{"id":74498,"date":"2026-08-05T20:49:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=74498"},"modified":"2026-08-05T20:49:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:49:59","slug":"beast-of-reincarnations-dog-is-a-huge-miss-on-game-freaks-part","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=74498","title":{"rendered":"Beast of Reincarnation\u2019s Dog Is A Huge Miss On Game Freak’s Part"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Keep your tomatoes holstered for a moment, please, and hear me out.<\/p>\n

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Beast of Reincarnation<\/em>, the new not-Pok\u00e9mon action RPG game from Pok\u00e9mon studio Game Freak, has been marketed as a \u201cone-person, one-dog\u201d game. You play as Emma (person) while she and Koo (dog) venture around a post-apocalyptic future Japan in search of giant, ugly monsters to parry and stab. Koo helps you in combat, and in exploration as well. And that\u2019s where my issue with him arises.<\/p>\n

Koo just won\u2019t stop sucking out all the fun of exploring. Bad dog.<\/p>\n

While Beast of Reincarnation<\/em> isn\u2019t quite an open-world game, it does feature some large maps that are rife with off-the-beaten paths to explore and hidden items to find. Well, except they would<\/em> be hidden\u2026 if Koo wasn\u2019t pointing out literally everything the game has to offer.<\/p>\n

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\"Beast\n <\/picture>Image: Game Freak\/Fictions via Polygon<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

I can\u2019t take two steps in a new direction without Koo pointing something out in the form of a distracting on-screen pop-up message. Koo found a book! Koo found a valuable item! Koo found a shrine! OK, well, good for you<\/em>, Koo. May I discover something for once? The game spotlighting everything that may be of interest makes the experience of running around its map feel hollow. Just head from marker to marker that Koo points out. No marker in a building? Then there ain\u2019t gonna be anything in it, bub.<\/p>\n

There are no genuine surprises when scouring Beast of Reincarnation<\/em>\u2019s locations \u2014 just Koo barking at you. The maps get rather stale after a while too, as there\u2019s no real variety between areas; most of the decayed, hollowed-out buildings and grassy fields look identical to one another. At times, Beast of Reincarnation<\/em> even actively discourages exploration, with some of the most egregious invisible walls I\u2019ve encountered in a game this side of Black Myth: Wukong<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\"Beast\n <\/picture>Image: Game Freak\/Fictions via Polygon<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

At a certain point, I have to wonder why Game Freak even scattered \u201chidden\u201d (heavy air quotes here) items around Beast of Reincarnation<\/em> if the game, via Koo, was just going to immediately signpost them. It\u2019s not too dissimilar to playing the new God of War games and having Atreus blurt out a puzzle solution before you\u2019ve even had a chance to solve the puzzle for yourself. Let me get stuck first, boi.<\/p>\n

Koo\u2019s annoying barks aren\u2019t just about spotting items around the world. He\u2019ll also \u201carf arf\u201d when enemies are near. Every. Single. Time. What sounds helpful quickly becomes quite frustrating. Koo, I know there are enemies around. That\u2019s why I\u2019m sneaking around in tall grass to stab them in the back! Thankfully, enemies don\u2019t seem to hear him, so Koo\u2019s presence doesn\u2019t send oblivious enemies on alert. If he did alert them, we\u2019d be in trouble as he has a penchant for running right in front of their faces while I slyly move into backstabbing position.<\/p>\n

What adds to the annoyance is Emma always finds the need to comment whenever Koo \u201cdiscovers\u201d an enemy. She\u2019ll tell him<\/em> that there are enemies here, as if that wasn\u2019t the whole reason he was just barking. It gets more and more annoying the more time you spend in a given region, since enemy placement doesn\u2019t change. While not strictly a Soulslike, Beast of Reincarnation<\/em> can still offer tough challenges on its default difficulty setting. If you keep respawning at the same campsite to re-challenge an Elite Enemy, Koo will let you know there are enemies about, even though you run past the same group of robots every damn time<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So, yeah, the Beast of Reincarnation<\/em> dog kinda sucks, and it pains me to write this as someone who wants more dog games around and even snuck a picture of his canine friend into a game review. It\u2019s not all Koo\u2019s fault \u2014 this fluffy furred friend is just representative of questionable design choices. He\u2019s less an actual character and more just gameplay mechanics disguised as a big ol\u2019 white dog who won\u2019t shut up.<\/p>\n

But if you disagree about Koo\u2019s suckiness, I\u2019ll take those tomatoes now.<\/p>\n