The studio behind Pokémon struggles to find its voice in Beast of Reincarnation

You have to imagine that the team at Game Freak is bursting with ideas. The studio puts out new mainline Pokémon adventures with a machinelike precision. But every so often it launches a curious experiment, whether it’s an action title about a militarized elephant or turning horse races into a card game, showing that it’s capable of more than the latest generation of pocket monsters. That’s part of what makes the idea of Beast of Reincarnation so enticing. Here is an established studio breaking free of the franchise it has become known for to make its take on a blockbuster action game. Unfortunately new ideas are in short supply in Beast, and aside from its slick action, there’s little that hasn’t been done before.

Beast of Reincarnation takes place exactly 2,000 years in the future in a postapocalyptic vision of Japan that blends sci-fi and magic. Humans still exist, though many of them transferred their consciousness to robotic golems in order to survive the calamity that ruined the world. The real problem is that a mysterious blight has infected the landscape, turning wildlife into vicious, mutated monsters. Even worse: This seems to portend the return of the titular beast, a powerful creature that, as its name implies, appears to be immortal. You play as a wandering mercenary-type named Emma who has the ability to absorb the powers of fallen mutants, and soon she’s tasked with traversing the world to power up so that she can take down the beast for good.

It’s not a bad setup for an action game, as it gives you a reason to keep moving forward. Emma is constantly on the hunt for the next big creature that she can use to get stronger before taking on her final task. Beast of Reincarnation isn’t an open-world game, but instead is divided into a series of big locations that you travel between as the story progresses.

The standout feature of the game is its action. Emma is a speedy samurai type, wielding a blade and various bows. At first, Beast seems like Dark Souls or Elden Ring, a game built around dodging and parrying, with little room for error. But as you unlock new powers, it proves to be something a little different. Emma’s signature ability is that vines and plants can grow out of her hair. This sounds weird, but it’s also incredibly useful; she can build bridges to traverse big gaps, or use her hair like a grappling hook to reach locations up high. She also has an adorable and gigantic magical dog companion who follows her everywhere and provides a hand with combat and tedious chores like collecting loot.

Emma’s powers are especially helpful in battle. Slowly she gains abilities that let her zip around the battlefield, using her hair to quickly gain ground on an enemy, deliver an attack from above, or team up with her powerful pup for a devastating blow. Her hair can even improve your stealth: At one point I unlocked a skill that caused tall plants to sprout wherever I crouched, temporarily giving me some cover before delivering a silent kill. It takes a few hours for things to open up, but eventually Beast’s combat has plenty of room for freedom and creativity.

The same can’t be said for the rest of the experience. Initially, Beast’s postapocalyptic world is compelling because it’s full of mystery. You know almost nothing about the history of the world, but there are hints of interesting dynamics, like the human-infused machines and how they evolved differently from flesh-and-blood people. But Beast pushes the idea of mystery to a frustrating extreme. Everything in this game is mysterious: the landscape, Emma herself, her two human travel companions, her giant dog, the little girl that only Emma can see, the other wandering fighters she encounters in the world. I love a story that is full of secrets and intrigue, but I barely understood what I was even doing in Beast until at least a dozen hours into the game. It doesn’t help that the game hides explanations of many of its key elements in a tutorial menu. And when you do finally get answers to the big mysteries, they’re mostly underwhelming.

The story isn’t the only place that feels underdeveloped or uninspired. There are a number of gameplay elements — like the ability to grow your own food, and a weapon upgrade system — that are so simple that it’s easy to forget about them altogether. Meanwhile, the level design is incredibly straightforward, making exploration a bore, particularly when it comes to the dead-simple platforming sections. The game’s skill tree is even a literal tree.

But the real issue with Beast of Reincarnation is that it is full of ideas that already exist elsewhere. The story is like a watered-down version of Nier: Automata’s heartrending postapocalypse, while the boss battles feel ripped out of Monster Hunter (with designs straight from its contemporary Wild Hearts and one specific creature that looks identical to a Stranger Things demodog). Your mobile home base functions much like the one in Death Stranding — you can even shower — and it looks just like an AT-ST from Star Wars. Everywhere you go, there’s something from a different game or movie.

This is especially disappointing because there is so much potential in Beast of Reincarnation. Not only is the combat thrilling, but, as derivative as it is, the game still manages to create an incredible sense of melancholic moodiness through its sound and visuals. But it never delivers on that; I was excited to learn about the strange religions and customs that were developed by isolated groups of golem, for instance, but the revelations were all surface level and quickly brushed aside.

That sums up much of the Beast experience: There are flashes of excitement and intrigue, but mostly you’ve seen all of this before. At least there’s more Pokémon on the way.

Beast of Reincarnation launches on August 4th on the PS5, Xbox, and PC.