Game Freak's first big swing outside the Pokémon universe is finally here, and if you've booted up Beast of Reincarnation today, chances are you've already run into your first big problem: you die a lot faster than you'd like, and you're carrying way too few Stimpacks to fix that.
The fix isn't a settings menu. It's a shrine.
What Dragon Vein Shrines actually do
Scattered across the game's corrupted version of Japan are small, glowing structures called Dragon Vein Shrines. Emma can pray at them, and each one nudges her Stimpack count upward — permanently. You start the game with just three, which sounds fine until you're three minutes into a fight with one of the game's brutal Nushi bosses and realize you've burned through your entire supply before the second phase even starts.
Here's the part that trips people up: the upgrades aren't handed out one shrine at a time forever. Your first Dragon Vein Shrine gets you Stimpack number four almost immediately, usually within your first couple of hours with the game. After that, the game asks for more commitment — you'll need to track down roughly ten additional shrines before the next Stimpack slot unlocks, and the pattern repeats until you cap out at six.
That's a lot of hiking, digging, and backtracking for something that doesn't show up as a glowing quest marker by default. Which is exactly where Koo comes in.
Let your dog do the work
Koo isn't just along for emotional support. As you level up his detection skills, he'll start picking up on nearby shrines from further and further away, sniffing them out well before you'd ever spot them on your own. If you're the type of player who likes to 100% an area before moving on, investing early in Koo's tracking abilities will save you a genuinely absurd amount of backtracking later.
A good rule of thumb we picked up early: any path that looks like it goes nowhere near your main objective is usually hiding something. Beast of Reincarnation loves tucking shrines, campsites, and crafting manuals just off the beaten trail, so if a ledge, cave mouth, or overgrown trail looks deliberately placed, it probably is.
A quick example: Chapter 2
Early in the campaign, during the "Creeping Tendrils" chapter, you'll find your first shrine of that section near the top of a climbing section not far from a Reservoir area. It's easy to miss if you're rushing toward the boss fight against Lacerta, so it's worth the two extra minutes to detour and activate it before you dive into that fight.
The bigger picture: shrines are just one piece
If you're the completionist type, Dragon Vein Shrines are only the start. Beast of Reincarnation is stuffed with other collectibles worth hunting down alongside them — body armor sets, Generator Devices that boost the Walker's power, Electronic Brain components tied to Koo's calculation upgrades, crafting Manuals that unlock new consumables, and Facility Modules hidden near fast-travel points. Treat your exploration route as one big loop: hit the shrines, but keep an eye out for these other markers along the way so you're not doubling back through the same zone twice.
Should you rush the shrines?
Given how punishing the Nushi fights get, our advice is simple: don't wait. Prioritise shrines early, even if it means slowing your main-story pace in the first few hours. Six Stimpacks versus three is the difference between surviving a boss's second phase and restarting from your last Campsite.
