August 22, 2017, was the day that my little RPG heart skipped a beat. I was enthralled by a 2 minute and 38-second video that went live on YouTube from a small Swedish studio company named Experiment 101. The video was that of a cinematic trailer for a new game they were putting together called Biomutant, and since that time I’ve been painfully waiting for this to come to fruition.
It has been a long time coming but May 25th, 2021 is now that time and Biomutant is finally being released upon the world. Now I may not share the same idea as some people, but for me, this game has to be one of the biggest underdogs coming out this year and I will go on record now stating that in my personal opinion, other upcoming games will have a hell of a fight on their hands.
Biomutant is packaged as a fresh IP to a competitive third-person action-RPG genre and even though it does stretch out to try to cover all of the basics and build upon them, I think that they did an amazing job. Biomuant’s plot revolves around an orphaned rodent-like creature with psychic powers that you take control of after a terrible world-ending virus kills off the humans. While attempting to survive in this new world on the brink of being destroyed by five man-made atrocities, you must use your martial arts and gun-fu-style fighting moves to become the fabled savior written about.
Biomutant’s character creation gives the player multiple ways of making your rodent different in your own image. You can choose between the breeds, classes, specialisms, and strengths. Then you get to increase their stats as well, from intelligence to agility, to strength. You will also get to decide on what kind of player you want to be. If a quickdraw, mage, or tanker rodent is your style, then you get to choose what kind of resistance you would like to be higher against. Later in the game, you get to unlock more abilities to increase your character in areas you think need to be increased. The character I played was an Agility high gunner with resistance higher in radiation and poison.
Just like any other RPG game, the first few things you’ll have to get used to are the controls and how the game pans out. Then once you start playing, the magic begins. First off, I have to say how amazing this game looks on PC. The world is cinematically wonderful, the colors and whimsical style of the game pulls you in. At times, I felt as though I was playing a mixture of games like Fallout 3 (due to the post-apocalyptic world) mixed with Genshin Impact (with the bright colors and the amazing design) and I would even mix in Horizon Zero Dawn (for the outlandish monsters and some fighting styles). Then on top of it, you have a tale like any Zelda game where you are trying to save the Tree of Life.
Now this game isn’t just beautifully put together, but it also has a ton of humor. One of the NPC characters is that of a mixture between what looks like an Otter and Elvis Presley. Even speaking in his own dialect, I was waiting for him to say an Elvis line at any time. From there, we have the wonderful items that are found along the way, which brought more humor to this outstanding game. The toilet-brush weapon is one of my favorite weapons when I was low level. Now when you get crafting unlocked, you can make a lot of neat and funny named weapons, from 2 handed swords to guns to even the mighty Cronk Glove.
I’m a person who loves to explore, so I never take the most direct route in anything. Biomutant rewards me with this by letting me find out of the way items that help me with my crafting. There are things, you can purchase in the store for currency or “green leaf’s”. But, why pay when I can just find almost everything I need out in the world while enjoying the adventure? I was able to craft my very first legendary item, without spending a single green leaf for any of the mats. That is not an accomplishment you can get from most games.
When it comes to fighting, you can make all sorts of combos. You can dodge, slice, dice, and shoot. Hell at times, I got the arcade game within a 3d environment feeling. I could turn and twist and shoot one guy then quickly dodge another to hit them with a sword, all the time building up my SUPER WUNG-FU attack. Personally, I got a lot of enjoyment from bouncing around dodging and attacking and it made my fights feel more motivated. I was able to control my little Gun-Fu master in a way that made me feel like I was in control, instead of hitting a few buttons and he does the moves for me. When it comes to the World-Enders (the boss fights) these are so damn intense. To defeat one, you must have the correct weapon to do so, so you must salvage and scrap and solve clues to get the right tool for the job. Then when you have the tool you must use it correctly to get the job done. As of this moment, I have killed three of the five.
Now I don’t want to say that everything in this game is perfect. There is repetition in some dialogue, and the loot and rewards are in the same places a lot of times. A great example of this is in the clan forts. However, these are minor details that can be fixed in later patches. I will say that I wish this game could become more than a single player. I would love to jump in with a friend or three and we all take on the game together. I am not looking for PVP as we already have tons of those games, but I think this game would excel as a four-person CO-OP RPG game and I would love to see it happen.
I have put a lot of hours into this game and I plan on putting in a ton more. I can’t wait and see what this company wants to do with this game in the future. I have never played a game like this before. Yes, it touches my heart and reminds me of some of the other games that I mentioned above. The key difference is that it only takes a small bit here and there and molds it into something new of its own. I will say hands down that this game will open a lot of eyes for people looking for a new style RPG to play and I hope no one sleeps on this game. I see this small mutant rodent has a huge bite for the game of the year. Biomutant: Regular Edition is available on May 25th for PS4, Xbox One, and for PC through Steam for $59.99.
This review was written based on a digital review copy of Biomutant for PC provided by THQ Nordic.
