Beast of Reincarnation

Good

I really wanted to like Beast of Reincarnation. The setting is interesting, the world looks great, and Emma and Koo have some genuinely good moments together. Unfortunately, by the end I felt like I had played a worse and unnecessarily convoluted version of Horizon Zero Dawn. The biggest problem is the story. It starts with an interesting mystery surrounding the Blight, the Beast, Emma, and what happened to humanity. But instead of gradually revealing answers that make everything click, the game responds to every mystery by introducing three new terms you need explained. Brahman, Shambhala, Oracles, vessels, reincarnation, ancient scientists—you eventually reach the point where a character can spend five minutes explaining something and somehow you understand less than you did before they started talking. And then there's Brad, perhaps the greatest intelligence officer in gaming history. At one point he explains that a group of organized scientists called themselves "The Organization." Incredible. I'm surprised he didn't follow that up by informing Emma that the Beast of Reincarnation is a beast involved with reincarnation. That's what frustrated me most: there are actually some good ideas buried underneath all of this. Emma's identity, her relationship with Koo, and the question of what makes someone human could have carried a much simpler and more emotional story. Instead, the game seems determined to bury those ideas underneath lore dumps and twists. The combat is decent and the presentation is impressive, but neither was enough to make me overlook a story that increasingly felt like homework. Horizon Zero Dawn gave me a mystery, revealed the answer, and made me appreciate everything that came before it. Beast of Reincarnation gave me a mystery, revealed the answer, and made me Google what the hell just happened. Not recommended. Koo deserved a better script. Brad deserved a mute button.