What Is Biomutant?
Biomutant was created by Experiment 101 and released by THQ Nordic on May 25 this year for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. There are also planned releases for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S at a later date. The game is an open-world third-person action RPG. It borrowed several elements from other games, some of which we’ll talk about below.
Biomutant Gameplay Review
Now that we know what Biomutant is all about, let’s talk about what makes it tick.
Gameplay and Combat
The Biomutant gameplay is exactly as it says on the tin. Players create their own mutated critter that they use to explore the game world. When in-game, players have the choice of either going long-ranged or short-ranged. Each of these weapon types has its unique hitboxes for players to tinker around with. In addition to this, players can affix various stuff into their weapons and armor. For example, biohazard affixes on weapons can deal biohazard damage on enemies. Meanwhile, the same modification on your armor can add to your biohazard resistance. This, combined with the ability to weapon switch mid-battle allows for some pretty gnarly combos. Freeze enemies before burning them to ashes? Viable. What about adding in some radioactive stuff to enemies before freezing them? Also viable. The possibilities are plenty. The game also has several unique abilities that are suited for the game’s various classes, which we’ll talk about later. Overall, the game has a good progression system in its place.
Character Creation
Another great inclusion to the Biomutant gameplay mechanic is the character creation system. Biomutant has players go the full mile in creating their own character. They can choose many aspects about their critter’s appearance and skills. These range from how chubby they look, how big their brains are, and more. These cosmetic changes have their purpose, though. A bigger head means more intelligence, longer legs mean more speed, et cetera. In addition to looking at affecting stats, we have the immunities, which grant some resistance to the game’s four elements. You can increase these immunities with items later in the game, but for now, these add some padding to your critter’s defense. After choosing the coloration of the player’s critter, they need to choose their class. Biomutant has five classes: Dead-Eye, Saboteur, Commando, Psi-Freak, and Sentinel. And lastly, there’s also your critter’s origin, which is where you start when creating your critter. Players have six origins to tinker with: Primal, Dumdon, Hyla, Rex, Murgel, and Flip. Each of these origins and classes has its unique perks, which we’ll talk about below.
Classes And Origins
As stated, Biomutant has a list of origins and classes that players can choose when they start the game. Both classes and origins can’t be changed, so players need to choose wisely. However, they still can use a lot of the game’s weapons, skills, and psionics, just without the perks. Whatever option you choose will affect your Biomutant gameplay experience. For now, let’s start with the origins, which consist of the following:
Primal: Primals place more emphasis on how strong and agile they are. However, their intelligence takes a huge dive. Dumdon: They are similar to Primals but with less intelligence. They compensate with their vitality and monstrous strength. Hyla: Hylas are weaker than the Primals and Dumdons. However, their vitality gives them better regeneration compared to the two. Rex: Rex is the balanced origin in the game, placing equal emphasis on all stats. Murgel: Murgels have charisma built in them, allowing them to sweet talk both friend and foe alike. Flip: Flip is the class that has the most intellect out of the six classes, allowing them to use Psionics better.
After choosing an origin and tricking out their critters, players need to choose a class. These are five classes available on Biomutant:
Sentinel: Increased armor value by 10. Saboteur: Can dual-wield one-handed weapons and reduce energy cost when evading. Dead-Eye: Dead-Eyes can deal more damage with single-shot rifles, can do instant reloads, and deal more damage to the next clip. Psi-Freak: Psi-Freaks can regenerate Ki faster and have the Spark Ball ability at the start. Commando: The rough and tumble class that specializes in melee. Their attack speed on melee increases by 20%, but only if they’re at 20% health or below.
Sound Design
In terms of sound design, Biomutant isn’t something to behold. The OST sounds fine, don’t get us wrong. However, the game has some problems when it comes to how weapons sound when hitting enemies. They don’t seem weighty enough, or they don’t pack the same wallop. This is because of the lackluster sound design of the weapons. Gunfire sounds okay but suffers due to how the bullets hit the enemies in the game. The voice acting is equally frustrating as it only consists of squeaking and grunting, with the translations coming from the narrator. This annoyed a lot of players on release, but the developers did add a function that removes the squeaking and grunting in a later patch. Nowadays, players can just toggle off the squeaks and grunts and let the narrator do the talking. Other than this, the game’s OST is pretty okay, and some tracks can make the player’s hearts pump. It’s serviceable, but it can definitely be improved. Their graphics, however, is where Biomutant somewhat shines.
Graphics and Level Design
Biomutant has some pretty awesome-looking locales. The open-world environments look pretty good and compliment the game’s mechanics. The vibrant greens of the grass and the sick radioactive sludge are pretty apparent and distinct. Combine that with some purples on some forest areas and a few dilapidated buildings here and there, and you get a world that tore itself apart. Humans are gone, but their works are still in the world, decaying and rusting. Your little rodent will explore these locales and more, finding stuff all around and taking scraps. In terms of character design, there are a lot of unique NPCs for the player to interact with. From Best-Before—an Elvis Presley look-alike—to Mooma, the player’s martial arts teacher, these characters help the player on their journey. They all look pretty unique, so it wouldn’t be hard to tell one from the other. This creativity, however, only lasts in the open world. The dungeons don’t get the same love and care in comparison, and this affects Biomutant’s gameplay for the worse. The game’s dungeons look as if they’re just generic sewer and basement areas, with little changes to make them seam with the world. There might be some water and trees here and there, but there’s little to no color in these areas. They don’t feel as run down compared to the rest of the game’s world. This doesn’t hamper the game, but it’s a really weird contrast to the level of detail you see from the open world.
Story
Biomutant has players play the role of a mutated mammalian critter. After customizing their critter, they can then explore the game’s world. The main plot of the game is for players to restore the Tree of Life, which was damaged when radioactive oil underground seeped into its roots. Your job is to find a way to restore the tree. However, how you go about this depends on the player’s choices. Depending on the player’s choices, one of two endings can occur. The first is that the Tree of Life is restored, while the other destroys it. Either way, your character will sail the stars in an arkship of their creation.
How Does Biomutant Compare Against Similar Games?
Now that we’ve talked about Biomutant and its gameplay, let’s see how it compares to other games like it. This might give players more reasons to try out Biomutant and its gameplay. We’ll start with Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild followed by Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Next will be Horizon Zero Dawn, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will finish out the list.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is considered to be one of the best games that ever came out in the past decade. And if we’re being honest here? It kind of is on the Nintendo Switch. The game has it all, from an expansive open world to great enemies to fight and a whole lot more. We can continue talking about how great this game is and it’ll take hours before we can scratch the surface. There are a few reasons why this is the case, but we need to talk about its replayability. Breath of the Wild is an incredibly replayable game. However, this replayability isn’t due to anything that’s in the game itself. It comes from how certain mechanics combo together into a really deep combat and exploration system. For example, the paraglider is a simple device players use to travel in the air. You get this paraglider at the very start of the game, but using it costs stamina. Stamina can be at a premium until you get enough spirit orbs to increase it. However, players immediately realized that they can use shield surfing to fling themselves into long distances. Once they’ve gone far enough, they then open the paraglider and glide the rest of the way, saving stamina in the process. That’s just one thing that players discovered, and it’s not even an exploit or a glitch. We haven’t even talked about the Heart and Stamina Vessel duplication, or the Infinite Sprint and Arrows glitches. The sheer amount of things that players discovered about the game and the dedicated community it has is staggering. This is why Breath of the Wild is considered to be one of the best in the genre.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Next up is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which is Assassin’s Creed but with Vikings. The latest title in the popular Assassin’s Creed series takes players back to the ninth century and into the shoes of Eivor, a character that can be customized to the player’s preferences. Once done, players can explore England, kill enemies, and discover secrets. It’s the usual Assassin’s Creed formula fans have come to know and love. The Assassin’s Creed series works pretty well in an open-world environment. The only thing that hampers it is the fact that there’s sometimes too much to do in the world. For example, an area on the map can have 10 to 20 locations for Eivor to investigate. These can range from enemy camps, secret catacombs, and even side bosses. The amount of stuff that players can do can be a bit overwhelming. In terms of its combat system, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is pretty good. The game has a combat system with depth that can satisfy gamers with a taste for some extra violence. Eivor can equip a weapon on each hand with each weapon type having differing combos and attacks. With enough levels and practice, players can turn Eivor into an unstoppable killing machine. And we haven’t even talked about the weapons that he can use yet. If you’re discerning enough, and with some sleuthing, you can find weapons like Mjolnir, Excalibur, and a whole slew of unique and legendary weapons and armr. If you’re someone that wants to romp with Vikings, kick ass, and take names, try out Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Horizon Zero Dawn is straight-up one of the best surprise new IPs that came out of the PS4 era. It tells the tale of Aloy, a woman of the Nora tribe who goes on a journey in the 31st Century. Humanity regressed to tribal life and mechanical beasts roam the land, some of which are bad news. It’s up to Aloy to figure out what happened to regress humanity to this point. However, the mysteries are deep, and the trials numerous. The game is undoubtedly awesome in terms of its gameplay and its story. Gameplay-wise, you control Aloy in solving the mystery of Project Zero Dawn as well as her circumstances. To help with that, players have access to various weapons that Aloy can use in her journey. Her bow, for example, can be improved to deal more damage, fire better arrows, and be an all-around tool as she explores the world. In addition to this, she also has access to Tripcasters, Rattlers, and Blast Slings among others. These weapons can be used to take down mechanical animals and human enemies. Stealth can be used in this manner as well. In addition, traps are one of the best ways to take down the beasts that Aloy encounters. Overall, the game has a lot of playstyles for people to try out, making replayability a no-brainer. Combine that with the gorgeous graphics and the stellar acting and story? Well, it’s no surprise that Horizon Zero Dawn is considered to be one of the best PS4 games ever released.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Last but not least we have Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which is one of the longer-lasting games on this list. In Skyrim’s case, its longevity is owed to some cool mods that players have made over the years. The game might have some issues, glitches being the most obvious, but Skyrim’s a definite classic. There’s not much to say here other than play Skyrim if you want to have some fun. Add some ridiculous mod or two and experience a totally different game than what Bethesda Studios initially set out for you.
Is Biomutant a Must Play?
As of right now, Biomutant isn’t a must-play due to how many issues it has currently. Experiment 101 is still ironing out the kinks in the game, so it’s recommended to wait a bit before buying Biomutant and trying out its gameplay. Maybe buy this game two to three months from now when they finish with patching things up. Another option is to get the game when it’s on sale.
