Biomutant Review (PS4)

Biomutant presents mutation as a means of evolving: taking useful things from your surroundings and adapting them to your own specific needs. And we do not mean just the theme of the game, but the building elements of the entire gameplay experience as well. The first game of Experiment 101 borrows from many other games and manages to meld them together in a personal way.

Biomutant is not in any way innovator, original, or even a truly AAA game. But it is fun, it has soul, and many of its flaws can be attributed to the lack of experience from the developers. It all starts with a story that paints a dark outcome for the world devoured by the greed of corporations.

After Toxanol almost completely destroys the planet, life proves again that it finds a way to continue. The surviving ecosystem adapts to the biohazard left behind after the extinction of humans and restarts the circle of evolution going back to the tribal system.

The devastating consequences cannot be fully ignored so you can expect to see a lot of crazy creatures with a lot of strange mutations. Your hero is the best example for this new wacky fauna: a creature that evolved to best fit the surrounding world. Every step you take, starting with the creation of your hero, up to the alliances and decisions you make will affect the world.

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You cannot always predict the outcome, the only thing you can be sure about is that you are a herald of change. There is a moral system, but ultimately it is up to you to write the next, and maybe final, chapter in the history of this dystopic world.

As in any self-respecting RPG, the first hurdle you have to pass in Biomutant is the creation of your character. The system is pretty detailed and you can customize the looks and abilities of the trash panda-like creature that will represent you in the game world. You have several classes to choose from, each enticing with different weapon proficiencies and special abilities.

Beyond the looks and skills of your creature, you can also invest in resistances that will offer you some advantages in the various biohazardous environments. But this is just the first step of an entire personal development journey, that will culminate at the end of the game with various specializations.

Each class is slightly different than the others and based on your preferred playstyle you will be able to find something to your liking. No matter if you favor physical strength or agility, one of the most important indicators during your adventure will be the Aura system. Based on the decision you will make you will either grow brighter or darker, you will instill loyalty and a positive attitude, or bring on fear and hostility.

Everything you do will affect the game world, starting with the tribal war that you will need to get involved in. From the get-go, Biomutant makes you pledge your support to one of the rival tribes, making the others hostile. Each faction has its own vision about the future and offers access to some special weaponry.

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Biomutant offers an interesting mix and match in its approach to morality. The freedom envisioned by the developers lets you play as a kind-hearted Samaritan that chooses to destroy the Tree of Life, or as a power-hungry mercenary who in the end decides to save the world. The numerous decisions and paths awaiting you in the game, offer a high replay value, mainly because of the odd situations you can find yourself in. The different outcomes along with all the dialogues are narrated by your Automaton companion: a grasshopper-like little robot, that is truly a jack of all trades.

Your companion beyond understanding and translating for you the gibberish language of the NPCs you will encounter has a lot of useful functions. You can turn it into a paraglide or use it to heal yourself in combat. All these functions will need to be unlocked by encountering scenes from your past. By completing these training sessions you will be able to unlock the four extra functions, one at a time. Your Automaton remains also the best example that too much can hurt.

Biomutant has a particular sense of humor. The jokes told by our companion are neither the most inspired, nor the most innovative ones. You have already heard these dad jokes in various other media in some form or another, so when you hear them again and again, they will become tiresome. The funniest part is not the flat puns themselves, but the fact that even when you are faced with an end of the world scenario, the tone of the entire game remains light. The characters, the silly quests, even the combat is like a self-parody.

It is hilarious to see the comics like sound effects like “kaboom” or “kapow” showing up on the screen while you try to drown your opponents in various combos. This is the most original part of Biomutant’s combat system. Other than that we can say that it is flawed, but it generally works.

You will have moments when you will fight the camera angles instead of the enemies, and the timing is not always the best, since you cannot mark or tag the hostile creatures. But even these shortcomings cannot take away from the joy of plowing through groups of comic enemies.

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The general rule of freedom is present here as well since you can choose to dance around your opposition shooting them full of lead, you can jump on the back of the oversized mutants and bash them in the head, or if so you please you can bombard them with psychic powers. You are free to choose your preferred method of critter extermination, and the crazy visuals and weapons guarantee the fun. The combat does not have the depth of the system from Devil May Cry, but it offers a satisfying enough experience.

After the battles, but also scattered around the world, you will find loot. A lot of it will be the scrap that you can use to craft various armors or weapons. Alternatively, you can use these resources to upgrade your favorite equipment, your mech, or maybe your boat. Yes, you will be granted access to a giant mech, that you can use in some specific areas and during boss encounters.

The looks of the weapons, your armor, and even your mech make it impossible to take seriously the action in the game. This actually fits with the overall theme of Biomutant creating a relaxed experience, even when your mech sinks in a huge puddle of oil.

The level of your opponents’ scales appropriately to the level of your hero, so you will always be presented with a challenge. Being an open-world game there is always a risk of running into an area designed for a higher level, but this aspect is well managed by the producers through the introduction of different biohazard areas.

You will be able to explore irradiated or low oxygen areas only when you have found the appropriate protection suits, all of these being tied to different missions. As a result, you will experience a natural progression through the game and you will be able to venture into more advanced areas only when you the necessary experience.

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In Biomutant you will encounter several different biomes. This ensures variety despite the large size of the map. You will never get bored while you will visit green hills, rocky mountainsides, polluted rivers and swamps, scorching deserts, or icy tundra-like zones. To help you with navigation and traversal, you have fast travel points that you will mark just like a dog marks its territory. You will also be able to tame different mounts to travel more in style.

So, overall the game looks well thought out, but the technical part is lacking and this is affecting the overall experience. There are some technical issues even after the patches are already released. The game is playable on PS5, but it still presents crashes. On PS4 these are fewer, but no matter the console you cannot escape the visual glitches, the sudden loss of any sound of music, and the archaic menus. The tracking of the quests has issues as well, that can mess up completion, while the side quests themselves are often quite repetitive.

The visual cues tied to the exploration of the world are often bugged and it can result in going in circles searching for loot. The world map can track your various tasks tied to locations, only when you are there. If you move to a different zone, the information the map gives you about the other areas is generic at best. Biomutant lacks the level polish the attention of details you would expect from an AAA game.

This is especially true when it comes to the visuals. The art style is very colorful and often oversaturated, in a comic way, but there some graphical issues and bugs. Among these most notable are the different equipment items unnaturally pocking through each other.

There are occasional frame rate drops in the open world, especially if you mount one of the creatures you can ride. The fact that you have only the voice of the narrator, respectively the incarnation of light and darkness limited to some short dialogues, while all the NPCs are speaking gibberish is more of a budget solution.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion