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Game Freak Is Making Its TGS Debut This September — and It Has Nothing to Do with Pokémon

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Game Freak — the studio behind every mainline Pokémon RPG since Red and Green — will exhibit at Tokyo Game Show for the first time in its 35-year history when TGS 2026 runs September 17–21. The announcement, confirmed in July, comes with one notable caveat the company made explicit: whatever they are bringing, it is not a Pokémon title.

A First in 35 Years of Game Development

Game Freak TGS 2026 first-ever booth announcement
Image courtesy of Game Freak

Tokyo Game Show has run since 1996 — the same year Pokémon Red and Green launched in Japan. In the three decades since, Game Freak shipped dozens of Pokémon entries and a handful of original IPs, but the studio never once set up a booth on the TGS floor. Their game announcements happened through Nintendo Directs, Pokémon Presents, and their own website — never the world’s largest gaming expo.

That changes this September. Game Freak’s official announcement confirms its first-ever TGS booth exhibition, and makes no attempt to be coy about the Pokémon angle: “No Pokémon Series Titles to Be Exhibited.” Details on the specific game or project being shown are described as forthcoming.

So What Is Game Freak Showing?

The studio has not disclosed the title as of publication. Two possibilities stand out.

The first is Beast of Reincarnation, Game Freak’s most recent non-Pokémon release — a dark action-RPG that launched in 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC to a Metacritic score of 73. It is the most ambitious original IP the company has built in years, and a live TGS demo would give it a platform it has not had in Japan.

Beast of Reincarnation exploration gameplay by Game Freak
Image courtesy of Game Freak — Beast of Reincarnation, the studio’s most recent non-Pokémon IP
Beast of Reincarnation – Reveal Trailer — via PlayStation on YouTube

The second — and more exciting — possibility is a completely new and unannounced title. Game Freak has a track record of surprising people with original projects: Tembo the Badass Elephant (2015) and Giga Wrecker Alt. (2019) both arrived without long pre-announcement build-ups. If the studio is reserving its TGS debut for something entirely new, the September event becomes must-watch territory.

TGS 2026 — What Else to Watch

Tokyo Game Show 2026 logo
Image courtesy of CESA / Tokyo Game Show 2026

TGS 2026 marks the show’s 30th anniversary, and this year is the first time it runs for five days — two business days (September 17–18) followed by three public days (September 19–21), all at Makuhari Messe. A record 759 exhibitors from 51 countries are on the floor, including Bandai Namco (bringing a playable Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 demo, its first public hands-on), Capcom, Square Enix, and many others.

For Singapore fans who made the trip, we covered the TGS 2026 ticket guide here. For those watching from home, Game Freak’s reveal — whatever it turns out to be — will be one of the more intriguing moments of a very packed show calendar. We will cover the announcement as soon as it drops.

News

Pokémon Visual Art Books: 1,500 Pages of 30 Years Coming 18 December

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The Pokémon Company and Overlap Inc. have confirmed three simultaneous hardcover art books landing 18 December 2026: the Pocket Monsters Visual Art Book 30th Anniversary Art Book of Pokémon Video Games developed by GAME FREAK. Three volumes, roughly 500 pages each, covering thirty years of mainline game artwork from Red / Green all the way to Pokémon LEGENDS Z-A. That is approximately 1,500 pages of official Pokémon art in a single release — and it includes material that has never been published before.

What’s Inside the Three Volumes

Each volume covers a distinct era of the mainline series:

  • Volume 1 — Red / Green through HeartGold / SoulSilver
  • Volume 2 — Black / White through Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon
  • Volume 3 — Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Let’s Go, Eevee! through Pokémon LEGENDS Z-A
Pokémon Visual Art Book volumes 1, 2 and 3
The three volumes of the Pokémon Visual Art Book 30th Anniversary series. Credit: The Pokémon Company / Overlap

The content goes well beyond a standard art collection. Alongside pixel art, 3DCG renders, promotional illustrations, and in-game setting artwork, each volume contains unreleased design documents from GAME FREAK’s archives — developmental material that has not appeared in any previous official publication. Each volume closes with a creator interview from inside GAME FREAK, making this as much a historical record of how the games were made as it is a gallery of the finished art.

Format: B5, full colour throughout. Supervised by Shusuke Motomiya of Overlap. Price: ¥5,500 per volume (tax included), sold individually — no bundle pricing is available. The announcement came from the official Overlap website and was simultaneously covered by 4Gamer, Dengeki Online, and Game Watch.

This Is Not the National Pokédex Book

If this sounds familiar, it is worth being precise: Overlap published a different Pokémon anniversary title earlier this month — the National Pokédex 1996–2026. That is a separate product. The visual art books announced today are a distinct set with a different scope, different content focus (game development artwork rather than Pokédex entries), and a December release date. Two big Pokémon books from Overlap this year, two different things.

Pokémon Visual Art Book 30th Anniversary announcement banner
Official announcement banner for the Pokémon Visual Art Book 30th Anniversary series. Credit: The Pokémon Company / Overlap

Singapore: Import Route Is the Play

No English-language edition has been announced, and the 18 December release is Japan-only. For Singapore fans, the most reliable options are the usual suspects: Kinokuniya Singapore’s special-order counter handles Japanese artbooks well, and staff can place orders for titles not stocked on the floor. Direct-ship alternatives include CDJapan, Yesasia, and Rakuten Books if you prefer managing it yourself.

At ¥5,500 per volume — roughly S$55–60 at current exchange — each book is priced in line with other premium Japanese artbooks. Factor in shipping and you’re looking at somewhere in the S$70–80 range per volume imported, or around S$220–240 for the full set. Kinokuniya’s pricing would likely be similar to slightly higher after their import margin, but without the shipping uncertainty.

Given the scale of the Pokémon 30th anniversary licensing push globally, an English-language edition or regional printing would not be surprising — but nothing has been announced. We’ll update this post if that changes.

Game News

Beast of Reincarnation Patch 1.0.7 Is Out — Game Freak Fixes Camera, Performance, and More

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Game Freak’s debut action RPG Beast of Reincarnation launched on 4 August to a divisive reception — critics landed around the 73-point mark while Steam user reviews hit “Mixed.” True to their word, the developer dropped Patch 1.0.7 on 9 August, addressing the most consistent complaints from players worldwide, including those on PS5 and PC in Singapore.

Beast of Reincarnation gameplay screenshot showing the open world
Image courtesy of GAME FREAK / Fictions
Beast of Reincarnation – Launch Trailer — via XBOX on YouTube

What Patch 1.0.7 Changes

The headline fix is the default graphics preset: the game now boots into Performance mode rather than Cinematic. Cinematic targeted a higher resolution at around 30fps; Performance targets 60fps at a lower resolution. Most players, especially on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, will feel the difference immediately. The patch also adds official support for NVIDIA DLSS 4.5 and AMD FSR 4.0 Super Resolution on PC, which means Singapore PC players rocking an RTX 40- or 50-series card can now lean on AI upscaling for a sharper image at higher frame rates.

Beast of Reincarnation combat scene showing Emma fighting enemies
Image courtesy of GAME FREAK / Fictions

The camera — arguably the most-complained-about element since launch — has been reworked both in and out of combat. Game Freak did not publish exact numbers for the field-of-view changes, but coverage of the patch suggests the in-combat view pulls back noticeably, giving more situational awareness during boss fights.

Other changes in 1.0.7:

  • Text size increased throughout the game
  • Parry window adjusted when Emma takes damage — Game Freak has not specified whether this widens or narrows the window
  • Boss and enemy balance passes across all difficulty levels, plus additional tuning to enemy encounters on Normal specifically
  • Story pacing: affinity-building conversations that could previously trigger multiple times in a row are now limited to once per day
  • Bug fixes: upscaling settings no longer reset on game restart; button icon changes now save correctly; V-Sync settings no longer interfere with resolution options; an issue where Emma could become unable to interact after cancelling a Bloom Art is resolved; the sixth golem in Subcity 01 — which many players reported losing — is now easier to locate
Beast of Reincarnation exploration scene in a large open environment
Image courtesy of GAME FREAK / Fictions

Context: How the Game Launched

As we covered at launch, Beast of Reincarnation is Game Freak’s first major release outside the Pokémon franchise — a third-person action RPG published under their Fictions label. The “Mixed” Steam tag at launch stung, given the pedigree involved, but the core criticism was largely about rough edges rather than the game itself: the camera, performance defaults, and a lack of accessibility options in text size. Patch 1.0.7 hits most of those directly.

More Fixes on the Way

Game Freak has stated that “multiple additional patches are planned, and various fixes and adjustments will continue to be made in response to ongoing player feedback.” That line suggests the studio is treating post-launch support as ongoing rather than a single clean-up pass.

Beast of Reincarnation boss encounter in a dark dungeon
Image courtesy of GAME FREAK / Fictions

If you picked up Beast of Reincarnation on PS5 or PC at launch and set it down after hitting the camera or performance walls, the 1.0.7 patch is worth a fresh look — many of the issues that dragged the first impression down are now addressed. For more game news, keep checking back.

Game News

Beast of Reincarnation Is Out — Critics Score 73, Steam Lands “Mixed” on Launch Day

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Game Freak’s first major non-Pokémon action RPG has officially launched worldwide — and if you’ve been watching since the Famitsu score dropped ahead of release, the day-one reception data is now in. Beast of Reincarnation is available globally on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam) as of 4 August 2026, and critics and players are giving it notably different verdicts.

Beast of Reincarnation – Launch Trailer | PS5 Games — via PlayStation on YouTube

What Critics Are Saying — Metacritic 73

The critical consensus on Metacritic sits at 73, which slots the game into the “generally favourable” band — a solid if unspectacular debut from a studio that has spent almost three decades making Pokémon. Famitsu’s pre-launch verdict of 35/40 (the individual scorer breakdown was 9/9/9/8) was among the more enthusiastic notices; other outlets landed in the 6–8 range. Recurring praise covers the Sekiro-adjacent combat, the haunting post-apocalyptic Japan setting, and Yui Ishikawa’s performance as protagonist Emma.

Beast of Reincarnation - combat screenshot
Image courtesy of Game Freak / Fictions

Steam Players Are Less Convinced — “Mixed” After 1,200+ Reviews

On Steam, the picture is cooler. Beast of Reincarnation sits at “Mixed” on launch day, with roughly 55% of over 1,200 user reviews recommending it. That gap between critical and player reception is the story right now: players who expected a rich open world to match the combat’s ambition report finding the environment hollow and under-populated, while critics generally treated the moment-to-moment action as enough to carry the experience.

Beast of Reincarnation - world environment
Image courtesy of Game Freak / Fictions

It is worth noting that Steam reviews on a game’s first day often skew more polarised than they settle at a week or two in — especially for a game with an active combat system that rewards investment. Whether the “Mixed” rating stabilises or softens as more players sink deeper into the runtime is something to watch.

What Singapore Players Are Getting for S$59.99

On Steam in Singapore, Beast of Reincarnation is priced at S$59.99 for the base game. A Deluxe edition DLC is also listed separately. The PS5 version is available through the PlayStation Store in the same region. Given that Game Freak is the studio behind every mainline Pokémon game — a franchise that dominates Singapore’s gaming retail — this is their most-watched non-Pokémon launch by a considerable margin.

Beast of Reincarnation - character and environment
Image courtesy of Game Freak / Fictions

If you’re on the fence: the combat is where the game earns its score. Players who came in hoping for a world to get lost in report disappointment; players who wanted a tight, stylish action experience with a strong mechanical loop are warmer on it. At S$59.99, it sits in a range where a “try it and see” approach is reasonable — and if the Steam rating shifts meaningfully in either direction over the next week, we’ll flag it.

Beast of Reincarnation is out now on Steam and the PlayStation Store. Check out more Game News on GameTrader.SG.

Game News

Beast of Reincarnation Out 4 August — Famitsu Scores Game Freak’s RPG 35/40

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After months of build-up, Beast of Reincarnation is finally here — Game Freak’s action RPG launches on 4 August 2026 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and the first official review from Famitsu hands it a strong 35/40.

Game Freak Steps Outside Pokémon

Beast of Reincarnation is Game Freak’s boldest non-Pokémon project in years, developed with publisher Fictions. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic Japan where nature and rusted machine-bone creatures have overtaken the ruins of civilisation. You play as Emma, an outcast swordswoman who channels a power called Bloom Arts, and Koo, a blighted white wolf whose spirit skills you command in a hybrid real-time and turn-based combat loop. As we covered in our combat breakdown, the one-person-one-dog dynamic is the heart of what sets this apart from a standard action RPG.

Emma and Koo the white spirit wolf by a stream in Beast of Reincarnation
Image courtesy of GAME FREAK / Fictions

Watch the Official Trailer

Beast of Reincarnation — Release Date Announce Trailer via PlayStation on YouTube

First Reviews: Famitsu Scores Beast of Reincarnation 35/40

The first official review is in from Famitsu — Japan’s long-established games publication — and it’s a solid showing: 35 out of 40, made up of four individual scores of 8, 9, 9, and 9. A 35 places the game firmly in recommended territory by Famitsu’s scale, and the consistent spread across all four reviewers suggests broad agreement on its quality rather than a single outlier carrying the number.

Western review scores are arriving as global launch windows open, so a fuller critical picture will take shape over the next 24–48 hours.

Emma fighting a crowd of mechanical beast enemies in Beast of Reincarnation
Image courtesy of GAME FREAK / Fictions

Singapore Pricing and Editions on PS Store

Both editions are live now on the Singapore PlayStation Store:

  • Standard Edition — SGD 70.00: includes the Brown Shiba skin for Koo and 30,000 in-game Amber
  • Digital Deluxe Edition — SGD 80.00: adds additional cosmetics, 100,000 Amber, and in-game vegetable seedlings for crafting

PC players can pick it up on Steam. The game carries an IARC 16+ rating for strong violence.

Emma and Koo dwarfed by a giant mechanical carcass in the post-apocalyptic wasteland in Beast of Reincarnation
Image courtesy of GAME FREAK / Fictions

Day 1 on Xbox Game Pass, PS5 Pro Enhanced

If you’re subscribed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass, Beast of Reincarnation is available Day 1 at no extra cost — one of the more notable Game Pass additions this August. On PlayStation, the game is PS5 Pro Enhanced with upgraded resolution options, and DualSense adaptive trigger and haptic feedback is tuned to reflect Emma’s combat state and the terrain she moves through.

Emma and Koo before dramatic waterfalls in a lush grotto in Beast of Reincarnation
Image courtesy of GAME FREAK / Fictions

Browse more game news on GameTrader.SG.

Game News

Beast of Reincarnation Combat Breakdown — Yui Ishikawa, Bloom Arts, Launches 4 August

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Game Freak’s first action RPG outside the Pokémon universe is twelve days away, and as we covered when the game was announced, Beast of Reincarnation is shaping up to be one of the most surprising releases of the year. Now a new combat overview trailer from publisher Fictions puts the mechanics front and centre — and confirms that Yui Ishikawa, the voice behind Mikasa Ackermann in Attack on Titan and 2B in NieR: Automata, is lending her voice to protagonist Emma.

Beast of Reincarnation — Emma and Koo traverse a ruined post-apocalyptic environment
Image courtesy of Fictions / Game Freak

How Combat Works: Parries, Bloom Arts, and the Down Gauge

Beast of Reincarnation pitches itself as a “one-person, one-dog action RPG” — and the combat overview makes clear this isn’t just marketing speak. Emma handles the real-time swordplay while you command her wolf companion Koo‘s techniques on the fly, weaving between two distinct combat styles in the same encounter.

The core loop revolves around the Down Gauge. Hammering enemies with attacks drains their Down Gauge; break it and you open a takedown window that deals heavy damage. But enemies hit back hard, so defence matters just as much as offence. Perfectly timed parries restore FP — the resource that powers Emma’s stronger techniques — turning a well-read block into an offensive opportunity rather than a passive recovery.

Beast of Reincarnation — Emma executes a parry against an enemy attack
Image courtesy of Fictions / Game Freak

When standard attacks and parries aren’t enough, Bloom Arts step in. These are Emma’s high-impact special moves, described in the overview as devastating techniques that let you seize control of the battlefield at critical moments. Think of them as the fight-turners you save for the toughest encounters.

Defeating bosses also unlocks new combat skills and techniques for both Emma and Koo, meaning your move-set evolves organically as you clear the game rather than through a static skill tree — a design choice that should reward players who push into the harder content early.

Beast of Reincarnation | Combat Overview — via Fictions on YouTube

Yui Ishikawa Is Emma — and It Makes Perfect Sense

Emma is described as a Blightborn — an outcast born cursed by the Blight, the parasitic corruption devastating the world — with no memories and no emotions. That characterisation is essentially a brief for Yui Ishikawa’s wheelhouse: she played an emotionally suppressed android soldier in NieR: Automata and a fiercely restrained warrior in Attack on Titan, and brought quiet devastation to both. Seeing her take on another stoic lead navigating a broken Japan is a genuine draw for any Singapore fan of those franchises.

Beast of Reincarnation — Emma in close-up with the Blight corruption visible
Image courtesy of Fictions / Game Freak

The creative team behind the game also carries serious Pokémon pedigree: director Kota Furushima and producer Shigeru Ohmori are both long-serving Game Freak names, and this is their studio’s most technically ambitious project — built on Unreal Engine 5 and launching simultaneously on three platforms.

Where to Play — Singapore Options

Beast of Reincarnation launches globally on 4 August 2026 across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Xbox Game Pass subscribers (Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass) get it on day one at no extra charge. Physical editions are confirmed for both PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Beast of Reincarnation — Koo the wolf companion in combat
Image courtesy of Fictions / Game Freak

For Singapore players, the most straightforward routes are the PS5 digital edition via the PlayStation Store, Steam (global release, no region restriction confirmed), or Xbox Game Pass. No confirmed Singapore physical retail listings have surfaced yet — if a local price or stockist is announced before launch, we’ll update this post. In the meantime, check our game news section for further updates.

Game Industry News, News

Beast of Reincarnation: Game Freak’s Action RPG Launches 4 August

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Game Freak — the studio behind every mainline Pokémon game since 1996 — is about to drop something completely different. Beast of Reincarnation, the legendary developer’s first action RPG outside the Pokémon universe, launches globally on 4 August 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Xbox Game Pass subscribers get it on day one, and a physical PS5 edition is also confirmed.

Beast of Reincarnation — key art showing the world of post-apocalyptic Japan
Image courtesy of Fictions / Game Freak

What Is Beast of Reincarnation?

Beast of Reincarnation is a story-driven action RPG set in post-apocalyptic Japan in the year 4026. Developed under Game Freak’s internal “Gear Project” initiative — a programme that lets the team explore projects beyond their Pokémon work — it is directed by Kota Furushima and produced by Shigeru Ohmori, two longtime names from the Pokémon series. The publisher is Fictions, the label that also brought Hi-Fi Rush into the world.

The game’s tone is ambitious: “warmth, trust, and loneliness”, in Furushima’s own words. It is the studio’s first release on both PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and their most technically complex project to date.

Beast of Reincarnation | Release Date Trailer — via Fictions on YouTube

A Shiba Inu and the End of Japan

You play as Emma, a warrior known as a “Blighted One” — someone whose body has been transformed by a mysterious corruption called the Blight, with flowering vines growing from her hair that she uses for grappling and traversal. Cast out from the surviving human colonies, Emma travels with her constant companion Koo, a Shiba Inu whose role in the story Game Freak is deliberately keeping under wraps for now.

Beast of Reincarnation — post-apocalyptic Japanese highway environment
Image courtesy of Fictions / Game Freak

Together, Emma and Koo are tasked with hunting down and eliminating the titular Beast that threatens the last major human settlement. Along the way they’re joined by allies including Brad, the warrior Kagura, and the mysterious Kunai, a swordsperson who travels alongside a malefact of her own. The setting draws heavily on Japanese iconography — ancient shrines, crumbling highways, and corrupted wildlife — reimagined through the lens of a civilisation that has already fallen.

Soulslike Combat With a Pokémon-Style Twist

Beast of Reincarnation — Emma and Koo in synergy combat
Image courtesy of Fictions / Game Freak

Combat is real-time and skill-driven, built around a parry and deflect system with a soulslike rhythm. Successfully parrying builds power for Koo’s special moves, called Blooming Arts — a co-combat mechanic that rewards reading enemy attacks rather than simply dodging them. Emma’s katana can be stacked with elemental effects via Spirit Stones, and her vine-based mobility (double jumps, gap-crossing) opens up three-dimensional combat spaces that typical soulslikes don’t always offer.

Furushima has been explicit that he wanted moments where players can “pause, think carefully, and fight with the tactical mindset of a command-based RPG” rather than relying purely on reflexes. To that end, Beast of Reincarnation ships with three difficulty settings including a Story Mode, making it accessible to players who want the narrative experience without the punishing wall of a traditional soulslike.

Boss encounters are large-scale set pieces against creatures called Nushi, described as Shadow-of-the-Colossus-style confrontations. Enemies include organic malefacts and robotic foes with a dismemberment system for the latter.

PS5, Xbox Game Pass, and PC — Singapore Players, Take Note

Beast of Reincarnation releases on 4 August 2026 across PS5 (including a physical edition), Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers get it on day one at no extra cost — a strong value proposition given the Singapore Xbox Game Pass subscription price.

There is no Nintendo Switch 2 version confirmed at this time, which may be a slight sting for fans expecting Game Freak to stay in the Nintendo ecosystem. Pre-orders are open now on Steam and the PlayStation Store. Singapore digital pricing on PSN is expected in line with the US launch price, though at time of writing the SGD price has not been officially listed.

For those still on the fence, the PC Gaming Show on 7 June (streaming now in the US, early 8 June SGT) is set to feature Beast of Reincarnation — so there may be fresh gameplay before the month is out. Check the latest gaming news here for any updates from that showcase.

Last words

Beast of Reincarnation is a genuine left-field swing from a studio Singapore fans have grown up with, and it looks like one of the most distinctive Japanese action RPGs in years. Post-apocalyptic Japan, a Shiba Inu co-pilot, soulslike combat with an accessible mode, and Game Pass day one — the value proposition for Singapore gamers is strong regardless of which platform you’re on. Mark your calendar for 4 August.