There are certain games where you can see the ambition almost immediately.
Beast of Reincarnation is one of those games.
Developed by Game Freak, the studio best known for Pokémon, this third-person action RPG takes a very different path. Instead of collecting colorful creatures, you’re exploring a dangerous world, fighting monsters, uncovering lore, and mastering a combat system built around parries, assassinations, and surprisingly fluid traversal.
And there is a lot to like here.
The problem is that Beast of Reincarnation also feels like a game that needed more time in the oven. Its ideas are interesting, its story is accessible, and its traversal system is genuinely unique, but performance issues, environmental limitations, pacing problems, and a general lack of polish prevent it from reaching the heights its premise suggests.
It isn’t a bad game.
It just feels like it could have been a much better one.
Gameplay: Approachable Combat With a Few Good Tricks
The first thing that stands out about Beast of Reincarnation is how accessible its combat feels.
Rather than attempting to overwhelm players with an enormous collection of complicated systems, the game focuses on a relatively straightforward combat loop centered around parries, attacks, and assassinations.
That accessibility works in its favor.
“Traversal feels fast and approachable.”
The same philosophy extends beyond combat.
Movement through the world is one of the game’s more interesting systems, particularly thanks to its unusual use of hair as a grappling tool. It sounds strange when written down, but in practice it gives the protagonist a distinct way of navigating the environment.
It’s one of those mechanics that immediately gives the game its own identity.
You’re not simply running from point A to point B. Traversal becomes part of exploration, allowing you to move through the environment quickly while opening up opportunities to discover new areas.
It’s easily one of the more memorable ideas in the game.
The Combat Doesn’t Reinvent the Wheel
The combat system is competent rather than revolutionary.
Parrying plays an important role, giving players opportunities to interrupt enemies and create openings for stronger attacks. Assassinations provide another way to approach encounters, particularly when dealing with enemies that can be eliminated before a larger fight begins.
The result is a combat system that’s relatively easy to understand but still gives players room to improve.
For players who enjoy more punishing action RPGs, however, the combat may feel somewhat lightweight.
There’s enough here to make encounters enjoyable, but not necessarily enough depth to make the system feel genre-defining.
That’s an important distinction.
Beast of Reincarnation has the foundation of a strong action RPG, but it doesn’t always push those mechanics far enough.
Exploration Is One of the Better Surprises
Exploration is where the game starts to feel more distinctive.
The world encourages players to investigate their surroundings, search for hidden areas, and experiment with traversal mechanics.
That sense of discovery is important because the game doesn’t always have the environmental variety you’d expect from a large modern action RPG.
The graphics themselves are crisp, but the environments can sometimes feel sparse.
There are moments when the world looks beautiful, followed immediately by an area that feels strangely empty or repetitive.
It’s an odd contrast.
The technology clearly allows the game to look impressive, but the environmental design doesn’t always take advantage of it.
Storytelling: Clear, But Not Always Compelling
One thing the game does particularly well is make its story understandable.
You aren’t constantly wondering what is happening or trying to decipher a dozen competing plot threads.
“I got what was going on, it was very clear.”
That’s a genuine strength.
The problem is that clarity isn’t the same thing as engagement.
The lore and world-building are accessible, but the narrative doesn’t always create the same level of curiosity. Some of the story beats feel like they’re moving through required checkpoints rather than naturally building momentum.
The characters and world have potential, but the storytelling occasionally struggles to make that potential feel meaningful.
A little more depth in the character development and world-building could have gone a long way.
Cutscenes and Pacing Don’t Always Land
The game’s storytelling is also affected by its pacing.
Some moments feel appropriately dramatic, while others arrive without quite enough buildup to make them hit as hard as intended.
The result is a narrative that can feel uneven.
This becomes especially noticeable when the game transitions between exploration, combat, and cinematic sequences. The individual pieces aren’t necessarily bad, but they don’t always flow together naturally.
The story is easy to follow.
It’s just not always easy to become emotionally invested in.
Bosses and Monsters
Boss encounters provide some of the more memorable combat moments.
The larger enemies give the combat system an opportunity to demonstrate its strengths, particularly when players need to pay attention to attack patterns and make better use of parries.
Monster variety helps keep things moving, although the overall enemy roster doesn’t always feel as expansive as it could.
There’s a solid foundation here for future content.
More enemy types, additional bosses, and expanded encounters could give the combat system significantly more room to breathe.
The Visuals: Crisp, But Uneven
Visually, Beast of Reincarnation is an interesting case.
The game can look genuinely impressive.
Character models are detailed, effects are polished, and certain environments have a striking visual identity.
But the environmental design doesn’t always match that level of quality.
Some areas feel sparse, repetitive, or lacking in detail. The world can occasionally feel more like a series of game spaces than a fully realized ecosystem.
That disconnect makes the impressive moments stand out even more.
When Beast of Reincarnation looks good, it really looks good.
It just doesn’t maintain that level consistently.
Performance Is the Biggest Problem
Unfortunately, one issue repeatedly gets in the way of enjoying the game.
Performance.
“Performance issues hurt the overall experience.”
Technical problems are particularly frustrating in an action RPG because responsiveness matters.
When combat depends on timing parries and reacting quickly to enemy attacks, performance inconsistencies can directly affect gameplay.
It’s one thing for a visually demanding game to have occasional technical hiccups.
It’s another when those problems begin interfering with the fundamental mechanics.
This is an area where additional optimization and polish could make a substantial difference.
Audio and Music
The soundtrack creates a consistent atmosphere throughout the game.
The music fits the world and supports the game’s darker tone, particularly during exploration and more dramatic moments.
Whether every track will appeal to every player is another question.
The music doesn’t always demand your attention, but that’s arguably appropriate for a game where the environment and combat are doing most of the heavy lifting.
It creates a consistent vibe without becoming the defining feature of the experience.
Achievements and Progression
Achievement hunters will find a familiar structure here.
The game includes plenty of secret achievements, a design choice frequently seen in games from Asian studios.
For completionists, this creates another layer of exploration.
The roughly 20 to 30-hour runtime also makes the game relatively manageable compared with some enormous modern RPGs.
There’s enough content to make the journey worthwhile without turning it into a 100-hour commitment.
For some players, that will be a welcome change.
The Game Freak Factor
It’s impossible to talk about Beast of Reincarnation without talking about Game Freak.
The studio’s involvement makes the project particularly interesting because it represents such a significant departure from the franchise most people associate with the developer.
There is clearly passion behind the project.
You can see it in the game’s unusual traversal mechanics, its distinctive setting, and its attempt to build something outside the studio’s traditional comfort zone.
Unfortunately, passion doesn’t automatically equal polish.
The game feels like a team experimenting with ideas and occasionally discovering something genuinely exciting, while other systems don’t quite reach the same level.
That’s what makes the experience both fascinating and frustrating.
What Works
Beast of Reincarnation has several genuinely strong ideas:
- Fast and approachable traversal
- Unique hair-based grappling mechanics
- Accessible parry-focused combat
- Interesting assassination mechanics
- Clear and understandable storytelling
- Distinctive character and monster designs
- Strong atmospheric music
- A manageable 20 to 30-hour runtime
- Plenty of secret achievements for completionists
There is a good game hiding in here.
What Doesn’t
Unfortunately, several problems keep it from reaching its full potential:
- Performance issues across platforms
- Environmental detail can feel inconsistent
- Limited variety in some areas
- Narrative pacing can be uneven
- Story and lore could be more engaging
- Combat doesn’t always provide enough depth
- Some encounters and environments feel repetitive
- The game lacks the polish expected from a major action RPG
The biggest issue isn’t that any single problem ruins the game.
It’s that several smaller problems stack up.
Final Thoughts
Beast of Reincarnation is an intriguing action RPG that feels like the beginning of something rather than the finished version of an idea.
Its traversal system is genuinely interesting. The combat is approachable. The world has an intriguing premise, and the story is clear enough that you never feel completely lost.
But the game struggles with the fundamentals of polish.
Performance problems, inconsistent environments, uneven pacing, and a lack of deeper combat complexity prevent it from becoming the standout RPG it occasionally hints at being.
That’s a shame, because there are moments when Beast of Reincarnation feels genuinely special.
It feels like Game Freak wanted to build something different, and that ambition deserves credit.
The execution just doesn’t quite match it.
For players interested in a shorter third-person action RPG with a distinctive traversal system and accessible combat, there’s enough here to warrant a look.
Just keep your expectations calibrated.
