‘Biomutant’ Review: Full Of Great Ideas, But Many Fall Short

‘Biomutant’ lands on Xbox One, PS4 and PC on May 25.

Experiment 101 / THQ Nordic

After years of waiting, it feels like everyone wants Biomutant to succeed. This new, unique IP hasn’t been rushed by its small, 20-person team at Experiment 101, which regularly said it’d be “released when it’s ready”–an attitude that deserves respect in an industry where the grind is all too real.

Finally, its May 25 release date is here, and while the Swedish studio’s four-year patience-building exercise has seen many people predict Biomutant to be a potential underdog game of the year, it doesn’t quite hit those hopeful heights. In an admirable attempt to introduce an exciting, fresh IP to a competitive third-person action-RPG genre, Biomutant gets restrained under the weight of too many ideas, leaving its strongest aspects underdeveloped.

Biomutant always feels like it’s building up to something bigger, more exciting, and different, but it gradually dawns on you that you’re getting more of the same dressed in different ways, whether it’s collectibles, puzzles, challenges, enemies, or bosses. By trying to include so much, Experiment 101 ironically waters down the excitement and potential offered by its diverse, charming and compelling world.

Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to love.

Biomutant’s story isn’t exactly conventional: you’re an orphaned, dual-wielding, kung-fu rodent with psychic powers who’s attempting to survive in a post-civilization world affected by five man-made environmental dangers, as well as an altogether bigger crisis–four “World Eaters” are gnawing at the roots of the huge Tree of Life, because they’re baddies, I guess.

This character you play is entirely down to you. Biomutant’s highly anticipated creation suite presents you with a handful of breeds, classes, specialisms and strengths. It’s clever: making your hero more intelligent will increase the size of their head; higher agility makes them lithe; power transforms them into a tank on legs. It’s a lot to take in, but it’s not the be-all and end-all: you can unlock all abilities as you go along, so any initial “mistakes” can be corrected over time.

Once you get into the action and pick up where the intro leaves off, Biomutant quickly establishes itself as a decent-looking title, especially given its small-team development. On Xbox Series X, it holds a smooth frame rate at 4K with impressive draw distances, but at the expense of middling textures, odd camera angles, and a bright haziness that begs for more contrast.

Luckily, the world is wonderful and weird enough to make up for it, and it’s an overwhelmingly familiar one–you’ll find yourself drawing parallels with other titles in minutes. There’s Fallout 3–you literally start your post-apocalyptic, karma-influenced experience in “Bunker 101”–as well as Horizon Zero Dawn, where a colorful, post-civilization world reclaimed by nature is now beset by large enemies and rival clans. The talismanic Tree of Life sits at the heart of a Far Cry-like map, channeling Spirit Tree vibes of the superb Ori series. 

The Tree of Life and its huge roots are visible from nearly all parts of the map.

Experiment 101 / THQ Nordic

However, these parallels never feel plagiaristic–more like affectionate send-ups. At the same time, Biomutant quickly establishes its uniqueness, along with its weird sense of humor. Tampon health packs, toilet-brush weaponry, and urinating on fast-travel points are more overt examples of this–but the game’s central unique selling point comes from its idiosyncratic combination of second and third-person narrative.

English actor David Shaw Parker acts as the game’s storyteller and his expertly voiced role provides Biomutant’s wistful, fairytale backbone. It’s often tongue in cheek, with a sideways look to the player, as he speaks both to you and your character. He also pops up during general gameplay–interjections that will rankle some players, but the option’s there to restrict his commentary.

The language Shaw Parker uses underpins the delightfully odd, family-friendly aspect of a game, countering its dark undercurrents. Things like “pling-plong booths” (phone boxes), “bangshelters” (bomb shelters), “spiral groovers” (record players) and “chugyards” (train depots) dot the landscape, named using a brilliantly naive, post-apocalyptic English last seen in the closing third of the movie Threads. 

As you get to grips with the world, you also start to get deluged by Biomutant’s plethora of resource, upgrade and crafting mechanics. Combined with a really odd and counterintuitive menu system, much of the first few hours is a case of educational trial and error, and so much of it feels unnecessary.

Bio points upgrade resistances and “biogenetic” abilities. Psi points unlock psychic skills. Upgrade points unlock fighting combos and improve your automaton. Five raw materials, which are available from “resource totems”, assist with crafting. Green leaves are currency, which end up being near-pointless in a world built around foraging, where you find nearly everything you need. I bought one item and I didn’t even use it.

Crafting is key to early success, but the game’s UI is far from helpful or intuitive.

Experiment 101 / THQ Nordic

Biomutant also introduces the idea of aura, a much-touted karma mechanic, but one that quickly loses all nuance. Once you get into the open world, it presents you with a relatively blunt early choice: you more or less must choose to take a good or bad path based on the first tribe you interact with. It’s frustrating for this decision to be forced on you so abruptly–especially when the narrative begs you to be a good guy. However, your inner good and evil caricatures are so annoying, you’d probably prefer to be neutral anyway.

From here, you’re tasked with storming forts belonging to rival clans to either dominate the landscape or unite the world against the greater enemy. After felling three bases and convincing the first opponent to surrender, I was thanked by my tribe, rewarded, and pointed in the direction of the next tribe. Then I did more or less the same again, talking the second leader into surrender too. Only four more to go at extreme points of the map. Good-o.

Yet after the second victory, the remaining tribes–including the “absolute evil” faction–asked to join forces with me. I said yes, a wholesome 30-second training vignette played, and the fort-capturing angle was cancelled. All that was left was to fight the World Eaters. It’s a relief, and almost feels like the game’s way of apologizing for putting you through such a mundane battle system in the first place.

It’s just as well, as exploring can often feel like a chore, even when the world is so beautiful. Fast-travel points are sometimes hard to find, or sparsely placed. You also feel like you’re always travelling at the same speed. The difference between running, sprinting, and riding a mount feels slim to none. Then again, you’re never running for long before you trigger a battle.

Enemies come in all shapes and sizes; battles can be both fun and immensely frustrating.

Experiment 101 / THQ Nordic

Combat is a real sticking point for Biomutant. It has a very arcade feel, but also tries to deploy Batman: Arkham-esque timing and dodge mechanics alongside Devil May Cry-style melee-and-gun hack ‘n’ slash gameplay. Sometimes it’s intuitive and fun, but is more often frustrating and far from fluid, especially when you stumble upon six or more enemies and you don’t have backup. 

Most of the time, you find yourself relying on the “Super Wung-Fu” power, unlocked by racking up three special combos. Biogenetic and psi moves feel more like party tricks more than offensive skills; chances are you probably won’t use them. I forgot about them regularly.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, the act of attacking while retreating sees enemies suddenly lose interest, running back to their designated spot. To add insult to injury, their health instantly regenerates; you may regularly find yourself getting their health bars down to mere pixels, only for them to turn on a sixpence and bugger off, and you have to start the whole battle again. Thankfully, by level 20 or so, you won’t need to run away–you’ll find a weapon and gun that’ll wipe the floor with pretty much anything.

The showpiece battles courtesy of the World Eaters themselves are more exciting and varied, especially because each one focuses on securing unique, old-world tech to defeat them, but these sections lead to four sets of fetch quests that soon become a little drab, especially as you uncover yet more of the same from your surroundings: a “fixer-upper” here, a “motojus station” there.

Several vehicles are available, mainly in order to fight the World Eaters.

Experiment 101 / THQ Nordic

Biomutant’s asset reuse is a bit of a disappointment. Clan forts are identical, right down to the location of loot boxes and shrines. Power plants, underground shelters, factories and minor buildings throughout the map have cut-and-paste layouts. Only three or four cars from the “Once-Was” exist, seemingly all late-90s hatchbacks such as Fiat Bravos and BMW 3 Series Compacts.

Conversations, too, can be repetitive. The weird narrative style of the game means characters babble before Shaw Parker explains, slowing things to a crawl; you get stuck in conversational loops, and soon enough you’ll skip chats for the most part, and avoid minor side missions entirely. Discussions are also insanely repetitive: clearing a fort, freeing a prisoner or finishing a chat throws up identical lines–hardly great if you’re planning on freeing all 23 captives, for instance. You’ll be told to “take it easy” about 45 times.

In its quest to offer so much, and combine so many genuinely good ideas, Biomutant never quite produces a core handful of unique strengths that set it apart from its peers. Early highs and laughs give way to a mix of base capturing, fetch quests and boss fights, and the story never quite carries it through. While completing it unlocks a New Game+ mode, there’s not much incentive to restart, unless you’re an achievement hunter.

Still, my 75-hour playthrough didn’t feel like time wasted. Biomutant has charm and heart; everything more or less works; there’s always the promise of something weird and wonderful around the corner, even if you’ve seen something similar before. It’s definitely unlike anything else you’ve played before, even if it often reminds you of everything else.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of Biomutant in exchange for a fair and honest review. The game was tested on Xbox Series X.