Biomutant is a creative, single-player RPG set in a post-apocalyptic open world where mutant animals rule the land. Cursed with a polluted planet, these mutants are on the brink of destruction and need a hero to save their world.
Your actions play a major part in the unfolding of a story where End is coming to the New World. The game revolves around the expansive open-world design with stylish action, gunplay, crafting, a morality system, and more.
Upgrading the original game graphics to next-gen make this an absolutely exhilarating visual experience. Unique breathtaking landscapes and quirky characters light up the screen, with each new turn worthy of a second look. I played the game on Xbox Series X with “Quality Unleashed: Native 1440p” mode – the same is also made available on PS5.
Your Character
The extensive character creation system allows you to choose a number of different mutant breeds, each coming with their own unique sets of strengths and weaknesses. With these choices, each breed also has a number of different physical appearances
You’ll be able to choose from a charming selection of breeds like Primal, Dundon, Rex, Hyla, Fip, – and my personal favorite – Murgel.
Once you have chosen your character, there are also a generous amount of customizations that you can tinker with including fur appearance, primary and secondary colors and a class type.
The Plot Thickens
You are guided through the world by a Storyteller that narrates throughout all your interactions. Your epic journey begins with the tribes. Positioned at various places across the map are the warring tribes and their fortified outposts. Once you have chosen a tribe with which to unite, it will be your job to defeat your enemies and take over their lands.
While conquering the lands, there is also the ever present danger of the “Worldeaters.” These four giant monsters are eating away at the roots of the Tree of Life, threatening the entire planet. Situated across different locations, you’ll need to survive the journey and work with others to bring them down.
Finally, there is a more personal vendetta. Through a series of flashbacks, you learn that an evil monster named Lupa-Lupin kills your mother. She was the backbone of the community and a master fighter. She taught you everything you know about Wung-Fu. Her death must be avenged.
Your Travels
You are free to explore the world and what lies beneath its surface, by foot, mech, jet-ski, air-balloon or area unique mounts. Explore the dying wildland, the tunnels and bunker networks of the underworld, and find your way up the mountains or out in the archipelago.
Each quest is equipped with an easy to follow directional indicator and a compass. As you navigate through the vast landscape, the distance to your destination will count down as you get closer.
There are lots of discoveries to be made, mysteries to unravel, creatures to confront, and no shortage of weird characters to meet in this vibrant and colorful world.
Protect Yourself
There is no question that combat is one of the better unique selling points. The martial arts style combat system allows you maximum freedom of movement and agility while mixing shooting, melee, and powers from your mutations. Learning new Wung-Fu combat forms through progression and learning from masters you’ll meet, will constantly add to your choices and make sure combat never gets old.
You are also totally free when crafting weapons. Mix and match parts to create your own unique 1H or 2H slash and crush weapons. Revolvers, rifles and shotguns and add modifications like cork-screws and battery-powered chainsaw modules to bio-contaminated sludge vials adding to your combat arsenal. There are even characters you’ll meet that’ll craft cool stuff for you, like bionic wings, a jump-pack and even let you modify your Automaton – the scrap-toy sidekick!
You can equip your character with any combination of guns and melee weopons, as well as gear found throught the quest. Equip a gas-mask and an oxygen tank for exploring the Dead Zones, thermos-resistant clothes for venturing into cryonic areas or protective gear for taking on bio-contaminated creatures, the choice is up to you.
The Adventure
Open world games are challenging to produce and open the door to any number of complications. Not only do you have to build a graphically fortified engaging world, you also have the task of developing a sharp storyline woven into “new” gameplay style selling points.
More, however, is not necessarily better. Some of the story feels disjointed and the expansive array of weapons modifications feel wasted. There is simply too much going on in one respect, while the tasks of adventures falter under the weight of repetition.
Where Biomutant stumbles with repetition is not uncommon in RPGs and I, for one, have grown to expect it. I can deal with the repetition if my interest is fulfilled elsewhere. Where Biomutant succeeds for me is in the characters and their gear. I fully embrace the furry mutants in all their glory and cannot stop marveling at the updated next-gen graphical landscapes they travel through. The overall adventure of Biomutant is simply far too interesting to leave behind.
