It sure looks like a total departure for Game Freak, but Beast of Reincarnation isn’t as philosophically distant from Pokémon as it appears. In an email interview with Polygon, game director Kota Furushima explained where the left-field project came from and how it fits neatly into Game Freak’s design ethos. It may be targeting a very different audience, but it’s still invested in making fictional monsters feel like real creatures.

