Beast of Reincarnation

Beast of Reincarnation is an action RPG that has some great ideas blossoming here and there, but they can be hard to spot among the weeds.

Beast of Reincarnation is an ambitious game that often overextends itself.

Game Freak borrows liberally from the genre's biggest hits. And while its messy and muddled, it's salvaged by exhilarating combat and traversal, and a surprising amount of soul.

Mixing close-range action freneticism with a gorgeous, meditative atmosphere, Beast of Reincarnation is fun, admirable, gorgeous and flawed.

Beast of Reincarnation is an interesting action RPG that ties together various elements to present something quite unique. While the narrative isn't particularly enthralling and it suffers from some visual and technical issues, the combat is a highlight, focusing on parries and a mix of melee and pseudo-turn-based commands that feels fun to balance. It wears its influences on its sleeve, but there are just enough fresh ideas that mean it stands apart.

Beast of Reincarnation is a bold new title from Game Freak that liberally takes inspiration from a handful of other games, including Pokémon, but manages to twist it all into something charmingly unique.

Beast of Reincarnation sounds great on paper, but is ultimately a hollow set of empty promises that fails to launch.

Beast of Reincarnation is a fun action-adventure game, primarily thanks to a robust combat system that kept me experimenting throughout my playthrough. I was also quite charmed by Koo and his relationship with Emma; it’s an area where you can really see Game Freak’s Pokemon DNA shining through. The exploration elements don’t come together, but I plan on coming back to Beast of Reincarnation when I want to slash my way through robots and monsters.

With a compelling, NieR-meets-Princess Mononoke narrative, solid level design that makes the most of its linear world, and a hybrid combat system blending Sekiro-style parrying with turn-based mechanics, Beast of Reincarnation is among the most interesting action RPGs of the year. While a slow start, technical shortcomings, and other flaws may be off-putting, action game fans shouldn't be deterred from experiencing what is, overall, a very solid title.

From the makers of Pokémon comes a familiar souls-like formula.