This year’s Xbox Developer Direct brought us some new footage and information on Game Freak’s upcoming action RPG Beast of Reincarnation, slated for a Summer 2026 release. The sudden stylistic shift towards more photorealistic, Unreal Engine 5 graphics and action gameplay came as a big surprise to players, as many strongly associate Game Freak with the classic Pokémon series. Talking to Denfaminicogamer, Beast of Reincarnation director Kota Furushima said that the development team didn’t opt for the new visual style in order to fish reactions or pander to any specific kind of audience. Rather, it was the result of a more “organic” process.
“Actually, we developed the game without really thinking about whether we’re making it with the domestic or overseas audience in mind. We were only seeking a visual style that would best realize our game’s concept, and that led us to photorealistic expression,” Furushima explains. “We didn’t have any clear intention to go with a certain visual style beforehand.”
According to Furushima, the game’s concept itself was drafted in a slightly unusual way. Rather than determining a genre or game system, the director first tried to imagine the feelings and atmosphere he’d want users to experience playing the game, and then built the story and world around those ideas. The notion of going for a photorealistic look also seems to have resulted from that creative process.
When asked about how his colleagues reacted when he told them they would be making a photorealistic-style game, he says that at first, it didn’t really seem to click. “The concept only existed in my head, and it was still at a stage of ‘just a feeling,’ so of course they wouldn’t understand why it was necessary for the game be photorealistic. However, as the game started taking shape bit by bit, I feel like my idea that ‘this cruel world can only be depicted in a realistic style’ finally managed to come through.”
“Depictions of a ‘cruel world’ would be a bit difficult to understand if expressed with an anime-esque or exaggerated look. So, I felt that making it look realistic would emphasize that sense of cruelty,” Furushima said. On the other hand, he also explains that the character designs in the game are actually slightly stylized, kind of like in manga. Furushima realized that this contrast between slightly exaggerated characters and a photorealistic world helped emphasize the hard-hitting atmosphere he was going for even more.
Beast of Reincarnation is set to release in Summer 2026, for PC (Steam), PlayStation5 and Xbox Series X|S.
