and out of intense combat sequences. (Video Credit: Game Freak)

Game Freak’s inspirations for Beast of Reincarnation are clear as day. It almost certainly draws from PlatinumGames’ Nier: Automata and Shift Up’s Stellar Blade, and Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 16.

Again, without spoiling story details, Emma will often encounter human non-player characters (NPCs) or even Golems (who were once human) that will label her ‘stained’ and act disgusted. It’s very reminiscent of how Final Fantasy 16‘s Clive Rosfield was treated early on in the story, often labelled ‘branded’.

That alone creates an interesting predicament; Emma is humanity’s only hope, yet humans essentially despise her due to her blight-stained nature. It dives into some of the story’s darker and more lonely aspects, especially when acknowledging Emma’s emotional vulnerability.

While the narrative kept me invested, wanting to find out what happens next, I feel the game’s runtime could’ve been shorter. There are constant cliffhangers at the end of each chapter, where answers to questions about Emma, the post-apocalyptic world, and the beast of reincarnation itself are unnecessarily withheld.

Ultimately, many of the cliffhangers and small-scale cutscenes feel like padding, rather than ones to help progress the story. I appreciated some of those ‘padded’ dialogue moments, giving Emma and other characters a little more depth — so it’s not all bad, but it’s worth noting if you hate long-winded cutscenes.

Image of Emma in Beast of Reincarnation — (Image credit: Game Freak)

Outside of the story, Beast of Reincarnation‘s soundtrack is undoubtedly one of its strongest assets, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Nier Automata‘s orchestral, melancholic, yet magnificent soundtrack. While traversing many of Game Freak’s incredible in-game regions, I was accompanied by amazing vocals, which manage to fit each scenario perfectly.

The only frustration I had with Beast of Reincarnation‘s original soundtrack is that it can get repetitive as you progress. Sometimes, the same soundtrack from a previous chapter would play again in a new environment, and unless you’re in combat or watching a cutscene, the music never stops — and it’s one of the only complaints I had for Stellar Blade too.

Nonetheless, it’s still a fantastic listen, especially in the final chapters, where I was particularly blown away by the soundtrack playing during the final boss battle — and I’m already itching to start my second playthrough just to experience it again.

Spectacular Sekiro-like combat

Just imagine those satisfying sword-clashing sounds from Sekiro, but then dial it up to 11. That’s exactly what you get in Beast of Reincarnation during combat. (Video Credit: Game Freak)

Simply put, Game Freak absolutely nailed the combat. Much like traditional Final Fantasy games (i.e., Final Fantasy 7 Remake), Beast of Reincarnation features a blend of real-time action and turn-based combat, where players control Emma engaging in fierce sword battles while also turning to Koo for blight attacks.

The more you pull off successful parries, the more Florescence Points (FP) you gain for Koo to select and pull off special attacks. At the same time, the more you parry, the more an enemy’s stun gauge increases, causing a stagger and an opening for a finishing blow.

In this manner, Beast of Reincarnation‘s combat is what I would describe as Sekiro-like, with From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice featuring some of the best sword combat in games.

Parrying is key for Emma in almost all combat encounters. Players do have the option to dodge attacks, and need to for unbloackables. However, parrying will allow you to overcome all foes once they’re stunned, and will also help you maximize the efficacy of Koo.

Also, if you thought Sekiro’s sword clashing sound effects were great, Beast of Reincarnation gives it a run for its money. Game Freak’s sound design for combat encounters single-handedly elevates enemy and boss encounters to another level; one duo boss encounter in particular left me hyped on the edge of my seat, in what was a challenging but extremely immersive back-and-forth clash.

One annoying issue, though, is one supporting character with Emma, who constantly says, “Remember to use Koo’s skills too.” This happens in every single combat encounter whenever Koo’s FP meter is full, and it drove me wild on more than a few occasions.

Emma herself does the same when finding a new campsite or spotting an enemy, and it’s one of those minor quality-of-life aspects that can very quickly become a major one, since it’s bothersome after playing for hours.

There were many times I could choose to be stealthy, but decided against it. Why? The back-and-forth sword clashes are incredible! (Video Credit: Game Freak)

Throughout the game, you’ll find different armor and swords to use, each with unique properties like elemental effects for the latter that will come in handy against enemies with different weaknesses.

There are two skill trees, one dedicated to Emma and another for Koo, and there are plenty of abilities to unlock. I finished the game at the 20-hour mark, and I only had around half the skills in both trees unlocked, which should give you an idea of just how much there is to add to Emma and Koo’s skill set.

Fortunately, that will aid a second playthrough perfectly; and yes, Beast of Reincarnation has a New Game Plus run ready to go as soon as you finish the game, with a new difficulty (which I won’t name… it’s a potential spoiler). There’s a fair amount of replay value, since almost all regions are explorable, with side content like mini bosses waiting to be found.

The latter makes traversal very important, and fortunately, it’s a very strong highlight. Emma’s hair allows her to reach high terrain and find loot that is pivotal to weapon progression, and finding new ingredients for Kagura to use for cooking.

I was quite disappointed to see that the new armor found for Emma has absolutely no cosmetic changes. It feels like a massive missed opportunity for Game Freak to give players a deeper layer of customization, besides equipping gear simply for better stat boosts.

But how does it perform?

4026 post-apocalyptic Japan is really a beautiful place to explore, but does Game Freak’s ambitious action-adventure RPG run well enough to enjoy the landscape? (Video Credit: Game Freak)