Beast of Reincarnation was showcased in an overview trailer during the recent Xbox Developer’s Direct 2026. We’ll be breaking down what was revealed, including the story, characters, the action turn-based hybrid battle system, and their implications.
Beast of Reincarnation Drops New Gameplay Footage
Beast of Reincarnation returned to Xbox’s 2026 Developer’s Direct to deliver more footage. Its developer, GAME FREAK, which many may know as the creators of Pokémon, seems to have a lot more to offer its fans compared to the game’s reveal trailer seven months ago.
In today’s analysis, we at Game8 have been hard at work dissecting every second of the trailer, piecing together all the story and character details, examining the new gameplay mechanics, and speculating on how it all ties together. With that said, sit back and let’s dive right in.
Beast of Reincarnation Story Analysis
The tale begins long ago, when a great creature known as the Beast of Reincarnation appeared in the land. It spewed forth parasitic plants known as the "blight", corrupting all life. The blight spread and took over living creatures, twisting them into monsters of flora and fauna known as Malefacts.
Years later, in 4026 AD Japan, an isolated woman born with blight, known as Emma, formed a bond with a Malefact wolf called Koo, despite the unlikely circumstances. By duty, she and her new companion must embark on a journey west to slay the Beast of Reincarnation, facing powerful foes along the way.
What is Emma and Koo’s Connection?
While the developers didn’t bother hiding the fact that both Koo and Emma are connected by sharing the same "Blight Power", they’ve kept it a mystery over how deep this connection exactly goes. We see that the two have identical vine-like blights on their hair and tail, respectively, that are visually distinct from other Malefacts shown so far.
We’re made aware that their bond wasn’t always amicable, as the footage showed that Koo was initially hostile to Emma, even grazing her left cheek in an attack. However, the white canine seemingly resurrected the woman later on during a fierce battle, causing the shakuyaku (Chinese peony) flower to sprout from her hair. What could have changed?
When Emma discovered a fatigued Koo succumbing to its injuries, she began experiencing headaches and clutched her head in the process. Whether she experiences this whenever in proximity of just any Malefact or only Koo is currently unclear, but if it is the latter, it may be evidence that the two’s connection spanned way before their fated meeting.
A few possibilities come to mind, such as the two sharing the same form of blight or an encounter in the past may have linked the two, with only Emma being unable to remember, as an amnesiac. However, given the lack of footage, it’s still too soon to judge this.
Flowers and the Nushi
It’s been shown that Emma gains a new flower on her hair when she absorbs the blight of a Nushi after defeating it in battle. Going by this information, we can surmise that they indicate how many Nushi she had already taken down or absorbed in the story. From that point, we can also tell how far along certain fights take place in the game’s timeline.
The carnivorous plant-like Nushi may be the earliest boss fight in the game, with Emma possessing only one flower, immediately after she was resurrected by Koo. The first trailer, back in June, retroactively revealed that this boss survives its first encounter with the duo, as it would later appear when Emma possessed five or more flowers.
The deer Nushi seems to be the next boss fight, with Emma also only possessing one flower. She was shown obtaining a Sakura flower on her hair after the fight, as seen in the purple-like tendrils that covered both her and Koo’s bodies. The bear Nushi encounter, on the other hand, is very far into the game, with Emma having eleven flowers in her hair.
From this information, there are over eleven boss fights that may be in Beast of Reincarnation, excluding the flower she received from Koo. This all hinges on whether there are certain flowers that the swordswoman and her canine friend will obtain without having to face Nushi, but as it stands, this seems like the case.
Does the Dog Die?
One of the questions that a lot of fans seem to ask quite often is if Koo will survive till the end of Beast of Reincarnation. While it is certainly impossible to predict the ending of the game, we do have one lead that may or may not answer this question.
Eagle-eyed viewers might notice that Koo has a distinct red flower on its tail called the higanbana or the red spider lily. While we can see that both he and Emma share the same set of flowers, likely obtained from the Nushi they took down, this one seems unique only to him, in the same way that the shakuyaku is unique to Emma.
The higanbana, also known as the red spider lily, is a poisonous autumn species that is frequently associated with death, unrequited love, or the afterlife in Japanese literature.
Given that the developers emphasized the importance of flora and fauna in deciding the themes of Beast of Reincarnation, it seems likely that attaching Koo to it is a deliberate narrative decision.
With this motif established, is it safe to say that Koo’s demise is certain? Well, not necessarily. While the higanbana is associated with death, it’s even more likely that Koo’s manifestation of the flower symbolizes the death of a loved one or ones. In one part of the trailer, we see a flowerless and ungeared Emma wander into a tree overtaken by a giant higanbana blooming above.
It’s quite difficult to spot, given how short the sequence is, but we noticed that tied to the tree is the lifeless body of a gigantic wolf, which looks similar to Koo, with flowers sprouting from its tail.
Later on in the trailer, we see that Koo is holding a defensive stance against Emma in front of a giant tree, before fainting from its injuries. By cross-referencing both scenes with the help of the tree’s moss pattern, weed placement, root structure, the direction of the light, and Emma’s outfit and hair, we are confident to say that Koo is, in fact, in front of the very same tree.
Rather than acting like a territorial predator driven to the edge, this paints a different story where he is driven by determination to defend this wolf’s grave to his last breath.
It’s still vague if the gigantic wolf is a family of Koo’s, but combined with the imagery of the higanbana, a flower associated with graves, it’s heavily implied to be the case. The flower, then, might represent Koo’s grief over losing his family rather than a foreshadowing of his own fate, which would hopefully heal with the bond he formed with Emma.
Golems Friend or Foe?
Featured throughout the trailer are the Golems, bodies of machines that held the souls of humans before they degraded and descended into madness.
While most Golems seemed quite hostile to Emma and Koo, a few blue-eyed versions of the rustbuckets don’t seem to mind the two’s presence. We even see some of them in the scene where Emma was tasked to slay the Beast of Reincarnation by an unnamed man of authority, guarding the area or holding the hologram that contained the transmission.
Another Golem was also seen politely sitting in one scene, presumably speaking with another character, given the way it was framed.
It would’ve been easy to distinguish which Golems have gone out of control by simply looking at their eyes, as most that seem hostile have red eyes. But alas, segments showcasing the stealth options in the game later on reveal that enemy Golems will have blue eyes if they haven’t spotted Emma or Koo, and will turn red once they are spotted.
Whether the Golems will be allies, enemies, or neutral parties to the duo will depend on the narrative cues we are given.
Notably, a giant red-eyed Golem was also seen fighting Emma in the trailer, where it was later cut down and destroyed. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this Golem as it also appeared in the first trailer back in June, but instead with blue eyes and was seemingly spared by Emma.
This may hint at a deeper connection between the two. Otherwise, it may also have been a Golem that regained its sentience and reached out to the swordswoman for her aid.
Who is Kunai and Should We Trust Her?
It seems that it’s been left up in the air what Kunai is to Emma and Koo. While both characters, Brad and Kagura, were labelled as allies, she was simply named as a swordsperson players will cross paths with.
While there is no outright evidence suggesting an antagonistic relationship, she would be the perfect foil for our duo protagonist, with a katana as her weapon of choice and a horse-like Malefact accompanying her.
With that said, Kunai’s diametrically opposing characteristics aren’t limited to her weapon and companion of choice, as she seems to have a colder approach towards her enemies compared to our protagonist. We can surmise this from the Kunai’s treatment of the Golem when she dealt the final blow in Emma’s stead.
Now that we’ve established that this is the same Golem from the first trailer, it’s possible that it might have some shred of humanity and may have been left along by Emma as an act of mercy before the moment was interrupted by a lightning attack that pierced its arm. We didn’t know who this attacker was until this new showcase, where the Golem Kunai cut down had a broken hand that was still surging with electricity.
She was also suspiciously conversing with Brad and asking for Koo’s name, with the wolf already whimpering and limping from an arrow lodged in its leg. It’s very possible that she and even Brad were behind his injuries, and could have even trampled on the grave he was defending.
While she poses to be on the same side as Emma, it’s quite easy to imagine a scenario culminating in the two eventually facing off against each other, given how they seem to have different approaches to how they treated the giant Golem and Koo.
Beast of Reincarnation Gameplay Analysis
Beast of Reincarnation sets itself apart from its other soulslike contemporaries with the introduction of an action and turn-based hybrid combat system. Emma can gain points from parries and attacks to fill up a gauge. This will let players unleash Koo’s abilities called Blooming Arts to aid her in battle.
Through the footage in the trailer, we can see that bringing up this menu in combat will slow down time, similar to the Command Menu in Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth, and can be used to select a Blooming Art or use healing items.
Calling upon the Blooming Arts will initiate a sequence of quick-time-events (QTEs) before it takes effect. These usually give Emma more options to do more actions in battle, like leaping from above to perform a downward strike attack or restraining enemies.
Blooming Arts and Skills
Both Emma and Koo have access to their own skill trees, which can be upgraded with a resource called SP or Skill Points. Calling upon Emma’s skills will cost the "Entanglement Gauge", a bar that’s at the bottom center of the screen, while Koo’s uses a resource called "FP", which can be seen at the bottom right corner.
Additionally, there were quite a few Blooming Arts that were revealed in the showcase through the command menu. Some of these include dealing five fire damage to an enemy, high destructive damage to up to four foes, grouping foes for crowd control, making foes jumpable, poison damage, or launching foes in the air.
Moreover, Koo’s Blooming Arts can have "mods" attached to them, calling upon additional effects when they are initiated. A few of the effects of these mods include letting Emma regenerate a small amount of HP for every 0 hits (unclear if these are hits received or dealt), providing her with a buff called Vigor against foes with status ailments, or giving Koo FP for every 0 hits against burned enemies.
Emma’s skills, on the other hand, comprise different attacks and effects. Some of the swordswoman’s abilities include slowing down time to deal as much damage as possible, an aerial downward strike, and summoning vines to pierce enemies.
Spirit Stones and Stats
Spirit Stones are the bread and butter of creating different playstyles for the character. They can be equipped for Emma and stacked together whenever she performs a parry with her katana. A few of these include receiving a Vigor buff, boosting attack when losing HP, boosting damage against unalerted enemies, modifying ranged shots to track targets, or even higher fire rates.
It seems that these Spirit Stones provide various stats to Emma and can be used to increase any of her five stats by simply equipping them. These five stats include HP, Attack, Defense, Skill Power, and Critical Rate.
Swappable Equipment, Weapons, and Armor
On top of Spirit Stones, Emma can be outfitted with different katanas, arrows for her bow, bolts for her crossbow, and armor. Both her arrows and bolts can be imbued with elemental affinities, with three slots available to be carried.
Emma’s standard "Light Gambeson" is indicated to have four "slots", possibly for holding the Spirit Stones directly below it. The menu shown in this showcase revealed that there can be armor that holds up to six more slots, meaning that Emma can upgrade her default one or obtain different variants throughout the game.
It’s currently unknown if this translates to Emma being able to find more aesthetically unique outfits for herself, but this does spark a bit of hope for some players who want to customize their experience even further.
On the other hand, it was mentioned that Koo can also change through different "charms", though it is still unclear what kind of effects or stats these give to our canine companion.
Will Allies Accompany Us During Battle?
Throughout the showcase, there wasn’t any footage showing allies physically assisting Emma and Koo during battle. However, one short segment showed that an icon of Kagura, one of the duo’s companions, is seen receiving points for a gauge bar called "Grilled Meat (Normal)" after Koo performed a takedown. This is aligned with Emma’s HP bar and Koo’s "Bull Censer", with a separate EXP bar at the center top of the screen.
Given how Kagura didn’t appear battle-ready throughout her appearance in this overview, it’s quite unlikely that she was standing next to Emma while she waited for Koo to attack. However, it’s still too early to tell what kind of role allies will perform in battle, and there may be a few more mechanics that GAME FREAK has yet to reveal to us.
What’s Next for Beast of Reincarnation?
Beast of Reincarnation is preparing for its release this year, and it seems likely that we’ll get more details on its story and gameplay as we get closer. It’s quite surprising how many narrative details were tucked away in the frames of the already in-depth look at GAME FREAK’s upcoming action RPG.
There are still a ton of mysteries that we haven’t really answered, like how Koo’s Blooming Arts sprite bears a shakuyaku instead of a higanbana flower, the identity of the Golem Emma spared, or the role of the seemingly recurring carnivorous vine-like Malefact and the mysterious man it is in league with.
Moreover, we haven’t even gotten to the long and storied development of the game and the guest talent they got to work on the project, such as Kazuma Koda, the concept artist of NieR: Automata and Metaphor: ReFantazio, as well as Yuuki Morita, the creature designer of Wild Hearts.
Beast of Reincarnation is coming sometime in Summer 2026 and will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. If you wish to keep up with GAME FREAK’s latest title, check out our article below for more information.
Sources:
Xbox Developer_Direct 2026
Beast of Reincarnation: A One-Person, One-Dog Action RPG
Xbox Developer_Direct 2026 Recap: Everything Revealed, Including a Surprise New Double Fine Game
