Beast Of Reincarnation Isn’t A Pokémon Game, But It Kind Of Is

is the latest in a line of non-

games by Game Freak, which spends most of its time creating the RPGs that will act as the nexus point for the global phenomenon of trading cards, anime characters, and heaps of merchandise. When the team gets the rare opportunity to make something else, it’s interesting to see how far it deviates from the monster-taming grind it typically spends most of its time dealing with. At a glance,

, a soulslike post-apocalyptic RPG, seems like a pretty big departure from

, but as someone who spends loads of time in the

universe, I definitely see how this team arrived at something like

integrates the monster-taming elements of

by allowing you to issue commands to Koo , the game’s wolf companion who has the power to manipulate the elements. He can shoot fireballs from his tail, strike foes with lightning, and bring up mighty roots from the ground to impale enemies. While most of the time, you’re swinging a sword as Emma, when you need to call in your canine friend, the game slows down and allows you to pick the ability you want him to use in a way that feels distinctly

Outside of the mechanical element of directing a magical animal, the creature design in

integrating animalistic features with elaborate vegetation to create something that could thrive in

’s post-apocalyptic world is right out of Game Freak’s playbook. Pokémon are fantastical creatures, but they’re rooted in the ecosystem of a region, found and captured in spaces that make sense for their species to live, and they also each have some sort of elemental affinity that allows them to thrive in a specific space. Though pretty much all the blighted creatures in