Pokémon team’s Soulslike can’t escape its inspirations

True fact time: Game Freak, the developer best (mostly? only?) known for churning out Pokémon RPGs, also makes other games. One of those games, Beast of Reincarnation, actually comes out this week. And according to critics, it’s…fine. It’s fine!

Beast of Reincarnation, which will be released Aug. 4 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, is a Souls-inspired action game set in an apocalyptic futuristic Japan. Stylistically, it’s about as far away from Pokémon RPG as you can get (though you still get an animal friend in the form of a trusty dog companion named Ku). As of this writing, Beast of Reincarnation is currently sitting at a 74 on Metacritic, based on 27 reviews.

Writing for IGN, reviewer Travis Northup scored Beast of Reincarnation a 6 out of 10. “Combining elements of a soulslike with a more traditional JRPG, this fast-paced action game feels like what you might end up with if you tried to combine Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice with the Final Fantasy VII Remake,” Northup wrote. “That potential is only realized every once in a while though, as you’ll spend a lot of your time fighting the same handful of enemies far too often, plowing through even the most daunting encounters without much friction due to incredibly forgiving parry windows, and quickly mastering every opponent you come across owing to the fact that they all have just two or three attacks they repeat ad nauseum.”

Eurogamer’s Matt Wales had a similar take in a three-star review: “Game Freak introduces its gameplay ideas equally chaotically, throwing so much out so fast, with so little explanation, it took me a fair while to wrap my head around it, let alone warm to it all. It practically demands you visit its in-game manual to properly understand the often convoluted interplay of its systems.”

At Game Informer, in another 6 out of 10 review, Wesley LeBlanc said Beast of Reincarnation is “soulless,” “transparent,” and ultimately left him feeling “nothing,” though did note that the combat was “rewarding” and featured “tense” boss fights. For Giant Bomb, Shawn McDowell agreed, calling the story and characters “underwhelming at best” while praising the game’s combat.

One positive take came via a 4.5-star review at GamesRadar, written by Luke Kemp, who found a lot of depth and beauty in Beast of Reincarnation‘s apocalyptic future. “It’s not long before you start to discover that there are layers to this world, and the people who live in it. Layers that make this a strong and deep experience rather than a fun but shallow action game,” Kemp wrote. “The broad strokes of Beast of Reincarnation give the impression of something leaning all its weight on tired tropes. … Do not be fooled. The game surfs on waves of philosophy and existential questions that are thought-provoking but never, ever waved in your face.”

But no matter the differences, those reviews land on the same comparison points: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Nier: Automata, Stellar Blade, Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

Polygon’s Giovanni Colantonio spotted many of those natural references in Beast of Reincarnation too, in a review that criticized its flat story and mishmash of systems. “Beast of Reincarnation never earns its heart, and that makes for a one-note journey that’s always some shade of morose,” Colantonio wrote. “Beast of Reincarnation isn’t an act of creative rebirth so much as it is one of conformity.”