PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5; Game Freak/Fictions
Game Freak channels a post-apocalyptic reality that reflects our own repetitive erosion cycles, with a fair bit of hand-holding

Most of your time in Beast of Reincarnation is spent collecting last words. You cross paths with robots lying on the ground, who muster whatever energy they have left to provide guidance. These interactions are fleeting. Attempt to talk to them a second time, and protagonist Emma makes their fates painfully clear: “They’ve already passed on.”

The latest detour by Game Freak, the studio best known as the primary developer of Pokémon games, is an action RPG set in a post-apocalyptic Japan. Taking cues from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and NieR: Automata, you wield the sword of an outcast accompanied by an ever-loyal canine. The pair embark on a taxing and often monotonous journey to defeat the titular beast, which nonetheless serves a thematic purpose to bolster a decaying reality, while reflecting a possible future for ours.

Inspired by interactive theatre and fuelled by the motion capture tech used by VTubers, the vampire spies in Red Kiss have personality in spades

‘You look at the news and you’re like, ‘Another pointless war, another pointless bloodshed, another pointless genocide.’ And that can make you a bit hopeless.”

Roy van der Schilden, narrative designer and business director at Wispfire, speaks of a very human feeling. But the protagonist of its upcoming game Red Kiss can relate – despite being a vampire.