We just got our first lengthy, proper look at Beast of Reincarnation, the upcoming game from Pokemon developer Game Freak that, at least based on what we saw today, seems to be their most ambitious non-Pokemon game yet. But as a Pokemon fan, that does leave me with a big question: is Game Freak up for this?
Having sat wearily through Pokemon's Nintendo Switch era, I've now seen multiple releases in a row that suggest to me Game Freak has some serious struggles with home console optimization. I've written about it before, but several Pokemon games in a row have struggled with bugs, crashes, extremely distracting framerate issues, or just being generally kind of ugly. Pokemon Legends: ZA, the most recent entry, is significantly improved, but still a far cry from what Beast of Reincarnation seems to be promising.
Because that's just it: Beast of Reincarnation, at least in today's trailer, looks really nice. The environments seem lush and detailed, the action appears fluid and precise, objects and environments seem like they have texture and depth and detail. Even if you don't normally care about graphics (I sure didn't until Pokemon Scarlet and Violet), there's no denying that you need a game to run well for action combat with counters and fast reaction times to function. If Game Freak hadn't had a couple concerningly stuttery Pokemon games in a row, I wouldn't even be asking this question! But here we are.
So ask I did. I spoke with Kota Furushima ahead of today's presentation, and noted the criticisms of the performance and look of Game Freak's recent 3D open world games. I pointed out that Beast of Reincarnation seems fairly ambitious. So what would he say to those worried it might struggle?
Here's what Furushima said:
I think when it comes to Beast of Reincarnation, and I guess we would regard it as the scale and the ambition of the title, when we approach game design, we're not looking to make, say, a title of a certain level of quality. We're looking to deliver a very specific game experience, and visual fidelity and graphics, this is something that supports that game experience, everything that goes into that. That includes things like bug fixing, optimization. Everything is there to serve the gameplay and the experience. Our focus is on that gameplay experience. Part of that, of course, is making sure that it performs really well, but our attention is more on getting the experience over to you and making sure that our vision can get to your hands and your hearts.
I'm not sure that's a fully satisfying answer, but I also was warned up front that Furushima wasn't interested in speaking about Pokemon even vaguely during this conversation. Which, fair enough. And I don't think Furushima is necessarily wrong here. Pokemon is still dang fun to play, as demonstrated by my recent reviews of it as well as the sheer number of people still buying it year after year. They did prioritize the experience, in that sense. I'm just still a little concerned that they aren't concerned about the ways in which that experience can be marred by technical jank.
Regardless, I want to believe. Beast of Reincarnation looks lovely, and we'll know for sure where it stands on both experience and ambition this summer. You can read the rest of my interview with Furushima right here. And you can catch up on everything announced at today's Xbox Developer Direct right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
