by We're getting more and more excited for Beast of Reincarnation now — the new game from the developer behind the Pokemon titles, Game Freak — and it turns out a whole bunch more details were revealed about it in recent days.
These mostly come from the "Final Preview" of Beast of Reincarnation from IGN, which is available in both written and video form and slightly differs between the two (you can watch the video above).
As part of it, it's mentioned that the game is only partially open-world during certain segments, and you won't be able to return to these bits once you've finished them, but the estimated length is nevertheless a very healthy 30-40 hours.
"This isn't necessarily an open world game, but the folks from publisher Fictions explain to me that there are several open regions that you'll explore as the story goes on. They aren't exactly interconnected and the story will push you through these regions with little opportunity to return once you're past them, giving the impression that it's going to be a little more straightforward than its map would imply. It's estimated to be about 30-40 hours for an earnest full playthrough, so it doesn't appear that this format limits its scope."
In terms of comparisons, IGN says the likes of Sekiro, NieR, Stellar Blade and Ghost of Yotei come to mind, while interestingly Kota Furushima (director and writer) says his biggest influence has been Blade Runner.
We also know that the game has been in development for around five or six years at this point, and was created out of an "incubation effort for ideas to help the studio branch out and try new things".
There's loads more to learn in the preview if you're interested, but in terms of whether it's actually any good or not, IGN says that while Beast of Reincarnation's "traversal mechanics, RPG elements, and hard-action foundation" aren't necessarily "outstanding" on their own, it's the combination of them that makes the title stand out amongst a "sea of Souls-ish action games".
"Based on what I’ve played so far, Beast of Reincarnation blends its traversal mechanics, RPG elements, and hard-action foundation into a singular, flowing combat system. And while I don't think any one of those parts are particularly outstanding on their own, it's the smart confluence of all three that make it stand out in a sea of Souls-ish action games that try drawing from the same core design principles. What I'm looking forward to now is how it'll evolve as the story goes on, and how boss fights further along challenge me in increasingly interesting ways."
The reviews shouldn't be too far away for this one now, with Beast of Reincarnation set to release on August 4th for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS5 and PC - and don't forget it's a day one launch for Xbox Game Pass!