For nearly 30 years, the developer has been collecting and taming monsters. Now, Game Freak is stepping outside the Pokémon series with its first AAA title: 'Beast of Reincarnation.' This new IP is set in a post-apocalyptic Japan in the year 4,026, ravaged by a mysterious plague. Players follow Emma, a young girl who wields plant-based powers, and her canine companion, Ku, as they fight in perfect synchronization to hunt down the 'Beast of Reincarnation,' the source of all calamity.

The news that a company known for Pokémon was making an action RPG centered on swordplay brought as much anxiety as it did excitement. Furthermore, the experimental combat structure—combining Emma’s sword-based action with Ku’s command-based support—left me uncertain. Has 'Beast of Reincarnation' successfully leveraged the developer's unique strengths?

I spent about two hours with a demo build at the Bilibili First Look event. I played on a PC with a Xbox controller, using English subtitles and Japanese voice-overs. The demo covered a tutorial, a foray into the fields, a return to the tutorial, a boss fight, more exploration, and finally, another boss encounter in a village.

Emma’s blade is fast and nimble, but...

First, I must address how the combat functions. Combat in Beast of Reincarnation revolves around two pillars: Emma and Ku. Emma is directly controlled by the player; all real-time actions—slashing with a katana, dodging, and parrying—are her responsibility. Ku, on the other hand, does not fight autonomously. Instead, the player opens a command menu to select and trigger Ku’s skills. Think of it as inserting turn-based RPG command inputs into the middle of real-time action.

The link between the two is parrying. When Emma parries an enemy attack, points are accumulated, which are then spent to trigger Ku’s skills. In short, you must defend well with Emma to generate resources for Ku, and use Ku’s skills to cover Emma’s openings—a symbiotic design. The intention is to ensure that the hand wielding the sword and the hand commanding the dog work in harmony. Consequently, the player must juggle three elements: Emma’s action, Ku’s commands, and the parrying that connects them.

To start with the conclusion: the swordplay is a success. Emma’s katana action is generally snappy, fast, and light. It feels agile, but interestingly, the weight of the sword changes depending on the situation. Standard attacks feel crisp and fluid, while landing an assassination strike from behind an enemy carries a heavy, satisfying impact. Looking at the swordplay alone, it is so well-executed that it is hard to believe this is Game Freak’s first action game.

Parrying also plays a significant role. You could almost say the game is impossible to progress through without it, but fortunately, the timing window is quite generous. At least in the early stages I played, the rhythm was steady and predictable, making it easy to read. Rather than demanding pixel-perfect precision, the game gives you plenty of room to counter. If you were expecting the razor-sharp rhythm required by a game like 'Sekiro,' you will find this much more forgiving.

The parrying scene above illustrates the various mechanics of the system. First, I was able to parry mid-attack, and the game registered a success even though I pressed the button just before the enemy's strike landed. Conversely, the second parry was successful even though I pressed the button quite early, well before the enemy's blade reached me. During these two parries, ① Ku’s energy gauge filled up, and ② the opponent was staggered by the parries alone. The window for parrying is quite lenient.

The problem is Ku. The combat is structured so that Emma rapidly pressures enemies, with the player occasionally opening a command menu to trigger Ku’s skills. The developers intended this to be a 'pacing adjustment' that allows players to pause and strategize rather than relying solely on reflexes. I understand the intent, but it doesn't feel fluid. The moment you open the command menu, the fast-paced combat comes to a jarring halt. It breaks the flow.

It is not uncommon for games to pause briefly for selection during action. However, those games usually only pause in specific, rare situations. In Beast of Reincarnation, because Ku is as important as the protagonist, you have to repeat this pause frequently. Frequent pauses mean frequent interruptions. Ultimately, I could not truly feel the 'perfect sync' between Emma and Ku. Because the controls felt disconnected, I never had the chance to experience a true synergy. I feel like I solved half the homework from this demo, while the other half remains a question mark.

Ranged weapons are strictly for support. They fly well enough, but they lack any real sense of impact. However, they are useful for chipping away at the health of bosses, which are often so large that your sword cannot reach them. I experienced two types of plant-based abilities: a double jump that provides an extra boost in mid-air, and a rope-action move that lets you throw a plant at a specific point and zip toward it—similar to the traversal in the 'Batman: Arkham' series. There was also a feature to create paths with plants in the air, but after the tutorial, I completely forgot it existed and never used it again.

'Emma,' a superhuman who deflects attacks from house-sized bosses with a single sword

The highlight of the demo was undoubtedly the boss fights. The first opponent was 'Rangifer,' a deer-like creature. Despite its screen-filling size, its patterns were surprisingly honest. It stabs once with its antlers, swings twice, jumps away, returns, swings its antlers twice more, and finishes with a downward slam. It wasn't difficult to read and dodge. Once it howls and its body turns red, it enters phase 2, adding ranged patterns like throwing rocks, which makes closing the distance more engaging. Still, it didn't stray far from the expected difficulty for an early-game boss.

'Nue,' encountered in a flashback, felt different. It was a bizarre-looking corrupted monster with a dog's body and a lotus-like head. While its melee patterns—swinging its front paws and tail-whipping twice—were manageable, the attack that summoned lightning along with a roar was quite tricky. It attacked from both close and long range, but the difficulty itself was not very high.

After two boss fights, I got the impression that giant boss monsters don't pair well with sword-based action. It felt quite incongruous to see the small, fragile-looking 'Emma' easily parrying attacks from house-sized bosses with a single sword. Since swordsmanship was originally developed for human-versus-human combat, applying it directly to battles against giant monsters doesn't look visually cohesive.

Personally, I found the regular monsters harder than the bosses. Among the early-game enemies, the bear-like creature was particularly nasty. It would swing twice quickly, and then, when I expected a third hit at the same tempo, it would delay the final strike, catching me off guard. While boss attacks were rhythmic and predictable, regular monsters occasionally used off-beat and irregular attacks. This left me with the impression that the regular monsters were more intimidating than the bosses.

Adapting to the controls was fast. Moving the protagonist felt awkward at first, but once I got used to it, it became second nature. The only thing I couldn't get used to until the end was 'Ku.' The UI was intuitive and clutter-free, and I experienced no frame drops or stuttering during the two-hour session. I wasn't bothered by any loading issues or bugs. At the very least, the build was flawless in terms of technical polish.

Storytelling Lacks Immersion Compared to the Action

The perspective shifts in the early narrative are somewhat confusing. The game starts with a tutorial featuring a fully grown 'Emma' with all skills unlocked, but then the timeline regresses to the past where she is traveling with 'Ku,' and then further back to when they first met.

While the intent seems to be to provide a strong impact in what might otherwise be a monotonous early game, the frequent perspective shifts prevent the story from flowing organically. The structure of finishing a tutorial with a developed character only to return to the past and repeat tutorial-like gameplay also detracts from the overall polish.

The way the story is told is also disappointing. The cycle of transitioning to a flashback to explain the backstory immediately after an intense battle repeatedly hits the brakes on the momentum of the combat. There are many moments where the heat of the battle cools down during these flashback sequences, and the subsequent cutscenes fail to leave a lasting impression.

Nevertheless, my curiosity about the story persisted. This is because the elements outside of the narrative are beautifully integrated into a unique world. The distinct designs of the mechanical humanoid monsters and the bizarre beasts cursed by plants, along with the pervasive Japanese-style backdrop, are reminiscent of Studio Ghibli’s masterpiece Princess Mononoke. This evocative mise-en-scène constantly stimulates the player's anticipation and curiosity about what will unfold in this desolate world.

One month until launch... The hour of the dog and wolf

There is a fleeting moment at twilight when the silhouette approaching over the hill is so ambiguous that you cannot tell if it is your own dog or a wolf coming to harm you. We call this the 'hour of the dog and wolf.' My two-hour demo of 'Beast of Reincarnation' felt exactly like that. It is still unclear whether this game will become a 'dog' that players welcome or a 'wolf' they turn away from. Its strengths and weaknesses coexist in such stark contrast.

'Beast of Reincarnation' is scheduled for official release on August 4 for PS5, PC, and Xbox. With only a month left, the development team will likely spend this short but critical time refining the well-received elements and tirelessly addressing the shortcomings identified during the demo.

Since this was only a hands-on build, it is too early to judge the final quality. The depth players feel once they fully master the systems, or the emotional impact after experiencing the full narrative, could be entirely different. The game already has a solid foundation to captivate users, including a beautiful mise-en-scène reminiscent of the animated film 'Princess Mononoke' and robust, fundamental katana action. I look forward to seeing it return in August as a more polished masterpiece, having made the most of the final month.