Review: Beast of Reincarnation: Game Freak’s Action RPG Is a Technical Disappointment on Console
Game Freak has released Beast of Reincarnation, marking the studio’s debut action RPG and first Unreal Engine 5 project. The game represents a significant departure from Pokémon, which has defined the developer for three decades, as Game Freak expands into action RPG territory across multiple platforms including PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
According to Digital Foundry’s technical review, Beast of Reincarnation struggles significantly on console versions. The PS5 Pro, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S all exhibit poor performance alongside odd technical implementation choices. The review characterizes the console releases as a technical disappointment, suggesting fundamental optimization issues rather than isolated oversights. The publication will provide separate performance analysis for the PC version.
The performance difficulties underscore the challenges Game Freak faced while simultaneously entering a new genre and adopting Unreal Engine 5 for the first time. This technical struggle marks a challenging console debut for the developer outside the Pokémon franchise, with apparent optimization work needed across PlayStation and Xbox platforms to achieve satisfactory performance standards.