Game delays are not out of the ordinary, especially when developers aren’t the most well known, well-funded, or experienced. In regards to “Biomutant” – a third-person, post-apocalyptic, action-adventure, open-world offering featuring furry animals trying to stop sheer destruction – was handled by the new studio set out of Sweden, Experiment 101. Originally shown off in 2017, the anticipation was surprisingly high after reports from trade shows gave mostly glowing previews of “Biomutant”. Unfortunately for gamers excited to play “Biomutant” for themselves they would have to wait for quite some time. Though Experiment 101’s studio head stated the game’s content was pretty much complete not long after the game was first revealed, it would take another four years before “Biomutant” hit store shelves. I was intrigued to see if this little studio could present something worth remembering, or if “Biomutant” would be just another forgettable open-world experience.
Did I Complete “Biomutant”?
Following an interesting recreation of the high-quality teaser that is essentially a tutorial, the player is given the chance to take their crafted character into the world in an effort to save the Tree of Life & uniting the tribes waging war in this human-less land. As per the norm with open-world games, there are a plethora of missions both main and side with the prior mostly revolving around working for or against the tribes. Though war between characters seems like the most pressing threat to society, the truth is four monsters known as “Worldeaters” are ready to literally eat up everything including the Tree of Life. Side missions range from fetch quests, to leading hostage characters to safety, to finding/collecting a set number of particular items including vinyl records. Depending on the side missions taken, players can attain some pretty interesting rewards including suits that protect against hazardous areas and vehicles to traverse the world including a hang glider.
Beyond completing a bunch of repetitive missions and solving the world’s woes is character customization as the game progresses. Players can gain special abilities known as “Biogenetics” with one type of skill points, “Bio Points”. “Bio Points” can also be spent to increase resistances to the elemental hazards. “Psi-Points” – which are usually obtained through certain mission decisions and summoned from pillars located through the world – also present the opportunity to gain special skills that usually come in the form of elemental attacks like “Freeze” or the protagonist speeding forward with a stream of fire tailing them. There are two other major systems in the game: a morality & a crafting systems. While morality (or “Light” or “Dark” decisions) can affect the availability of certain side quests & revelations of hidden areas, crafting is a huge part of enjoying “Biomutant’s” central gameplay function of combat as players can modify their melee weapons, guns & armor. After over twenty hours I saved the Tree of Life, united the tribes, overcame the Worldeaters, and finished a bunch of side missions; but the game’s repetitive nature & grindy trophy list didn’t encourage me to start a “New Game Plus” playthrough in an effort to attain the platinum trophy.
Did “Biomutant” Live Up to the Hype?
The open-world genre is full of unique, though reminiscent experiences; and “Biomutant” is no different. After the introduction, the player will choose their character’s base stats including “Strength”, “Agility”, & “Vitality”. The most important decision the player must make when creating their character is the “Class”. Each class represents a combat style and provides specific abilities like “Dead-Eye” focusing on gun usage & making critical shots easier to land for crazy damage from long distances. Unfortunately once the class is chosen it can’t be changed unless the player starts a new game. Thankfully there isn’t too much rigidity to being a part of a specific class as players can use guns, melee weapons, psychic abilities, and special attacks depending on what the player buys with the aforementioned “Bio Points” and “Psi-Points”.
Though there are a lot of combat options to take part in, the battle system itself is definitely lacking in presentation. The copious amount of enemies the player must overcome are both ridiculously hard and terribly easy. Most adversaries can be plucked off with bullets, chopped to death with melee weapons, and hindered by hazardous special attacks like producing a pool of poisonous slime. But those same enemies can also armor through attacks without much warning as the indicator that appears above their heads about an upcoming attack will continue even if the protagonist strikes their target – a luxury the player’s character doesn’t have as an enemy will be able to knock the protagonist down in mid-combo. There’s also a lack of consistent visual representation or weight to landing certain attacks as the target will just keep moving as if their health bar didn’t just lose a chunk; knocking the protagonist down before the player can react to this fast-moving creature.
The previously mentioned “Psi-Powers” are cool looking, but the lower level powers do little damage even if the player adds “Ability” points (points attained by the protagonist leveling up) in the “Intelligence” stat – meaning the player should save up their “Psi-Points” instead of spending them on something that looks really cool. Another huge issue with the combat is the lacking a hard lock-on. There is a soft-lock that usually works with shooting, but melee combat is rooted in moving the camera alongside the character & swinging for the fences. There is also a blocking/parry system that works well enough, though holding down the block button doesn’t continuously allow the protagonist to guard; meaning the button is only effective when the player is solely looking to parry incoming strikes. The protagonist also has an upgradable sidekick known as an “Automaton”. Automaton will assist in battle, dispense health kits, and is slightly customizable.
As noted there are a bunch of enemy types, but due to the game’s combat system it’s very easy to get into a groove of doing the same thing over & over again especially when the protagonist attains more abilities & better gear – this applies to every battle except when taking on the Worldeaters. The four Worldeater fights are wonderfully different from not only every other battle available in the game, but also from each Worldeater fight before & after it. Worldeater Jumbo Puff will swallow the protagonist after its health drops below twenty-five percent, while Muff Puff presents an underwater battle unlike anything else seen in the game. The inclusion of vehicles for these battles will most likely have players wondering why the developers didn’t offer more fights with said vehicles to mix things up – something that can’t be said about the world itself.
A planet ravaged by the acts of man that resulted in humans being wiped out and the world rebuilding itself with animals taking on human traits like wearing clothes & building civilizations, the player is thrust into a very diverse appearing environment. The developers opted not to fully open up the map at the game’s beginning; revealing its depth as the player unites & fights tribes while overcoming Worldeaters. Seeing the different landscapes and utilizing tools to traverse said areas makes exploration that much more enjoyable as moments like stumbling upon an open manhole, only to discover an area too hot to move through without a thermal suit is not out of the norm.
There is both a day & night cycle and ever-changing weather. Sadly, most of the interior designs leave a lot to be desired including tribe headquarters all having the same base structure no matter the area. There are some traversal issues as well with certain vehicles only being available in particular sections even when it makes no sense – why this is a limitation is beyond comprehension. And then there are the puzzles; the grandiose amount of mundane, low intelligent rotation puzzles that, most of the time, are only a few turns away from being completed when the player encounters them.
Customization is the game’s main draw. Beyond character changes like gaining abilities or improving the protagonist’s base stats is an item crafting system. Loot is given to the player en masse with rarity levels enforcing the damage output, effectiveness of piercing armor, and even elemental properties. Players can modify every weapon in grand fashion; transforming said item into something completely different than what the player starts with depending on the additional pieces also found while exploring the world or granted after completing a mission. Players also can ignore scrolling through the list of objects to modify a weapon & just hit the “Randomize” button until they discover the modified weapon their want. Armor can’t be changed in the same way as weapons as the base style of armor will remain the same, but armor can be benefited by add-ons that will help in decreasing damage taken and potential resistance against hazardous areas.
The only real issues with crafting are the necessity of spending resources to fund whatever customization is being made and level caps. Some of the more interesting crafting moments may require the player to use more resources like wood than what they have in their inventory. And without the ability to buy most of these resources, the player will either have to forgo the crafting for a while or go somewhere else on the map to find said resource. Then there are the pieces of gear level locked. While some games have level-locked gear as well, very few present loot drops where the player will get a piece of gear in the first couple of hours that can’t be equipped until the protagonist is at level twenty; and by the time the player’s character is at level twenty the gear is obsolete due to other attained loot or gear crafted manually.
With all the systems that make up “Biomutant”, the game is surprisingly childish in nature in regards to its narrative & narrator presentation. The story of a post-apocalyptic world and animals literally fighting to death is offset by NPCs who are obviously made with comic relief in mind. Even the names of the Worldeaters are elementary like “Hoof Puff”. Yet the narrative also speaks of & depicts genocide, pollution destroying the world as we know it, and slavery. There’s also a revenge tale, as well as the player having to decide who gets to join the protagonist on a potential society-saving ark.
It seems like the developers didn’t want to fully embrace the aesthetic’s cartoonish nature to alienate players who would have the ability to handle the various gameplay implementations most children would ignore or wouldn’t enjoy learning. The sense of childlike innocence connected to the story is complemented by the narrator who has to translate the NPCs’ gibberish into whatever available spoken human language is chosen in the settings. But the narrator doesn’t just chime in for translation purposes; making statements throughout the journey including giving his opinion on the weather. For some, the constant narration will be annoying while others will enjoy the one-sided banter that breaks up the monotony of silence usually only interrupted by a sudden battle.
The missions also suffer from a lack of ingenuity. One of the game’s biggest narrative draws is conquering tribes and, potentially, bringing them into the fold. To accomplish the goal of defeating the head of each tribe, the player must overtake three outposts. Unlike something like “Far Cry” where outpost infiltration takes strategy and being prepared to change a plan on the fly, “Biomutant’s” outposts can be overtaken by simple acts such as destroying moth nests presented as nothing but a distraction instead of the actual sole event needed to make said outpost the protagonist’s. The developers obviously knew how underwhelming outpost overtaking in their game is; actually offering the player the chance to skip tribe takedowns after overcoming two opposing societies.
This leaves the player to collecting items for vehicles necessary for fighting Worldeaters, meeting NPCs to open up other side missions, and getting personal revenge following the plot’s only truly shocking character development. Morality also ties into both the story & its combat. With a furry angel & demon appearing on the protagonist’s shoulders, the player can opt\ to be a person who more characters will want to work with & reveal secrets like hidden tunnels housing a lot of loot; or they can embrace the dark and be selfish with the intent of getting a different ending. Thanks to the “Charisma” stat and the protagonist’s level of morality, certain tribe captains will actually surrender if the player chooses the appropriate dialogue options. Both moral sides offer extra abilities and it’s up to the player to plan their course to get enough “Light” or “Dark Points” to purchase those skills.
Technically, “Biomutant” is a mixed bag. On a Playstation 5 following the first update, the game never crashed, suffered from a corrupted save, or witnessed a broken mission. But there were frame rate drops both during combat and simply moving through the world. The camera can be a monster to deal with in close quarters and, depending on the setting, the lighting can be too dark during interior sections. Objects & surfaces like foliage will block the camera view; refusing to turn invisible like other games do so players can see everything happening during a battle. Enemies, if they stop focusing on the player & return to their origin spot, magically regain health even if the protagonist reengages battle almost immediately. Loading, especially when fast traveling, isn’t that bad and, once the world is loaded, there are no loading times or screens.
Overall, the combat is fun, but gets easy to exploit without the ability to truly make character builds connected to each class. The narrative tries to accomplish too much while making one of the plot’s biggest draws – interacting & overcoming the local tribes – optionally conclude around five hours into the experience. Crafting is intuitive, but the loot is almost overwhelming & unnecessary. The map is huge & varied, but the missions makes exploration feel rudimentary instead of exhilarating. “Biomutant” is essentially a jack of all trades, but a master of nothing.
Should You Play “Biomutant”?
The small studio that is Experiment 101 should be commended for creating a dense open-world full of loot that can be expertly transformed into a weapon of mass destruction. But for the developer’s commendable work at making a grand world, an interesting crafting system, & four memorable Worldbeast battles, everything else feels underwhelming or unremarkable including the combat, the narrative, and building a character off the player-selected class. Those who aren’t sick of open-world games with a large map, lite RPG elements, and a mediocre combat system will find a lot to enjoy with this game; but only after it goes on sale for about half the price. Others should mostly likely leave “Biomutant” alone as the experience will be like lighting a rocket & riding it for a very short time before it collides with and blows up a building.
