A little over a year later, Biomutant from Experiment 101 and THQ Nordic has finally gotten the “next-gen” treatment with an Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 update. Biomutant was originally announced in August 2017, but went off the radar for a while. The game was eventually released, but received a mixed reception from players and critics alike.
Play it now on PlayStation 5, Biomutant is a decent game that tries to do many things at once. Does it justify a “next-gen” purchase? Let’s find out, shall we?
Telling Narrative Stories
In Biomutant players will take on the role of a mutated creature. You create this creature at the beginning of the game after watching the opening movie. The character creator offers you a range of options and these will affect how your playable character starts out in the game world. Players choose a basic type from six different options. You can then move a circular mutator to change your traits and the color of your fur. You will also be able to slightly change your resistances and eventually select a class from the options available.
The class choices don’t really affect your gameplay much, as players are free to take their character in a completely different gameplay direction than they initially chose. The lessons are in fact just a starting point and as you progress you will change things. For example, you can choose to focus on “Ki” based attacks or ranged attacks. Alternatively, you can focus on melee attacks or “Wung-Fu”. It’s all up to you.
The storyline of Biomutant begins after a long introductory sequence. During this part of the game, a narrator will explain what has happened to the world. The backstory comes together and then it really gets going. Without revealing too much, the story of Biomutant is about a world polluted by a company. Now the Tree of Life is in danger and it’s up to you to save the world.
Varied gameplay
Biomutant‘s aura system plays on the mild RPG aspects. Players will join 1 of 6 different tribes and this will change the game for you. Depending on your actions, you can choose a “Light” or “Dark” path. If you just want to destroy everything and everyone, “Dark” is for you. If you want to try to save the world, choose “Light”. Both the narrator and characters in the game will give their opinions on the state of the world and the actions you’ve taken, so there’s plenty of nuance in your decisions. Morality often crops up because some decisions aren’t as succinct as they seem.
Returning to the gameplay aspects of Biomutant, hacking and slashing are the order of the day. This is an action-adventure hack and slash game after all and the RPG aspects take a bit of a back seat at times. Players can ballistic and button-bash their way to victory, but there are some enemies that require a slightly more calm calculated approach to defeat. Using long range weapons and “Ki” based attacks like acid spit can prove invaluable in some battles. The “Ki” based attacks are a lot of fun in the game and should definitely be tried when exploring the world.
open world
Biomutantthe world opens up a bit after a while and gives you a little more freedom to do what you want to do. The “Old World” you have in front of you can be explored quite freely with the only limitation that the environment itself is too harsh to handle. This forces you to explore elsewhere and upgrade yourself a bit more before you can move on.
The story of Biomutant gets pretty dark at times, with some of the knowledge about what happened to the world being a little too close to home, given that our real world also suffers at the hands of giant corporations. Thankfully, the game balances this out with some humor.
The NPC characters talk in “Gibberish”, but there is a narrator who will translate for you. David Shaw-Parker is the narrator’s voice and while he’s done a great job here, he can get a little angry over time. Players can decline how often the narrator speaks in the game and it’s an option many players will use given how often his voice pops up to tell you to do something.
The open world battles in Biomutant is fast, fluid and hectic. However, there is a small glitch regarding the camera angle and camera controls. The camera gets thrown around quite a bit in battle and is disorienting at times. That said, the combat is still remarkably fun, and the addition of slow-motion finishers and flashy effects really sweetens the deal.
Biomutant also includes some bigger creatures that don’t really flinch when hit. These are tough enemies and require a different approach to defeat. When you do eventually take them down, there is a sense of accomplishment that immediately engulfs you. Pairing this with a loot system makes it feel rewarding to take down big enemies. The crafting system in Biomutant also responds well to this with some really awesome made weapons that feel super powerful in the game.
Visually appealing
When it comes to graphs, Biomutant is a mixed bag. There are some almost photo-realistic environments mixed in with character models and textures that look cartoonish. Some textures in the game look awful when up close. But for the most part you will be impressed by how lively and beautiful the area looks. There is also a photo mode that can be activated by pressing both analog sticks or activating it from a menu. The photo mode offers a large number of options and the game runs smoothly. If you opt for the Quality visuals, you get 4K at 30 FPS or 4K with a variable frame rate. Performance mode slightly lowers the resolution to 2K in favor of a higher frame rate.
The game also has a photo mode that can be activated by simply pressing both analog sticks or by launching it from a menu. This can be activated at any time, the action freezes instantly and you can play around with the camera and take the best screenshots known to mankind. The photo mode is honestly one of the best parts of the game and there are so many opportunities in the game to really explore your creative side with the photo mode. The beautiful locations and the varied mutated monsters are quite photogenic.
About mutated monsters, Biomutant has many incredibly striking designs that range from zany to terrifying. It’s really remarkable and there’s a specific giant creature that you see at the start of the game that will leave you in awe.
The soundtrack featured in Biomutant has a few memorable songs with a battle music track that is well suited to combat and action. There’s a definite East Asian undertone to the game’s music and theme, and it works together with the fact that you’re referred to as a “Ronin” in the game.
Final verdict
General, Biomutant on PS5 is an action-adventure game that does a lot of things right, while in some ways it drops the ball. It takes its inspiration from the countless open-world action-adventure games of yesteryear, but still manages to stand out from them with its cartoonish, vibrant aesthetic. It works great on PlayStation 5 and the vivid images are fantastic throughout.
This game is not Horizon Zero Dawn, but even at its most flea market you will definitely have fun with it Biomutant. The visual fidelity upgrade that the PS5 version brings to the table is welcome and as the game is quite old by now, all the major bugs and issues from its previous versions have been ironed out. If you played Biomutant previously the PS5 version is worth picking up, but don’t expect something stunningly awesome. This is a pretty standard open-world action-adventure game, but one that’s oddly immersive thanks to its lively atmosphere.
Developer: Experiment 101
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
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