Overview

Biomutant is set in a fantasy world where the “Tree of Life” is in peril, and only you can fix it . Driven by divine prophecy and the search for more money, the protagonist is tasked with defeating the 5 divine beasts that threaten the tree of life. In addition, six tribes will fight to protect or destroy the Tree of Life, and you will have the option to do either to each tribe in turn.

In this review we will discuss the first few hours of gameplay and 5 reasons you may or may not want to buy Biomutant.

Story

The weakest part of the game is the story, because it “tells” instead of “shows” you what is happening in the world. Showing a large creature only to explain its lore to the player is a lot less fun than learning why the creature is dangerous through your interactions with it. It seems that the game developers forgot that you can tell a more compelling story by using all the tools at your disposal: camera angles, character facial expressions, or even just casual conversation. Biomutant seems obsessed with making every conversation a philosophical one, which makes the characters feel like set pieces made only for the player, rather than characters with their own personalities and stories.

There are two core issues that seem to affect the storyline negatively and make it difficult to stay immersed…

1 – The Narrator

This is one of the only unique voices in the game, as most NPCs have no voice at all. The player character is mute, and most NPCs talk gibberish as they would in No Man’s Sky or The Sims. It feels as though this decision was made to cut costs, and is one of the least enjoyable and confusing decisions the developers made for Biomutant. The Narrator is essentially the only voice explaining the story, so it can become difficult to follow.

2 – Morality System

At least to start, the game feels like a pretty rigid “good” or “bad” morality system. You can do a balanced run, but based on the initial ten hours of gameplay, it doesn’t seem to have any specific rewards for those who choose to stay in the grey. The abilities that require certain alignments only require one of either, rather than a balance of dark and light. This means that if you choose a balanced run, you will get the best powers in the game much later than simply picking good or evil from the start.

Gameplay

The strongest aspect of Biomutant is the gameplay. To be clear, it isn’t perfect, but it’s the one aspect of the game that seems to shine more brightly than the others. The most enjoyable aspects of the gameplay are the combat, progression systems, and open world exploration.

3 – Combat

The fatal flaw in the combat is the ranged combat. You use R2 to fire your gun and the right thumb stick to aim it. However you will likely want to jump and dodge around the area while shooting. You need to do this with X and O. This means you are constantly moving from the X/O buttons and the thumb stick. It can feel a bit clunky to say the least.

The melee combat in Biomutant is much more pleasing. It combines elements of Devil May Cry and the Batman: Arkham series. Enemies will show symbols above their head as their attack chains start, and you can counter those attacks to open up more combos. You will chain together your combos to enter the super wung-fu state and unleash even more powerful attacks.

The magic in Biomutant is hindered by the limitation of only four ability slots. If you plan on building a spellcaster, this limitation may become frustrating. Magic in Biomutant seems well suited as a compliment to either ranged or melee gameplay, rather than a standalone strategy.

Ranged combat makes tough enemies a lot easier, but melee combat can be a lot more fun, especially when pairing magic abilities with either. Biomutant promotes mixing each combat style to achieve a hack n’ slash style of gameplay similar to Devil May Cry. You can stick to just one of these combat types and complete the game, but utilizing all three is the key to success.

4 – Progression

As you level up, you will unlock stat upgrades as well as get some resources for new combat abilities. The system allows a fair bit of agency in how your character develops. For example, if you want to be a brawler you will likely put most stat points into your health pool and melee damage. You can also add resistance for any element you have a tough time dealing with.

Crafting is also present in the game, although it can be hard to get started with it so early into the game. You will get various pieces for multiple weapon types but not necessarily enough to make anything worthwhile. It will take a while before you are able to make anything useful compared to the weapons you receive through normal play.

It can feel like the system is a bit complex at first, due to the swath of upgrade menus. There are three types of upgrade currencies, which means three different menus to buy various upgrades. The crafting system doesn’t help either.

The menus for both crafting and equipping gear looks the same, which can be jarring in a system you aren’t yet acquainted to. Overall the crafting system seems like one of the more in-depth aspects of the game that simply takes a while to dig your teeth into.

5 – Open World

Love it or hate it, this game is open world, and allows the character free reign on where they would like to go. Enemies will scale with you, though that doesn’t mean you can go wherever you want. It seems that certain areas will scale a bit higher than others, so the world still feels dangerous.

Exploring can feel like playing Far Cry – the world pulls you into side missions and collection quests. You will naturally stumble on new adventures or scavenger hunts and it can be a bit addicting. However, if you are the type that just wants the main story, there is nothing stopping you from skipping the extras and solely focusing on the primary questlines.

Conclusion

Biomutant is an enjoyable game with enough to keep you playing for a worthy amount of time, provided you aren’t simply rushing through it. It seems that everyone can find a way to make their style of gameplay shine. Any build can work, whether it’s melee, ranged, magic, or a combination of the three. Biomutant is not a bad game, though it misses the mark in a few key areas which prevent it from being the next Horizon: Zero Dawn.

While the story is the weakest part of the game, it isn’t terribly bad either. The inclusion of voice actors for many of the NPCs would have made for a more enjoyable experience. I wouldn’t recommend this game to anyone who expects a deep and rich story from it. This is a game to throw on for a few hours of downtime for mindless fun.

Comment below if this seems like a game you would try. If you have played Biomutant, let’s discuss it below!

The Strong

• Enjoyable combat
• Addicting open world tasks
• Player agency in character development
• Enjoyable kid-friendly humor
• Visually pleasing and minimal bugs

The Weak

• Hard to follow storyline
• Nagging Narrator
• Combat targeting is a pain
• Morality feels all or nothing
• Too much “tell” not enough “show”