Beast of Reincarnation PS5 Review. After decades of working and being known as just the Pokémon game developer, Game Freak looks to branch out in a big way with Beast of Reincarnation, and their attempt has paid off, delivering some great combat and a large world to explore.
Beast of Reincarnation PS5 Review
A Slow Burn Story Worth Sticking With
You take on the role of Emma, who, along with her canine companion Koo, must stop the Beast of Reincarnation before it attacks the capital and wipes out humanity’s last hope. The year is 4029. Japan, along with the rest of the world, has been devastated by the game’s eponymous creature that has spread a blight across the world.
It has infected every living creature, but not every one of them has become violent. Some remain peaceful and go about their lives. The blight is evident in plants and vines that begin to grow out of creatures. Humans aren’t able to survive the blight, but Emma is, of course, unique and is able to not only survive the blight but also absorb it and gain new abilities from it.
The game’s story takes a while to get going. Emma is tasked by the “Administrator” to head to the capital while eliminating the Nushi, powerful beasts that the blight has tainted, to acquire their powers to defeat the Beast of Reincarnation.
The World Tells Its Own Story
For the majority of the game, not much is happening besides you moving from area to area, defeating the Nushi as your companions Brad and Kagura talk about how much they worry about you. It’s not until the last third of the game that a lot of the game’s story beats start to come into play.
It’s a shame because the story presented in the last third of the game is very compelling and had me intrigued, wanting to learn more.
The world is one of the game’s strongest elements. It’s full of secrets, remnants of humanity long gone, and signs of war that have ravaged the land. Though a lot is going on in it, the game doesn’t really do a great job of laying down the groundwork for what really happened over 1,000 years since the blight emerged.
As you explore, you find murals of Golums facing off against beasts and cave paintings that provide little to no context, leaving you to decode what they’re trying to say on your own.
Exceptional Combat
Beast of Reincarnation’s combat is a bright spot. The game can get quite difficult, and parrying attacks is where everything comes together. Parrying attacks is the most essential mechanic in combat, as enemies can be quite relentless. Enemies can be easy to read and wind up when they attack, giving you plenty of time to parry.
It’s a good thing that the parry system is very forgiving, and you don’t need to time it to the millisecond. Besides avoiding damage, you build a gauge with every parry that allows you to use special attacks as part of your combos from the various Nushi you defeat.
Parrying attacks also builds a gauge for Koo, whom you can then use commands to activate his own skills that he learns alongside Emma. Combining the two characters’ attacks becomes necessary to survive.
Enemies have various weaknesses, and Koo can exploit them. His command menu even shows you what abilities and elements an enemy is weak against. Once you see that weakness, you can use Emma’s combo skills to exploit it. Your foes can be pretty tough, too. Corrupted Golums will deflect and block your combos, forcing you to play smart; wait for parry chances to stun them or command Koo to attack them and distract them while you attack from behind.
Camera Hits A Snag During Boss Battles
As much as I enjoyed the combat and the strategy that goes into it, that same strategy begins to fall apart in the game’s boss fights against the Nushi. The reason is that the Nushi are all gigantic enemies.
They also have a lot going on in their designs, so it’s hard to see when an attack is coming. The camera is also against you in these fights, as it’s zoomed too close to Emma over the towering Nushi.
The Nushi also begin to lose their splendor when you face off against the same type of Nushi later in the game. It wouldn’t be so bad if they had different attacks or abilities, but they follow the same patterns.
Emma and Koo have separate skill trees, but they share the points between them, so you have to think strategically about whose abilities you want to unlock at the time. Each of them also has three branching paths to choose skills from.
Plenty Of Skills And Abilities To Work Through
Both Emma and Koo have three skill trees with a plethora of skills and passive abilities to unlock, and each one should be considered carefully.
Koo focuses on supporting Emma, exploiting enemy weaknesses, and exploration skills that allow him to find hidden items and steal from enemies. Emma’s skills focus on her combo gauge, her crossbow and bow-and-arrow abilities, and unlocking new combat abilities and skills.
Exploration is just as fun and rewarding as the combat. The world isn’t open, but the areas you explore are big enough for you always to find something hidden.
A Vast And Fun World To Explore
Each area focuses on its own theme. These include an abandoned village with hidden bunkers, a mountainous region where you have to traverse pipes and platforms over a large canyon, and massive craters that look like the aftermath of a meteor shower.
Koo will point out objects for you to find, like hidden crates, enemy locations, and crafting and cooking books. There are over ten large areas for you to explore with varying degrees of size.
The game world also is packed with items of interest. Materials for upgrading your weapons, new armor, cooking ingredients, and books that unlock new recipe are just some examples. The recipes are not only for cooking but also for Koo to learn new abilities, such as finding hidden healing items and using them on Emma to boost her defense and offense during combat.
As you traverse the land, you need to be careful of your own hunger. Emma and Koo grow hungry and must eat. You can fill your hunger by eating rations you take off with from your home base, located on a walking AT-ST-looking mech.
You can also return to it at any campsite. Here you can grow vegetables, have Kagura learn new cooking meals, and train Koo to learn new abilities. These all happen as you play along, and you’ll be notified when they have learned a new dish or ability. You can also raise chickens and collect collectibles that decorate the small mech.
You can upgrade your weapons and speak with Brad the pilot to buy new seedlings to grow, weapons, crafting books, and materials. Most importantly, you can pet Koo and build your bond with him.
A Gorgeous Game With A Fantastic Soundtrack
Beast of Reincarnation is a gorgeous game. The environments are vast, and the beasts you face off have unique plant designs. The game runs fairly smoothly, and I only got a few frame drops during boss encounters. Unfortunately, most of the game’s cutscene animations, particularly those involving characters covering each other, are dry and dull.
The facial animations are almost nonexistent, and nobody shows any emotion whatsoever. There is a story explanation for this, but it still feels a tad lazy. Even when someone is hurt and in pain, they should show that emotion in their face and body language. It comes to something when Koo, who is a dog, shows more emotion in his body language and facial expressions than the human characters.
Furthermore, the English voice work comes up rather disappointing. I strongly recommend you play the game in the native Japanese language because you won’t have to hear the dullness and emotionless voice work in the English track. That’s not to say the voice acting is bad; it just doesn’t have any emotion. It feels like everyone is just reading in a monotone voice.
The soundtrack, on the other hand, is exceptional. Each track from exploring and combat blends so well with the situation. While exploring, you’ll be accompanied by a nice melody with a great vocal track, and when combat kicks in, the song blends and molds into a faster action version of the same song. It’s incredible to hear and reminds me of the award-winning soundtrack of the Nier franchise.
Beast of Reincarnation is a fantastic change for Game Freak and shows they are capable of developing a great title that isn’t about capturing monsters. I thoroughly enjoyed my thirty-hour journey with Emma and Koo, though I wish its story were as great throughout the adventure as it was in the final third of the game.
Beast of Reincarnation releases on August 4, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC.
Review Code kindly provided by PR