From 'Project Bloom' to Beast of Reincarnation
Beast of Reincarnation has been in the works since 2020, first teased as 'Project Bloom' in 2023. Here's the road that led Game Freak to its first non-Pokémon AAA game.
It’s easy to forget how long Beast of Reincarnation has been coming. With launch now set for August 2026, it’s worth looking back at the road that brought Game Freak here.
A long road
Development began in 2020, and the project was first revealed to the public in May 2023 under the codename “Project Bloom.” What started as a mysterious tease has grown into Game Freak’s most ambitious non-Pokémon undertaking — a full action RPG built in Unreal Engine 5 and published by Fictions.
Stepping outside Pokémon
For a studio so closely identified with one franchise, the significance is hard to overstate. Beast of Reincarnation is Game Freak’s first AAA release outside Pokémon and its first major multiplatform game in years. The creative team is led by director and writer Kota Furushima, whose past work includes Pokémon battle systems and sound design.
What it became
The finished vision is striking: a “one-girl, one-dog” journey through a blighted, far-future Japan, following Emma the Sealer and her companion Koo. Along the way the team committed to demanding, technical combat designed to stay approachable — an ambitious balance for a studio’s first attempt at the genre.
From a 2020 concept to an August 2026 launch, it’s been a long bloom. For the full state of play, read Everything We Know.