The Pokemon studio has a new game out, and the reception is... complicated. Beast of Reincarnation launched today on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC, and the first wave of reviews paints a picture of a game with genuine highs pulled down by real, frustrating lows.
Game Freak stepping outside the Pokemon universe was always going to attract scrutiny. The question everyone had was whether the studio could build something compelling on its own terms. Based on the early verdict, the answer is: sort of.
Where critics landed and why they're split
The aggregate numbers tell the story at a glance. On Metacritic, the PS5 version sits at 73 across 52 reviews, while PC trails slightly at 72 from 27 reviews. OpenCritic puts it at 76 based on 44 reviews. Those aren't bad numbers, but they're not the kind of scores that signal a breakout hit either.
Here's the thing: the critic spread is genuinely wide. Some outlets were clearly impressed, while others found the whole package underwhelming. That kind of disagreement usually means the game does a few things well and a few things poorly, and reviewers weight those elements differently depending on what they care about most.
The praise consistently points in one direction. The storyline gets called out as lengthy and engaging, the atmosphere lands well, and the boss encounters are a highlight. For a studio that's spent decades making games built around 20-hour loops, building something with a satisfying long-form narrative is a real accomplishment.
The criticism is equally consistent. Repetition is the word that keeps coming up. The core gameplay loop, whatever strengths it has early on, apparently starts to feel stale as the hours accumulate. That's a significant problem for an action RPG, where the combat system needs to stay interesting across dozens of hours.
The technical problem that's driving Steam's mixed verdict
Steam reviews are currently sitting at mixed, and the technical side of the launch is a big reason why. Players on PC and Xbox Series are flagging optimization problems that go beyond the usual day-one roughness. When performance issues are significant enough to show up repeatedly in user reviews within hours of launch, that's a signal worth taking seriously.
PS5 appears to be the smoothest platform at launch, which tracks with the slightly higher Metacritic average on that version.
What this means for players deciding whether to buy
Game Freak built something that clearly has ambition behind it. The atmosphere, the boss design, and the story length all suggest a team that wanted to make a proper action RPG, not a side project. The repetition problem and the technical issues are real, but neither is necessarily permanent.
The key here is managing expectations going in. This isn't a polished genre-defining release. It's a first serious attempt at a new kind of game from a studio known for something very different. For players who want to see where Game Freak goes when it's not constrained by the Pokemon formula, there's enough here to make it worth the look.
For players who need tight performance and a combat system that evolves meaningfully across the runtime, it might be worth waiting a patch or two.
If you're still weighing your options, the Beast of Reincarnation editions guide breaks down every version and what you get for your money. And if you want a full picture of what you're getting into before committing, the Beast of Reincarnation guides collection covers everything from completion time to platform-specific details.
