BioMutant Analysis
BioMutant’s build-up to launch was a long, winding path. That path is full of mystery and hope, an exciting combination for any game. However, after years of waiting, BioMutant is here and ready to explore. Unfortunately, despite all the potential the world has to offer, BioMutant struggles to find its footing atop a mountain of seemingly solid gameplay concepts. Leading up to launch, BioMutant was pitched as a cross between Breath of the Wild and Shadow of Mordor, two of the defining open-world games from the last decade. It’s easy to spot these inspirations while exploring BioMutant’s massive map, but it comes across as a diet version of what its contemporaries have to offer. The world isn’t as rich, the enemies aren’t as deep, and the exploration isn’t as open as Breath of the Wild or Shadow of Mordor. It’s not for a lack of trying, though. In fact, the similarities between both games form the core of everything players will do on their BioMutant journey. There are four “Poofs” scattered around the world for players to defeat, and in doing so, save the World Tree – something of a trope, but it still looks interesting in the BioMutant landscape. This usually involves completing a set of acquisition quests for a character, unlocking a specialized mount, then facing Poof in a boss battle.
The boss fights with the Poofs are less exciting, though the standout is the underwater fight against the Murk Poof. The formula is clearly inspired by Breath of the Wild’s Divine Beasts, but BioMutant avoids the puzzle box elements that made BoTW’s Divine Beasts interesting, instead dropping the player into a would-be Gannon. Visually, the Poofs are unremarkable except for their size, and the characters trying to land them next to the player never feel fleshed out. Tribe War – another major BioMutant objective – suffers from similar issues. Early in the game, players choose which faction they want to help, the first two options being a black-and-white morality decision. It’s possible to change tribes down the line, but BioMutant doesn’t really explain the process behind doing this. Additionally, players are able to cut Tribe War incredibly short during gameplay, advancing the story but skipping a portion of the game. As part of Tribe War, players are tasked with capturing outposts to increase their territory, but capturing outposts is a tedious process. Some require the player to fight several waves of enemies, others have them complete a quick objective – collecting an item or flipping a switch, usually – and some can be solved with a simple persuasive analysis. Players then take down a team’s fortress, combining several of those objectives. Defeating a faction will unlock its weaponry for players to use, which can slow down the battle.
Those shakeups are also a godsend, as combat is central to everything BioMutant has to offer. Visually, the mechanics are interesting, boasting a movie-like action flair that few games can emulate along with comic book-style “thwacks” when hard objects land. There are several different weapon types, though many of them share the same combo inputs. There’s a radial menu that allows players to equip different weapons on the fly, so having similar combo inputs helps keep combat from feeling rushed. Throughout the experience, players never feel all that powerful, despite how they dance around on-screen shooting guns and throwing swords. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Even minor enemies found in BioMutant can be defeated, so players often spend a little effort to eliminate them from an area. Everything is still workable, but BioMutant’s combat system would greatly benefit from a larger number of weaker enemies. There is a great crafting system for players to create their own weapons, allowing them to mix and match weapon parts to their heart’s content. Weapons are level-gated, so it may take some time for players to have freedom with their creations, but it’s easy to make some cool-looking combos. The distribution of crafting resources is somewhat unbalanced, which can cause failure to put together a good weapon when a player is missing a key resource, but that’s a relatively minor issue. Perhaps its biggest selling point, the world of BioMutant is really visual, and it’s open for exploration – with a few asterisks. Essentially, a corporation’s disregard for the environment led to the eccentric, mutant-ruled world that players now roam. Collapsing buildings and broken infrastructure dot parts of the landscape, with other segments stained with toxic fumes and sludge.
This is where BioMutant encounters one of its worst issues. It presents players with vehicles to explore the overworld, such as a mech and a type of jet ski, but the places they can be summoned are severely limited. BioMutant gives players interesting toys, but rarely lets the player take them out of the box. This is particularly rough for the jet ski mount, as the BioMutant’s swimming mechanics are painfully tight, only allowing players to go a few seconds before drowning – and slowly. Worryingly, the game struggles with performance issues, even running on PS5. While many of the worst issues we encountered seem to have been fixed with the latest patch – specifically a bug that would blacken half the screen – there are still issues with crashes and frame rate drops. Those dips don’t happen with alarming frequency, but they’re still common enough to be an issue. BioMutant is full of potential, but a lot of that potential is wasted. It’s not a bad game, but it won’t be the standout project THQ Nordic fans were hoping for. However, even with all its issues, players may find themselves booting up the New Game Plus mode when their journey is over, despite breathing a sigh of relief when they see the credits roll. . BioMutant releases May 25 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Today Technology reviews BioMutant on the new Neuron Desktop from Origin PC. It is a top of line PC that can be customized to meet different needs. Read full details about Neuron here. MORE: Biomutant: Which Class You Should Be Playing