Biomutant is an RPG published by THQ Nordic and developed by a brand new studio called Experiment 101. This is their first game and it was made by a small team of around 20 developers.
Since it’s made by a small team, I wasn’t expecting a triple-A quality experience from Biomutant.
But I was delightfully surprised by how well-polished the game really is.
Biomutant has a massive map that I was able to freely explore however I like. And it even provided me with a lot of methods of transportation for doing that as well.
Having said that, Biomutant is not perfect. There are a few flaws and quirks about the game that affects the overall experience. So let me start from the beginning.
From the very beginning, Biomutant was able to impress me. The character creator itself was one of a kind. It features multiple classes but I went with Deadeye since it suited my play style.
Having to choose to follow either good karma or bad karma path was one of the first decisions I’ve had to make. This decision makes a big impact on the story and the ending.
I went with the good karma path and sided with the Tribe that follows the good path. Choosing a tribe and liberating all the outposts to unite all the tribes is one of the main missions in Biomutant.
Instead of taking the player through one main mission with sub-story missions, Biomutant has multiple main missions that sort of come together at the end.
In addition to uniting the tribe, there are other main missions like avenging the death of mooma (mother) and defeating world-boss creatures.
A great thing about the game is that throughout all these missions it always manages to keep a very fun and casual vibe unlike any other game. It’s like— Yes, the world depends on you but also have fun along the way.
The game gives you multiple ways to travel different areas in the world, like different types of mounts, a Fallout armor-style mech, a jet ski-like machine to go on the water, and a giant hand that you can ride.
Most of these missions, however, felt like doing chores. They were basically the same except only taking place in a different biome. There are plenty of side-missions too, but I didn’t felt like doing any of them since they barely had an impact in the gameplay.
Usually, in a RPG I do a lot of side-missions to level up my character so I can defeat bosses. But in Biomutant, I was able to defeat even the world bosses while having my character under-leveled.
The game also lets you unlock special abilities and combo moves. Those were fun to use during battles. The combat gameplay was quite satisfying.
I played the game on normal difficulty but didn’t feel challenged by boss battles. The only times I died were from falling into black sludge or running out of stamina while swimming.
This issue with non-challenging combat lowered the fun I was having in the game by a small amount. The other annoying thing about the game was the narrator.
Biomutant doesn’t have voice-acted dialogs for the main character or the NPCs. They only speak a language called gibberish that pretty much explains itself.
Instead, the dialogs and the story is narrated like a god-like voice. This narration thing felt like a unique approach at first but it quickly turned into a very annoying part of the game.
Thankfully a patch fixed the narration pacing and volume. And I also lowered the narration all the way down from the settings. It was still annoying though.
I was able to complete the main missions without any challenges. It took me about 12.5 hours to beat the campaign without doing any side-missions.
The final boss battle was the only challenging battle I faced. And the ending was a weird one too.
However, I made peace with the slightly disappointing campaign, mediocre boss battles, and gameplay. Because other aspects of the game makes up for what it lacks.
The crafting system in particular was my favorite part of the game. It was fun to mix and match different parts of craft and upgrade weapons.
The world itself was also stunning. The lighting, the art style, and the different environments were beautifully designed. It was as if the game was made for virtual photographers.
Overall, I truly enjoyed playing Biomutant. If I manage to make up the time, I would play it again in New Game+ mode.
While the game doesn’t really feel like a RPG with a strong campaign, it’s definitely a unique and fun little game to play in the evenings to de-stress and wind down.