The expectations for this game were through the roof. It was tough to tame them for this review.
Beast of Reincarnation is from developer Game Freak and is one of the bigger releases at the beginning of this holiday season (yep, August is where it begins). The game is gorgeous, open, and mysterious with its uncertain and uneasy narrative. It does a great job of setting up the world and delivers with atmosphere and haunting memories of what was and what is to be. World and character-building might be the strongest part of this game.
On the action side of the trails, it borrows from several titles born before it. Its fighting is driven by a Souls-like heaviness, where finding a prayer spot (bonfire) to save the game and reset the world of enemies is familiar. The enemies are mundane in their approach and execution, as are the majority of the bosses, which look terrifying but are repetitive and predictable. The backend upgrade system does its best to remind players of the game’s complexity but doesn’t go beyond the sense of accomplishment of opening new traits and abilities.
The game is simply a wonderful blueprint that could be improved for future titles in this series, but its action and execution need some work to make it more than what’s been seen before.
Anyway, there’s a lot to unpack, so let’s get it going.
Starting with the story, at the very least, the narrative leads the gameplay and drags the player along, as it sprinkles in bits of information about the main character, Emma, who lives as a half-human, half-blight-infected person, and someone the world refers to as a Sealer, an individual who consumes blight. The blight is an infection that gradually consumes animals, robots, and everything else it comes in contact with, eventually taking control of whatever entity it is attached to. Emma’s Sealer status is based on her being born with the blight, which means she’s not controlled by it; rather, she consumes it. Because she is born with the blight, Emma’s life in post-apocalyptic Japan is filled with loneliness, as she is shunned by most robots and humans, which puts her in danger around every corner she steps. Because she is a Sealer, she is needed in the world, is a loyal servant of the people, and is kept around to follow orders, which only builds that loneliness for her character.
There is a lot to love about this narrative, as it is thick with emotion and underlying details that the player is required to draw their own conclusion about what happened to this world and the hell it must have gone through. It’s obviously in shambles and hanging on by a thread, and the hero of the story isn’t really a hero as much as she is a servant struggling to keep purpose. For me, this is the strongest element of the game outside of visuals and the girth of the world built for it all. It kept me pushing forward and truly constructed a story that was worthy of the journey.
I understand that some writers will probably not agree with my assessment of the story, but I think I am very correct. There are early moments that set up the world perfectly that sealed the deal with me when it came to wanting to know more about the main character. For example, very early in the game, there is a flashback when Emma is sitting alone in a shack in the middle of nowhere. She is isolated from the rest of the world and clearly just waiting to exist and serve a purpose. When she is finally called upon during this scene, her caller offers no gratitude for her services, no sympathy for her situation; rather, the caller just sends her into the jaws of danger in order to keep the non-blights safe. As silly as it sounds, simply put, it’s like watching a Roomba leave its base, go sweep, and then being expected to return to be quiet until it’s called on again. There is no ‘thank you’, no ‘great job’, and the only reward is Emma avoiding being killed by her captors. Again, the narrative is thick and rich with interesting details and moments, and the main character is well-defined with good development as everything unfolds.
Beyond story, Beast of Reincarnation does its best to serve as a buffet of sorts made with game elements that have been seen before. Some of these have been simplified and made easy to make the game quick, while others have not been improved, and some even fall short of expectations.
I was always told to start with the positives, so let’s get going on those strengths by starting with the action in the game.
The best compliment about the action in Beast of Reincarnation is that it is easy to understand and execute. Going into the wild and taking down blight-ridden robots and creatures is made easy with good button-mashing that feels comfortable and badass special moves that make the player want to keep picking fights. Creeping up on enemies, assassinating them, or going toe-to-toe is fun when it’s kicking on all cylinders. For example, there was a moment early in the game when I happened upon 5-7 robots at once. The action was crazy fun, taking a God of War approach when smacking the hell out of the enemy, while dealing with the others at the same time, and then concluding a fight with a finisher. Fighting that many robots at once, trying to juggle parrying, swiping, and concluding, is a rush. It makes the action fast, furious, and fun. That’s a big deal when a game is action-driven, as you never want controls to get in the way of intense, sword-swiping sequences.
On the controls side of the tracks with Beast of Reincarnation, beyond the simple button-mashing action, the game has interesting ways for Emma to get around. She can use her blight-ridden hair to create bridges or use it as a hook to swing her way to higher locations that are unreachable. There are also quick controls for gobbling down health potions or switching weapons for long-range purposes. Everything on the controls side is just as simple and easy to learn as the action itself. Having good controls without asking the player to think about them is the pinnacle of any decent action adventure.
Game Freak was hellbent on making the controls not get in the way of the adventure, and for the most part they accomplished it. The only 50/50 with the controls is probably the parrying, which plays an important role in taking down large beasts or bosses. The game expects the player to hit L1 at the right time to ensure that a block is made, sometimes dizzying the enemy or boss in the process. Parry accuracy is unforgiving, which makes the move a challenge. While I am not the type of player to enjoy blocking as a main mechanic, I could play Demon Souls for you and show you why that is; I understand that is a thing for modern gamers out there. In that respect, it’s well-placed and executed, though frustrating at times. But I get it, and I respect it, and I think players will be fine with the accuracy requirement, even on easy mode. Now, if the player gets those blocking controls perfected, takes down enemies with ease, and moves forward, then goodies are waiting for them.
The spoils of war add more intrigue to the action, as Emma will happen upon better weapons, parts dropped by fallen robots, and treasures hidden in areas around the map. Those spoils can improve the action quite a bit, as some swords and weaponry will contain new power-ups and different, more brutal ways of taking down enemies. Upgrading or replacing weapons is the purpose of the spoils. The goodies gathered garnish more creative ways to conclude battles and/or simply play the game. Those rewards act as more motivation to keep exploring the world and taking on new, challenging enemies to see what pops out of them. Game Freak made some good choices with rewards and enticing the player to keep going, even when the game struggles in other areas.
To help make spoils defining and worth the risk/journey, the game is built on a large world scale that the player can explore nearly freely. It’s got a taste of Horizon Zero Dawn with its apocalyptic style and looks. Broken buildings are everywhere, remnants of a lost society are scattered around, and there are plenty of places for goodies to lie for the player to discover. Much like the story, the literal world built for this game is beautiful, big, and representative of the narrative.
Now, having established the positives, the game falls short with its backend system and repetitive, bland enemies. Starting with the former, I was not a huge fan of the backend upgrade system with Emma and her furry friend/partner. It was incredibly confusing and not obvious at all how the system works (eventually I understood it, but the process of learning it provided me no motivation to unlock everything). Typically, a skills tree will start with simple XP gatekeepers that gradually open and build the character(s) out. Games like Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, and Horizon Zero Dawn present this process as an easy-to-see visual with even easier execution. For Beast of Reincarnation, the skills feel out of order for both Emma and her companion, Koo. It is confusing to figure out what should be opened and what needs to be accomplished in the game to continually open up more skills. There were times when a caution icon appeared near the acquired skills option, and I couldn’t figure out why it was alerting me to the tree when I clearly didn’t have enough XP. I had no idea why it was alerting me. Anyway, half the time, it just alerted me that there were new skills, but the other half of the time it prevented me from actually opening them up. Again, it was confusing to grasp, and not just because I’m an old gamer. I wish the skills tree was a bit similar to the previously mentioned games. There was no need to complicate something that is supposed to add more motivation to the gameplay.
Outside of the skills, the biggest issue with the game was how the enemies were during the journey. This does include the common enemies, as well as the bosses. To put it bluntly, the enemies were bland and repetitive, and predictable (and not in a Souls-like manner). The robots didn’t vary too much, other than intelligence and the occasional new weapon or defense. The animals didn’t have much variety with their fighting, as generally it was a swipe, head swipe, or ramming. The common enemies were just treated as small obstacles instead of good spectacles. Overall, they simply felt lifeless in their pursuit to impede Emma’s journey, and incredibly repetitive with their appearances.
The bosses might have been worse. The bosses are huge in Beast of Reincarnation. For example, the first boss that Emma will take on is a gigantic blighted buck that dwarves Emma. The moves that this buck performs are swiping or ramming. It’s repetitive, bland, and doesn’t add much excitement to the action. The only variety a player can get out of boss fights is when a parry is performed perfectly, which usually sends the boss to a stunned phase. But there just isn’t enough variety of excitement about the bosses. You would expect repetitiveness from common enemies, but bosses should feel like an accomplishment or a moment of greatness. Instead, they feel like the common enemies, which is disappointing considering the narrative.
While I can certainly forgive a confusing skills tree, it’s tough to forget how enemies are in a game. They should be those fantastic moments for players. They should not be bland or repetitive fights that are simply there to add evil to the world. Think about games like Horizon Zero Dawn, and the first time you might have run into a gigantic Thunderjaw. How much of a beast was it compared to lower-level enemies? How exciting was it that it had several ways to come at you that were not predictable? By the end of a Thunderjaw fight, you would feel like you accomplished or earned something. That type of feeling is not the case with bosses in Beast of Reincarnation. They honestly just feel like they’re there to fill in space. I hate that for the game because the bosses were interesting and visually well-built creatures. I wanted more from them.
Overall, the gameplay for Beast of Reincarnation is more of what could have been rather than what it ended up being. Regardless, I think that Game Freak could dramatically improve the gameplay elements from this game and make something truly special if there is a sequel. I think the narrative is good, the main characters are well-developed and fascinating, and I truly do enjoy the action. The enemies and bosses make this a surface-level experience that could have been much deeper. These are problems with simple corrections.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap up this review.
Conclusion
Beast of Reincarnation from developer Game Freak is a good first step for what could be a fun action series. The story is great, the characters are interesting, and the action, when it gets going, is fast, fun, and furious. The bland and repetitive enemies and bosses, as well as a confusing skill tree, get in the way of making this game something special.
