Off the Shelf Media

First things first, is BIOMUTANT a good game? Yes? Sort of, stay with me here. At almost the three year anniversary, the game stands as a mixed bag. The concept for the game is unique and inviting, you play as a woodland creature twisted by radiation and pollution that has ravaged the world in a visually impressive way. I think the game’s best elements are represented here: the concept is unique and eye-catching, and the trailer alone inspired curiosity toward this title. The gameplay certainly delivers on those fronts, it does not feel like a copy of some other post-apocalyptic title in terms of design and the scenery changes dramatically between zones in an expansive map that is easily traversable aside from some level-locked areas. So why the ‘mixed’ rating on Steam? Well beyond the concept, the game loses its dynamic feel quickly.

Gameplay: 2

You find countless sets of armor and weapons and components for each. The issue I ran into is that at around level 10, the gear I used largely stayed the same. I am certainly a fan of more loot than less but if there is no value in picking up new equipment then the crafting system serves little purpose. I found myself trying every combination to see if the haul of new gear would make a difference or be better and more often than not to no avail. Combined with the vehicle and mount loot being only cosmetic it removes any possible enjoyment that comes from hunting it down. The skills for combat also follow a similar trend where there are different combinations to unlock but again hits a hard cap for practical diversity only a few levels in. Not to say the combat isn’t enjoyable, as it is reminiscent of the Warner Brother’s style for beat ‘em up games (Batman: Arkham Trilogy, Mad Max, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor) which makes sense since one of the studio’s founders worked on Mad Max, but with the lack of depth in style mid to late game it will feel stale as I found myself simply riding passed enemies rather than fighting them.

These mechanics do not make the game bad, they all function but they certainly make it feel bland. This does not have to be a death sentence for a game but can it make it feel like a good game, like it is worth your time, like the price tag is fair; that it has to deliver in some other area. Sadly at its current price, of $39.99 (US) on Steam, it does not. While a lot of the gameplay mechanics don’t do well I have yet to touch on what the game does badly. These are two story-driven elements that really have no place, where their removal from the game entirely would probably be a benefit.

Story: 1        

The main story is good, obviously connected to the concept of the game, and probably the leading idea for the development of the game. Simply put the tree of life is dying either from the environmental damage of the earth or from the four ‘World Eaters’ that nest on root sections. You have multiple options as to how to handle these bosses which are determined by the faction you wish to support, another part of the main story. Again, it is a unique approach as the factions all have different ideologies towards organizing their kingdoms and also how to handle the World Eaters. While the boss fights are all different they aren’t particularly difficult. Simply kiting each other while you dump endless magazines into them, usually targeting a weak spot. I nearly forgot in the backdrop that you are also trying to come to terms with or seek revenge on a lone predator that wiped out your village and parent when you were young. Oh and also to the backdrop of that there is an escape shuttle you try and fill with ‘unique’ characters you meet along your travels or simply decide not to. Further in the backdrop, you are trying to spread your preferred ideology for governance across the world. This hopefully gives you an idea of the main problem with this game’s design: too many cooks in the kitchen.

An RPG can certainly have multiple storylines occur at the same time. Take for example Elderscrolls V: Skyrim. Certainly a fantastic if not the greatest RPG made and there are two, arguably three storylines going on at the same time, the civil war, Alduin’s return, and if you want to separate that from the reformation of the blades you certainly could but typically they progress together. The issue with BIOMUTANT (they made the title all caps so I’m going to honor it) is that these storylines conjoin and intersect so often it does not feel organic and they lose any sense of urgency the more you progress. At one point I had a few main story missions, around six active, and at least two of them were to visit the same person. This type of content redundancy continues in many of the game’s elements. Such as the gear and weapons system for instance which I discussed earlier.

Atmosphere: 1

Let’s talk narrator, now as a professional voice actor I think David Shaw Parker did give an excellent performance and did exactly what was asked and expected of him. His talent is not in question but rather the intention to add this type of narrator to the game. Naturally, because you play as an animal of your choosing, you would expect their speech to be limited even if they are more intelligent from the radiation and rapid evolution. The issue is the dialogue used is incoherent at times and never seems to set the right mood. I know you think that this game would be silly and cute from the use of mongooses, rabbits, squirrels, and foxes but really it is surrounded by dramatic and tense moments such as when, spoiler alert, your village is destroyed and your mother is killed in front of you and the subject of the main story. The world-destroying itself is grim and near hopeless. The idea to mirror this with goofy speech using a cute critter mixed with mad max dialogue seems to fail to grasp the severity of the situation. Before you get upset, I know they added an option to mute the narrator altogether while I complain about it, the issue isn’t just with the tone but the dialogue itself.

The objective of any journal menu is to explain to the player what they need to do, however, in this case, you will almost always find them named “Pling-pong booths” or “Terra Globuses” because that isn’t helpful or entertaining. Having just put the game down I can’t tell you what those items are. Even if they all have a waypoint directly to them and I don’t necessarily need to know what they are, why is a dialogue I don’t understand infesting the objective’s list? Why diminish the drama of the story with poor dialogue? Some of it is good and funny at random times during events like nightfall or when it rains but after the third time loses its humor. It is the same attempt at cutesy goofiness throughout even when the subject matter is possible annihilation. They could have used silence to highlight these dramatic events like deciding the fate of a Sifu followed up only by a shrug or whimper from the conquering tribe leader, or panning across the ruined landscape of a chemical plant rather than pressing X on an old corkboard and the broken English dialogue poorly explain ecological damage. It might seem like a nit-picky complaint but playing the game for so long feels like a swing and a miss where the concept and design didn’t grasp the tone they both wanted to set.

This issue continues when your character encounters a moral choice. These choices are never subtle, but any subtlety that could exist vanishes when you are presented with an angel and demon sprite like an old cartoon. It seems so out of place to have them appear, in perfect English mind you, to beat the dead horse of morality every time you have to make a decision with a good or bad outcome. As if one out-of-place narrator explaining the situation wasn’t enough, you have two more pop up. This unnecessary feature pulls you out of the game and if the moral choices had a large impact on the story maybe I could understand having them, probably not, but there are only two endings to the game. I only completed one and searched up the other so I could be wrong but the fact that the story does not have a more dynamic ending for how many options there are for the factions you side with, the people you take, and how you handle the beasts it really feels like a let down. I was going to make a joke about the new game plus feature but I think you can piece that together on your own.

Value: 1

 So is the game good: yes. I think all together it is fun to play but I should inform you that I didn’t pay $40 for it. I think most of the negative reviews come from people who bought it on release and felt cheated because outside of the story concept, nothing was really innovative or even practical for the depth of the game mechanics. I found an unopened disc copy still in the plastic at a thrift store for $6 and got 30 hours out of it. I think a fair metric for how good a game is is every $1 = 1 hour of enjoyed gameplay and I certainly enjoyed the first twenty hours. The concept is a good one but at times I feel like their attempt to remain within the teen rating held them back from a more dramatic story while their attempt to pack as much content from other popular open-world RPGs prevented them from refining the content they had (mainly the crafting/upgrade system). It is a prime example of being an inch deep but a mile wide in the worst way. During my time playing, I did not experience a single crash or noticeable glitch, maybe some clipping happened but for such a modern game that deserves a shoutout. I hope the Experiment 101 team has more games being developed and would love to see a sequel assuming they take the criticism as a positive and can do so after their acquisition.

The gameplay is fun and keeps you hooked on to keep going. The story seems lazy even though there is a lot of things ‘to do’ it ends up feeling very empty. The atmosphere is tricky because the concept for this game is incredible but the dialogue and writing hinder the great idea into an okay execution. The value I got was excellent but the more common price tag does not merit such an expense. As I said earlier the game is vast and gorgeous but nothing unique enough to be called a positive after the mid-game stage.

Duration: 1

That is not to say it isn’t without content, quite the opposite, at a little over thirty hours of gameplay I have barely done more than the main storyline. Typically I play with the mindset to complete as many side quests as possible before continuing the main storyline of an RPG, usually, this is where you find the best loot and gear, but this game could not keep me intrigued enough to see them all through. My least favorite type of RPG game element is the always-present ‘collectible’. If games are going to have them, I prefer a single set and even then they are hardly ever enjoyable, an opinion I don’t think I’m alone in having. BIOMUTANT considers this the primary type of mission. From collecting parts for different mounts to finding corkboards, different skins for the ‘mekton’, exercise equipment, and many…many more. The real issue with these is that the rewards are usually cosmetic, maybe a slight skill boost but nothing to keep my interest engaged in hunting them all down. I’m willing to assume most of the missions follow this formula, I think I remember one escort mission but I know most people’s opinions on those are not favorable. Then you’ve got about five main stories that have brilliant premises and well, that’s it.

Final Rating: 6/10 

I am going to end this review with a warning and history lesson to you gamers out there who are still preordering games: Stop doing it. Preorders used to be a necessity when physical copies of games were limited and a major studio like 343 or Nintendo was dropping their newest flagship game because you could have had to wait for the next batch to be made but now it’s pointless. The cartridge or disc format meant they had to make the game good before it shipped but since the market has almost entirely gone digital, AAA and now I guess AAAA (thanks Ubisoft) just upload it without a care. That’s why it seems like every game now is followed up with an update that is a third the size of the original the next day. I don’t think the developers themselves are to blame, they most likely adhere to the pressure the marketing and sales teams put on them. The issue, however, will not go away if people continue to preorder a game, most games go on sale within the year for ten to thirty percent anyway and my PC people are usually more willing to wait for the price drop. Especially now the only thing these companies offer for preordering is a different skin which you can just buy separately at any time. It is a gamble the house always wins with preordering. You could get lucky with a game like No Man’s Sky (which I did preorder like a rube) or Cyberpunk 2077 that does not do well on release but the developers put on their big boy pants and do not stop until the game is as great as they intended but you are more than likely going to get a Battlefield 2042. Now the Battlefield series is my favorite first-person shooter series but no one can look you in the eyes and say it’s a good game and be honest. They sold everyone on the crazy tornados on the map in the trailer and it turned out to be and is a flop of a game. The same thing happened with BIOMUTANT but it was not as big a studio so not a lot of people cared, to be honest, that trailer almost got me to preorder. The lack of initial success kept this game down and the limited times I have seen it go on sale combined with the over-furious reviews kept it down, but those people who were mad only have themselves to blame, they gambled and lost and spewed their emotions on online ratings. If just enough of the story elements were fine-tuned I think it could have survived or if the team was willing to drop the price they could have enough funding to tweak it into a good game or for a sequel but this lack of compromise or understanding leaves it sitting on the market for $40, gathering digital dust buried under rage-filled comments. So if you want your games to be good in the future, please, for everyone’s sake, don’t preorder.