Beast of Reincarnation is getting Shiba Inu pre-order skins

Game Freak and publisher Fictions have announced the pre-order and Deluxe Edition bonuses for Beast of Reincarnation. The upcoming action RPG launches on August 4. Players who reserve the game early will receive a "Brown Shiba Skin" for their canine companion, along with 30,000 Amber.

The project originally surfaced in 2023 under the codename Project Bloom. It is a major departure from Game Freak's usual monster-catching fare. The studio traded colorful gym battles for real-time sword combat in a post-apocalyptic version of Japan set in the year 4026. Directed by Kota Furushima, who previously handled battle systems and sound for various Pokémon titles, the game is a rare original property from the developer. Their last non-Pokémon attempt was Little Town Hero in 2019. The publisher, Fictions, is the newly rebranded name for Private Division following its recent sale by Take-Two.

A different kind of monster

The developers are billing this as a "one-person, one-dog action RPG," which is a highly specific subgenre we can only hope catches on. You play as Emma, a sword-wielding outcast known as a Blightborn. The blight infection allows her to manipulate her hair into plant-like vines to cross collapsed bridges or drop onto enemies from above. She explores the world alongside a giant white dog named Koo. Koo is technically a Malefact, one of the corrupted beasts roaming the wasteland, but he managed to retain his soul. Emma works as a Sealer. She absorbs the corruption from other Malefacts to cleanse the land.

Combat blends real-time action with a command menu. Emma handles the fast-paced katana strikes and parrying. Successfully guarding against enemy attacks generates points. You then spend those points to trigger Koo's abilities from a separate menu. This pauses the action to issue commands similar to a traditional turn-based RPG. It is an unusual hybrid system. Players cannot rely entirely on twitch reflexes, as Koo's tactical support is required to bring down larger robotic enemies and mutant creatures.

Shiba skins and seedlings

The pre-order incentives focus heavily on customizing that canine companion.

The standard pre-order swaps Koo's default white fur for a brown Shiba Inu look. The Deluxe Edition adds a black Shiba skin, an "Oni's Hat" and "Big Dipper" sword for Emma, 100,000 Amber, and a collection of vegetable seedlings. The in-game economy runs on Amber. Game Freak has not yet detailed exactly how many vegetable seedlings a player needs to survive the year 4026, but more is presumably better. The Colony, one of the few habitable zones left in the game's setting, is likely a hub where these agricultural bonuses come into play.

The latest promotional push comes via PlayStation's channel, but the game is not a console exclusive. Beast of Reincarnation comes to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on August 4. Xbox players will also have access to it on Game Pass on launch day. It is the first time Game Freak has built a new high-budget action game entirely outside the Nintendo ecosystem. Moving away from the hardware limitations of the Switch to current-generation consoles makes this an interesting test of the studio's technical chops. They have a massive budget and no Nintendo safety net. We will find out if the parry mechanics hold up in August.