BioMutant is a mix between a role playing game and a strategy game, where you take control of a mutated species that has evolved in a post-apocalyptic world. On your journey, you’ll use your special abilities to create a squad of mutants that fit your personal play style and fight your way through each level. Similar to the Mass Effect series, you’ll have to make critical decisions in order to complete the level and progress further into the game.
A new sports video game, from the team behind the hit action RPG Shadowrun Returns, is out now! The game, called Biomutant, is a mix between action-adventure, RPG and strategy game set in the savage land of the Hunter.
Biomutant is one of the strangest games I’ve ever played. It’s like playing a David Attenborough show when he wrote the script after eating a bunch of psychedelic mushrooms, but Experiment 101 turns that weirdness into its advantage. Biomutant drops out more often than I’d like, in terms of story and decisions, but it’s a memorable and detailed game, and I hope to see it in the future.
Decades after a human-caused disaster made the world uninhabitable for humans, mutant animals roam the land, fighting, trading, crafting, and sometimes just snacking. At the center of their world is the Tree of Life, but four giant creatures, the World Eaters, threaten its power. If it looks a lot like Breath of the Wild, it’s on purpose, as Experiment 101 referenced the open-world Zelda game as an influence for their creation. However, it is certainly not the only influence or even the only story. In fact, the Biomutant has three floors. Two of them are related to the Tree of Life, and one of them is related to you, but only indirectly to the Tree. Each uses a different plot and narrative style. Biomutant largely balances these storylines and styles, though it misses the mark in a few places (more on that later). Your overall goal is to decide whether to destroy the world eaters and save the tree, or destroy the tree and let only the strong survive. The second story is about the opinions of those you want to work with. Biomutant requires you to join one of the six tribes of the world upon graduation. Everyone falls somewhere in the light-dark spectrum of the game, like wanting to save the tree and unite the tribes or destroy the tree and make peace with the tribes. The hero’s story unfolds through a series of flashbacks that have nothing to do with Link’s memory in BotW. However, there is one important difference: His story hits harder. Link is largely a story, but Biomutant has you spending time with your childhood friends and feeling broken and lost when you meet them in the present. 
It’s touching, but then it leaves you. The hero’s story has a lot of potential to land you in the world, but after the first few segments of , Biomutant limits itself to a few random encounters and a storyline around each world eater. However, these are not the only NPCs you will encounter. TheBiomutant game features unusual animals scattered around the world. Most of them need help, and all of them have something good to offer in exchange for your time. Take the lamp, for example. It’s a monkey with a food truck on the edge of a nuclear desert who gives you a burning rolling pin if you catch his wifle, which is a lot less spicy than it sounds. It is not certain that you will get in touch with them directly. Biomutant uses a speaker to translate NPC conversations into your language, and it has a strange effect. The characters are pretty superficial, but the lack of direct communication with them makes you feel like you’ll never connect with everyone you meet on your travels. 
Still, the travel usually makes up for the lack of meaningful interaction. TheBiomutant map is divided into several biomes, many of which are oriented around specific environmental threats, but unlike the elementally inspired BotW quadrants of , these subdivisions are refreshingly diverse. Although an oxygen-free dead zone covers the southwestern part of the map, you’ll find radioactive hazards and frozen terrain scattered throughout the map. Biomutant ‘sworks best when the environment is at its worst, forcing you to strategize or overcome an obstacle while improving your character. But even ordinary biomes have their merits, as there is no part of the map Biomutantthat is dull or ordinary. The whole game is just beautiful and uses the post-apocalyptic setting like few others. There are the usual ruined cities, but there are also moments when you climb onto a pile of toxic waste (with a duck-headed mecha) and see the sunlight illuminate the trees growing in the waste, their leaves looking like poppies. These are tangible pieces. WhatBiomutantlacks in meaningful interactions, it makes up for in awe-inspiring, quirky culture. The habitats, language, lifestyles, and even the way of locomotion makeBiomutant feel like a non-standard branch of theRedwall universe, albeit often not as well realized. 
Biomutant gives and takes simultaneously. The big, interesting world is full of reasons to explore, but the quality of those reasons varies. Most Biomutant’quests are quest variants that reward you with unique equipment or vital health items. These quests are just as delightfully weird as the rest of the game – the first time around. Flushes and finding rare clothes in the microwave are fun, but they don’t have the long-term impact to be memorable beyond their quirkiness or allow for multiple playthroughs. This is the biomutant. He was so close to becoming a masterpiece, but never managed to make the most of his dozens of ideas and inspirations. NPCs that don’t ask questions repeat the same limited dialogue, morality and your choices have less impact than you think, tribal wars come down to a few key decisions, and there isn’t a single key moment or series of moments that make Biomutant a truly epic adventure. Of course, some of these weaknesses are also present in the source material of Biomutant , for example Breath of the Wild is more about the world than about the people or tasks in it. Maybe would have won Biomutant if Experiment 101 hadn’t been so loyal to its masters. 
Combat is a similar case. The fight is gruesome and entertaining in theory. You wield multiple weapons and can use a variety of mutant abilities to bend the battlefield and your enemies to your will, not to mention the combos you unlock with each type of weapon. In practice, this becomes something like musou, when the opponent, with his limited set of moves, finally gives up and dies. Granted, the problem has become less as I unlock updates. Enemies are still too porous, but the process of turning them into mutants is much more fun when your skills are employed and you manage to land a few hits. Biomutant gives you a wide range of options, from complex shotgun combos to unleashing elemental chains, even if your enemies never justify the depth offered. What I never get tired of is belonging. Character customization is a bit primitive, especially since you rarely have to give up abilities. The speed setting, however, does not. Almost all of the rewards in Biomutant have to do with equipment, whether it’s gear like t-shirts or caps, or items you can use to make your own t-shirts, caps, baseball bats, etc. 
Some items are mods that improve certain aspects of an item, for example. For example, the reload speed of a rifle or the protective effect of a shoulder pad. With others you can make your own weapons, which, despite all my complaints about the combat, never gets boring. You will need different amounts and combinations of waste for each type of craft. Some of it can be obtained from commodity towers scattered across the landscape, but the best way to get scrap metal is to demolish it – or, in plain language, dismantle unwanted equipment. It makes sense of the piles of rare, unusual, abnormal, etc. gear you find, but it also highlights the limitations of combat. Most of them are useless.
Professional
- A beautiful and inspired world
- Very strange in a good way.
- Unique characters
- Wide range of customization options
Cons
- It has failed to deliver on many of its promises in terms of story and selection.
- It doesn’t provide enough extra momentum to make it stick.
- No interesting side stories and no way to connect with the characters.
- Battles are often monotonous despite the abilities
- The tribal system seems to be underdeveloped.
As for Biomutant, it’s finally a game I’ve enjoyed playing, despite the criticism and opinions. Most open-world games get boring quickly, but I wanted to explore every corner of this unconventional world, even if it didn’t always give me a good reason to. I don’t think you can call the game bold enough to mix so many influences certainly, but it clearly feels like Experience 101 close to safe. I don’t know if it’s because of the budget, or the time, or the influence of COVID, but Biomutant needs a sequel or DLC to make the most of the solid foundation it already has. That said, I have no regrets whatsoever about my time with the Biomutant, and I will certainly never forget it. Note: THQ Nordic provided a copy of the game Biomutant, which was used for this evaluation]
