Game Freak's Beast of Reincarnation Launches Summer 2026 for PS5, Xbox Series, PC, and Game Pass - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 22 January 2026 / 3,979 ViewsPublisher Fictions and developer Game Freak have announced the action-adventure game, Beast of Reincarnation, will launch for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Xbox Game Pass in Summer 2026.
View the gameplay overview video below:
Read details on the game via Xbox Wire below:
4026 AD — The Journey of Emma and Koo
The protagonists of this story, Emma and Koo, meet in a land to the East.
Emma was born afflicted by “blight,” which has granted her the power to manipulate plants. Void of both memory and emotion, Emma is shunned and feared by those around her, living a life of total isolation.
Koo, on the other hand, is what’s known as a “malefact”: a creature that poses a dire threat to this world. Emma bears the burden of a “sealer,” a role that requires her to hunt these malefacts and absorb their blight into her own body.
Though their existences should be fundamentally incompatible, the wheels of fate begin to turn when Emma and Koo cross paths. Eventually, their journey takes them to the far West, where they must confront the “Beast of Reincarnation”—the source of all blight. In this world, the influence of the blight can cause the environment to shift abruptly, transforming the landscape into a dense, overgrown forest. These “blighted forests” are generated by the giant malefacts known as “Nushi.” Emma and Koo must fight their way through these forests and the malefacts to take down the Nushi. To ultimately defeat the Beast of Reincarnation, Emma and Koo have to absorb the Nushi’s immense power and acquire their respective skills.
A One-Person, One-Dog Action RPG
Beast of Reincarnation is a “one-person, one-dog action RPG.”
The gameplay blends two styles: the protagonist, Emma, fights using fast-paced katana action, while Koo supports her with powerful skills triggered via a command-based system, similar to a turn-based RPG.
In this game, you don’t have to rely on raw action skills alone to survive. By performing a parry against enemy attacks with Emma, you earn points that can be used to unleash Koo’s abilities.
You can open Koo’s command menu at any time – and Koo possesses a wide range of skills designed to handle a variety of combat situations. Whenever you’re in a pinch, Koo is always there for you. While you are selecting Koo’s skills from the menu, combat slows down. This gives you the breathing room to assess the battlefield and strategize your comeback.
We placed a high priority on this sense of “tempo.” Rather than forcing players to rely solely on split-second reflexes in high-pressure situations, we wanted to create moments where you can pause, think carefully, and fight with the tactical mindset of a command-based RPG.
Furthermore, the game features three difficulty settings. In addition to the standard Normal Mode, we have included a highly challenging Hard Mode, as well as a Story Mode. In Story Mode, the parry timing is more forgiving, and enemy damage is reduced.
To add even more depth to combat, you can equip items called Spirit Stones. These stones grant various effects based on your actions during battle. You can also find new katanas for Emma and Charms for Koo through exploration, each providing unique specialized bonuses. By combining these elements, players can build and customize their own unique combat style.
A Story Where Everyone Has a Big Secret
Both Emma and Koo carry a heavy secret. Throughout the game, they will cross paths with allies who offer their support, who are also bound by their own great secrets. These mysteries intertwine with Emma and Koo’s journey, adding colors and depth to the multi-layered story.
There is still so much more we want to show you, but there is one thing in particular I want everyone to remember. It is a vital rule concerning this world: “Never look up at the sky.” An ancient legend of this world warns that “something” is floating up there. But please… for your own sake, do not try to see it for yourselves.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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This just proves they don't out much effort in their pokemon games as they know people will buy anything Pokemon
IDK about effort. It’s more likely that Game Freak is rushed to pump out Pokémon titles. Data breaches have revealed tons of content from games such as ORAS, XY(Z), and Sun/Moon due to dev crunch.
Give GF time and I’m sure they’d pump something out of decent quality— the issues prolly land on Pokémon Company’s (and to a lesser extent Nintendo’s) shoulders.
They had time with pokemon za due to scarlet and violet being broken at launch and still relatively broken. The way I see it is that why try harder if what they put out guarantees 10 million copies and so on.
Scarlet and Violet has over 20 million copies and that game is still broken on switch 1. Smart thinking on game freak end.
Why can't Gamefreak make pokemon games that looks like this!? It must be a limitation on Nintendo side.
This could very well be their 'practice project'. They just can't fail with a Pokemon game, so they must do something different if they want to try out something that's risky for them.
But they failed several times with pokemon!
Sword and shield, Scarlet and violet, legend of Arceus, Brilliant Diamond e Shining Pearl, Legends: Z-A .. all recent pokemon games are trash selling on the absolute juggernaut that is the pokemon IP name.
All trash and failed games.
Scarlet and Violet and Legends Arcues I can give you as they had obvious technical flaws but clearly the player base is seeing beyond that.
Also in what way is ZA trash? Having played on the Switch 2 it certainly didn’t have the tech flaws from other games. BDSP was also lack tech issue, people more complained as they did a style that aped the original games rather than newer ones.
And still, absolutely none of that were ‘failed games’.
I'm not too familiar with the Pokemon games, so I might be wrong, but I don't think they've done anything this advanced technically before. They might be seeing this as a risk unlike anything else they've done and treating it accordingly.
Other companies wish they could fail with their games like the ones you mentioned. All multimillion sellers and all clearly profitable.
The Sales don't reflect the quality.
Recent pokemon games are all low quality failures that sell riding on the pokemon name.
Pokemon is huge, like the strongest VG IP in the planet! That said, GF games are a big letdown. Ugly and bad designed failures that feel like low effort projects!
Bad quality is not failure as you said. I agree that Pokemon games are disappointing, but they are obviouisly not failing.
Their Pokemon games are probably using engine tech that dates back to the 3DS era, whereas this game is using Unreal Engine 5, so naturally it's going to look more... wait, a Game Freak game? Using UE5? Oh god, this is going to be a trainwreck, isn't it?
It dossnt need to look this realistic. It can be Metroid prime. 4 level or a net gen version of tears of kingdom graphics style
I believe the Pokemon company gives them the timelines for Pokemon game releases, that is probably why they look visually shit.
Yep. Every Poke'mon game has a 2 year dev cycle to align with the manga.
Maybe Pokemon will have graphics this good 20 years from now.
lol right
If they don't give us the option to turn off the stupid and annoying screen shake gimmick then they can fook off
About time they flexed their muscles and see what they can do on Powerful Hardware
This game looks so good. I'm so glad they're incorporating a combat style similar to the FF7R series.
Allegedly Gen 10 is a huge step up in graphics and fully exclusive to Switch 2. We'll see at the next Pokemon Presents.
It won't look as good as best game. You will be disappointed
So you go on a samurai adventure along with Toby Fox? I don't expect much from Game Freak, but gotta admit it at least looks a little cool. If it ends up good it will just beg the question why they can't put that kind of effort into their billion dollar franchise tho.







