Biomutant Review

Another disappointing release in 2021. Biomutanthas long been teased. It has been on my Steam wishlist for so long, I don’t even remember when it was first added. It was on the wishlist before Cyberpunk 2107 which, in case you missed out, was a huge failure after years of hype and buildup. Biomutantruns at least on Xbox One and PS4.

The way Biomutant handles dialogue and storytelling is the biggest weakness. The story starts with your mutant fox creature going back to its homeland. The omnipresent narrator tells you there’s been an environmental disaster and that the tree that sustains the world is dying. You are returning to your hometown in order save the world and revenge your parents. The narration is a jumble of gibberish and strange metaphors. It also includes philosophical advice. Biomutant writers took the opposite approach to the saying “show, don’t tell.” The narrator tells the player that they feel “immense sadness” when their character’s parents are killed. The world doesn’t look like it’s dying (it’s full of life and looks healthy), but the game informs them every five steps of its death and that you must save it. Although the narrator says that animal life and pollution are rare, it doesn’t appear to be so. In the same way, many video games have poor storytelling. Biotmutant has a problem with the narration. It makes the story unbearable.

Biomutant misses both of these lifelines. The world moves quickly and fluidly. Jumping, including double-jumping, feels responsive. The gameplay is limited to that. The melee combat is inconsistent and the targeting is poor. The game has no lock-on option: the character will automatically target the closest enemy, and it can be difficult to hit your desired target. You can sometimes stunlock your enemies. Other times, they will hit you without warning. Smaller enemies are difficult to detect and block. Larger enemies will use the same moves even when they’re far away. It seems that the best strategy would be to only use ranged weapons, and kite indefinitely, especially since you have unlimited ammo. The majority of enemies will be following you around like zombies, and they won’t be able to hurt you unless you have your own gun. This is much more satisfying than putting yourself in melee range, where you run the risk of getting shot instantly. Overall, combat is clunky.

The RPG elements of the game also aren’t very good. The game offers a variety of skill categories, but many are unlocked within the first two hours. No significant options are available for building your character. When you level up your character, you have a variety of stats you can invest points in. However, it is not necessary to think about which stats to choose. Only one stat increases movement speed and only by a small amount. does not allow me to plan my character and create builds in the same way I do when playing RPGs.

Biomutanthas many flaws. The developers tried to include too many ideas and, as a result, the game is unfocused and incomplete. The weak combat and storyline are not a deal breaker for many players (exploring a large world is fun at first), but the high price makes it impossible to recommend the game when released. $60 is too expensive for an indie early access game.