Mark Russinovich is the CTO of Microsoft Azure, and as it seems, a big fan of id Software's classic 1993 FPS, DOOM. I've seen the game running on practically every imaginable piece of hardware with a screen and any semblance of buttons, but I hadn't expected it to be playable inside Paint — until I installed it on my own PC earlier this morning.

"Playable" is being generous, because as Russinovich explains in his documentation for DoomPaint on GitHub: "Every frame is placed on the Windows clipboard and pasted into Paint's canvas as a genuine document edit", so Microsoft Paint is acting like more of a monitor than anything else, but it's still a sight to behold.

Performance ranges from quite smooth to snail's pace, but "the spreadsheet-tier framerate is part of the charm", and this is hardly the kind of medium I'd expect anyone to beat the entire game in. Nevertheless, it's real, and stands as the latest example of DOOM running in weird places. You'll need to install Python to run it, but that's all — alternatively, you could just watch my video.

It's a particularly bizarre crossover featuring two of my special interests, retro boomer shooters and classic Windows apps, with the icing on the cake being its creator. Sure, looking at the contributors section of DoomPaint shows generous commits from Anthropic's Claude and Microsoft's GitHub Copilot, so we're definitely dealing with a vibe-coded project here, but this is still a fascinating look into the downtime of a Microsoft executive.

Plus, there's working sound and music in this oddity, which is a step beyond what I expected from using Paint as a DOOM renderer. Again, though, this is more of a visual trick than an engine conversion, as Russinovich reiterates, "Paint renders the game but does not compute it. Paint computes nothing. Paint has never computed anything. That's the joke."

I've spent plenty of hours replaying the classics with source ports like UZDoom, and pulling a legitimate copy of its internal ".WAD" file will make variants like this playable with the complete selection of levels and weapons. If, somehow, you still haven't played DOOM in 2026, this could be one of the strangest ways to get started — but it's probably better to appreciate it from a distance.

— via Tom's Hardware

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I’m usually not one who likes to compare a new game to others, or someone who combines two games and calls it a “child” of the aforementioned counterparts. But I feel like I would be dishonest with the fans of specific games if I didn’t compare in this case.

Beast of Reincarnation is part NieR: Automata, a touch of Sekiro, with a semblance of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, all combined into a beautiful creation that makes me wonder what Game Freak could really do if they weren’t enthralled by the money they make with Nintendo off their Pokémon games.

The first time I saw the developer of Beast of Reincarnation listed, I was floored by what Game Freak could actually do. For years, they’d been on the receiving end of joke after joke for their lackluster open worlds in Pokémon on Nintendo Switch 1 and 2.

Let’s just say this: Game Freak is actually capable of some astonishing stuff. Beast of Reincarnation is proof that developers can sometimes become victims of their own success, bound to endless cycles of repeat games until they’re able to break free and direct something of their own.

This review was conducted using a pre-release code of Beast of Reincarnation provided to Windows Central by Game Freak. The company had no input or prior knowledge of its content.

Beast of Reincarnation: Story

The year is 4026, and the world as humanity once knew it is gone. Taken by what they call the Blight, the Earth has been largely replaced by some sort of forest-like organism that dominates the landscape and poisons the populace. Humanity still exists, whether as themselves or the husks of iron golems; the world's future hangs in the balance of one they call “Blighted.”

That person is Emma, an 18-year-old both gifted and cursed by the Blight. Known to the rest of humanity as a “Sealer,” Emma has the ability to use the Blight to her advantage. She grows and manipulates it at will to wreak havoc on those around her.

Alongside Emma is Koo, a dog who also suffers from the Blight. Together, Emma and Koo set out alongside a ragtag set of characters to free the land of the Blight by taking on the big bad, the Beast of Reincarnation. A creature that resurrects itself once every 100 years and must be defeated in order for humanity to survive.

To do so, Emma must go about collecting the powers held within the Nushi, boss-like creatures of massive zones Emma will journey to. Each Nushi collected will grant Emma a new power and further improve her strength and capability to defeat the Beast of Reincarnation.

The overall arc is well done and far beyond anything I've seen Game Freak make to date. While it's not on the same level as NieR: Automata or Pragmata in terms of Eastern-developed stories, it's nice to see them create something more than the ever-loving rival-driven Pokémon games.

Beast of Reincarnation: Gameplay and Combat

Beast of Reincarnation comes labeled as an action RPG, but that term doesn’t really cover what kind of action the game entails. From Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Diablo 4 to Kingdom Hearts and The Witcher 3, the ARPG genre is very undefined in terms of what you can expect.

Which is yet another reason why comparing other games is such a compelling approach in this situation. As the combat reflects that of games like Sekiro and NieR: Automata, but it's nothing like something from Diablo!

Either way, what matters most is the answer to the age-old question, “Is it fun?” Yes! I had a blast playing Beast of Reincarnation.

The combat is a bewildering dance of enemy management. Engage foes when ready, keeping them at a distance, or sneaking up on a group to eliminate one before engaging the whole cohort. Balancing that alongside handling your companion, it might sound overwhelming, but it's not.

What I love most about Beast of Reincarnation is how intuitive the controls feel (at least on a controller). Your main weapon attacks, combos, and pet abilities are all within reasonable button combinations that create a sense of power.

I am always the shield or magic guy in Soulslike/ARPG games, so I was pretty terrible with the parries to start. I even gave up playing Sekiro at one point because it wasn’t clicking, and I’m a guy who’s beaten and replayed every other Dark Souls game.

Beast of Reincarnation felt different, or at least, things just finally clicked. After an hour, I felt like I knew what I was doing. A feeling a lot of players have when tackling some of these harder games.

And make no mistake, again, I love these games, but I’m trying to emphasize both the challenge of them as well as the ease of learning. One of the biggest gripes players have with harder games these days is the lack of accessibility or difficulty options, or how hard the games are.

I’ve never been one to believe that games like Sekiro or Dark Souls should have difficulty options, as that would alter the very core principles those games were built on. Beast of Reincarnation isn’t that, but it's also not a game that will hold your hand through every little niche or problem you come across.

Beast is a perfect reincarnation of the ARPG genre in the sense that it delivers a rewarding, challenging experience yet doesn’t punish the player with lost experience, loot, or something else upon death.

The rewards come in waves with a sense of accomplishment as well as wonder on screen as parries land and enemies fall. New weapons, gear, and other items that grant currency for upgrading both your gear and your home base.

Your main weapon is a samurai sword. Upgradable and interchangeable with other similar swords of varying effects you'll find across the landscape.

What I found disappointing in terms of both weapons and combat is that over time it can feel very repetitive. Unlocking combos is a slow process, and weapons aren't all that varied either.

From boss to boss, they look gorgeous, but the combat itself is the general dodge and parry, followed by a finishing move. I find it more frustrating that it seems so much potential was left on the development floor. Even general enemy finishers are mirrored far too often, with every Golem seemingly getting the same backslash attack.

With great horizontal and vertical traversal mechanics, I felt "whelmed" by the combative options to make good use of them. The abilities eventually begin to flesh this out, but they take so long to unlock that by the time you do, you start to wonder if you even have enough time to have fun.

That's not to say it's horrid, not by any means. The combat is serviceable and genuinely fun at times, but the fact that much of the actual development for this game was given to external studios is shown as the entire puzzle doesn't feel as cohesive as it could have.

Walker

Speaking of which, the main base for player operations is known as the Cleanse Walker. This, straight out of Star Wars, metallic vehicle is a host for you and your party, as well as equipment benches, chicken farms, and even a shower for you and your dog, Koo.

Players can find items out in the world that will grant upgrades to these different little Walker areas, like different seeds to plant so your in-Walker cook can help create new dishes that will bolster your stats as well as keep Emma fed. Hitting a point of starvation will cause Emma to lose out on some of her strength, making a general return to your Walker something that will become habit-forming.

You can also increase bonds with other characters and Koo, which grant extra slots for abilities, or other things like new recipes, upgrade paths, etc.

Those abilities for Koo will be essential, as he adds a plethora of abilities that grant multi-target damage, blinding, and other effects. He can also carry healing items and other small-use gadgets that will help Emma in a pinch. Upgrading his bond with Emma will allow for more slots to become available to use. If he dies (not Emma), the slots reset, so be careful!

I actually quite liked these additions granted by the Walker, but as I said with combat, I just wish they'd have more impact on the overall game itself. Once again, it feels like the mechanic is there but never quite reaches its full potential.

Open world-ish

All of this comes neatly packed in a semi-open world. On your pilgrimage, Emma will come across multiple zones of varying size, all of which are open to the player to explore. Checking corners, while not necessary, will lead to treasure chests and Walker upgrade items.

Each new zone comes with a general collection of both corrupted and normal Golems to either fight or buy items from, as well as new enemies packed into different areas that will keep players on their toes, much like the second zone, which literally had me blowing up from self-destructing Golems.

A general Blight-infested look will dawn on each zone, but every one felt very different from the last. The first acting as a training ground of sorts, while leading into narrower, but more vertical areas like an entire city structure with its own underground tunnel system.

What you don’t find on your first go won’t be gone forever, as each zone can be revisited with a simple fast travel back. Meaning anything you might have missed is still up for collection.

The loot isn't game-changing outside of general Walker upgrade materials. What bothered me most was the lack of cool outfits to find! Armor isn't showcased either, as each new outfit

Beast of Reincarnation: Performance and graphics

Here’s where things get a little more complicated. Our main review rig was my Windows PC via Steam, where I run an RTX 5080, 9800X3D, and 64GB of DDR5 RAM. Needless to say, my rig can hang.

On Beast of Reincarnation, I had zero issues running it via my system at 4K with DLSS set to Quality. I was hitting frame rates well above 90, with all the settings maxed out, ray tracing included. When we hop over to Xbox, it’s a different story.

Our own Jez Corden was testing it on his Xbox Series X and reported to me that it was almost unplayable at times. I asked him what kind of frame rate issues he was running into, and in his own words he said, “from 60 FPS down to like 5 FPS,” when running around the open-world zones.

Curiously, I booted up my 4060m laptop, and over there, it ran surprisingly well. At 1080p, I was hitting over 100 FPS with most settings maxed and DLSS 3.5 set to Quality. So, for once, it doesn’t seem to be a bad PC port, but rather a potentially bog-water console port.

We’ve been told that issues will be ironed out come launch, but as of July 28, 2026, when we last tested the Xbox Series X version, it wasn’t doing so well. I can’t imagine the Series S version is much better!

So buyer beware; maybe check out a couple of day-one patches if you’re unsure about the experience you could potentially have playing on console. Sounds like it could be another Crimson Desert situation. Great PC performance, with a couple of patches needed before the game really shines on console.

You'd think as a result, the world would be jaw-droppingly gorgeous, but it's just okay, I guess? Don't get me wrong, the art direction is wonderful, and I do think the game is rather pretty to look at, but for the performance trade-offs we're currently seeing on console, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Should you buy Beast of Reincarnation?

If you’re a sucker for the following titles, you should absolutely buy this game: NieR: Automata, Sekiro, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Pragmata, Horizon Zero Dawn, Shadow of the Colossus. You get the point.

I think once all the bugs are ironed out, Beast of Reincarnation will become quite a hit with a smaller audience. I don’t believe it’ll reach the heights of something like NieR: Automata, but it's something that I truly feel has the weight to capture said audience with its magic and majesty.

It's also a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, so if you're a subscriber to either, definitely add it to your list.

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