Beast of Reincarnation isn't a disaster or a clean breakout. Critics agree on the ingredients and still argue about the meal.
As of August 5, OpenCritic lists Game Freak's action RPG at a 75.5 top-critic average (shown as 76), with 66 reviews, 45 from top critics, a 75 median and 55% recommending it. PC Gamer, IGN, Eurogamer, Giant Bomb, TheSixthAxis, Hardcore Gamer and DualShockers all describe the same game: a beautiful, melancholy action RPG with Sekiro-style parrying, set in a post-apocalyptic Japan, starring Emma and her infected dog companion Koo. They split on whether the combat, world and story hold together for 30-plus hours.
It launched August 3, 2026, with OpenCritic listing PC. It carries extra weight as Game Freak's first big swing outside Pokémon, so reviewers are partly reacting to seeing the studio chase a moodier, more systems-heavy identity. (Our late-July preview roundup covers what hands-on previews said before launch.)
Beast of Reincarnation review scores
- Hardcore Gamer, 80: "a fantastic ARPG that helps push Game Freak out of Pokemon's shadow."
- PC Gamer, 73: "Mixing close-range action freneticism with a gorgeous, meditative atmosphere, Beast of Reincarnation is fun, admirable, gorgeous and flawed."
- TheSixthAxis, 70: "the perfect 7/10," "a mass of systems, ideas and interesting design choices that so very nearly hang together."
- Eurogamer, 60: "messy and muddled," but "salvaged by exhilarating combat and traversal, and a surprising amount of soul."
- IGN, 60: "the makings of something really special," but "nearly every aspect proves to be quite shallow."
The positive reviews admire the atmosphere, the dog, the pace of combat and the confident setting. The cooler ones keep coming back to repetition, thin enemy variety, uneven storytelling, and a sense that it borrows from better action RPGs without becoming its own thing. IGN points to repetitive enemies, one-note combat and a story that collects tropes more easily than it earns emotion. Eurogamer gives the same score in a warmer tone: for some reviewers the soul is enough, for others the muddle wins.
What critics agree on
The look and tone. Even the negative reviews credit the ruined Japan. PC Gamer describes an "unusually quiet and patient" game with an "elegiac doom" that surprised its reviewer. Eurogamer spends time on the opening's odd pile-up of influences: sci-fi walkers, J-pop, magic dogs, magic hair powers, cursed behemoths, Souls-style campsites and Sekiro-style parrying. It sounds chaotic, and it gives the game a texture people remember.
Koo. Emma's dog is more than a mascot. IGN says Koo's customisable abilities speed up repetitive encounters and can take big chunks off bosses. TheSixthAxis sees Koo as the first step in Emma's slow move from empty vessel towards personhood. Even reviews that dislike the writing find Koo a clear emotional anchor.
The combat, at first. It's built on parries, dodges, fast melee, elemental powers and companion abilities. PC Gamer calls it a parry dance; Eurogamer notes the obvious Sekiro influence. Reviewers who bounce off it aren't saying it's broken. They're saying it repeats too early and too often. A broken system is easy to reject; a working one that some reviewers tired of is harder to score, which is why the reception feels unsettled.
Where the reviews split
The biggest disagreement is whether atmosphere can carry the repetition. IGN says you fight the same handful of enemies too often, bosses repeat attacks, and beautiful regions settle into a checklist of loot, campsites and bosses, with "paper-thin depth" becoming more obvious the longer you play. Eurogamer sees much of the same, and that the game initially struggles for an identity while borrowing freely, but finds something worth saving in the combat, traversal and tone. That's a different tolerance, not a different reading.
The story splits the same way. IGN finds it trope-heavy and emotionally weak. Giant Bomb says the plot is "as lifeless as the characters" and calls the environmental design seriously lacking. TheSixthAxis finds Emma's detachment quiet and touching, with loneliness and loss extending into the world.
A 76 can suggest "solid and safe." This sounds more like beautiful and uneven, with some people ready to defend it and others tired by hour five.
Can Game Freak make a serious action RPG?
If you play action RPGs for mechanical escalation, enemy variety and bosses that keep finding new ways to scare you, weight the cooler reviews. The repetition complaint appears too often to ignore. If you come for atmosphere, it's a different conversation. PC Gamer keeps admitting the game surprised it with its quietness, patience and melancholy. Eurogamer is frustrated by the mess but won't dismiss the soul. TheSixthAxis is explicit about the story's sadness and how Emma's detachment fits the world.
Hardcore Gamer frames it as a push out of Pokémon's shadow, and critics' answer is: partly. The studio has an eye for creatures, mood and companion bonds. Structure is less settled, with too many borrowed shapes and not enough discipline about when to stop repeating them. That may make it more interesting than a cleaner 8/10. Some players will remember it warmly for trying to be strange; others will remember the fifth familiar fight and uninstall.
Should you play Beast of Reincarnation?
It's easiest to recommend if you have patience for uneven action RPGs with a strong mood: if you like Sekiro's parry rhythm without needing its severity, want something more mournful than bombastic, and think a giant infected dog is reason enough to stay curious. If you want constant enemy variety, tight pacing and a story that lands cleanly from the start, be careful. If you start it, write a line in Perthro at hour three and again at hour twenty. Your opinion may well change in between.
