Beast of Reincarnation is out now, and Game Freak’s got a pretty good if flawed action-RPG on its hands. The game follows Emma and Koo, a girl and her wolf-like companion who grow to care for one another over the course of the game. However, if you’re an animal lover who can’t stand the sight of dogs, including big ones like Koo, in pain, distress, or even dying, you might be wondering if Beast of Reincarnation is for you.
Well, if you’re here to find out if you’re setting yourself up for heartbreak if you buy the game, scroll on. If you’re trying to avoid spoilers, I don’t know why you would have shown up here. Scroll back. Click on the big Kotaku logo and go to the homepage where there are plenty of other non-spoiler stories for you to read.
They gone? Alright, cool. Koo doesn’t die in Beast of Reincarnation, but fair warning that the game doesn’t really pull any punches as far as dog violence goes. Koo is obviously in most combat scenarios in the game, and is just as subject to all the danger as Emma is. And even outside of the regular fights, there are some brutal scenes in which Koo gets hurt. One in particular that sees him impaled by an enemy made me wince. I was sure he was a goner.
But no, Koo does make it to the end of Beast of Reincarnation alive. You’ll just see him bloodied and bruised a bunch of times throughout the game. Determine based on your own level of tolerance if that’s something you want to watch happen over the course of a couple dozen hours.
If you do decide to play Beast of Reincarnation despite the animal violence, take some tips to get started with you before you go.