After hearing the concept of the game, I was greatly intrigued by Biomutant’spromise. Adorable and adaptable creatures that practice a type of kung-fu? An open-world where choices matter? Suffice it to say, Biomutant ticked a lot of my many boxes and I was very eager to see if the developers could pull off what they promised.

When the studio went silent, however, I grew steadily worried if the game would ever grace my console. Had it been cancelled? Why were none of the major gaming sites reporting on it anymore? My fears were allayed somewhat when more news finally made through in small dribs and drabs. I will, admit, though, that I was still very concerned that the game had missed its release date and had taken so long from its announcement to release.

Yet release it did. To somewhat lukewarm reviews. And while it did not perform too poorly, it was not the great hit I had hoped it would be. Still, that did little to deter me from picking it up and giving it a go.

From a narrative standpoint, Biomutant keeps it simple. Rather than a host of branching narrative choices, it was still inherently binary. Actions that the player character could perform once again fell into the purview of good and evil, light and dark. In fact, it was even represented as such with your conscience represented as little sprites, acting as the angel or the devil on your shoulder that commented on your actions. And while it was not necessarily a bad thing to have such clear-cut choices, it did deprive the game from more meaningful.

This became more painfully evident in the player character’s encounter with Lupa Lupin. Once again, players were exposed to a tale of the cycle of hatred. After their home was destroyed, their parents killed, it is revealed that the sole reason Lupa Lupin had acted in such a manner was to seek vengeance for the death of their own parent. Their crime? The fact that they were hunters. The dichotomy between carnivores and herbivores, however, was never truly made clear in the game, however, and I could not quite appreciate why my Mooma might have considered it such a crime in the world of Biomutant.

Unlike The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (which the game apes), there’s also no clear explanation for where the Worldeaters sprang from. None of them are loyal servants of Lupa Lupin. And there is almost no connection between them and the supposed main antagonist of the story. They simply munch on the Tree of Life. Oh and there’s a Tribe War. In many ways, the main storyline was disparate at best. It’s not even fully understood why the player character was away from their home for so long and decided that after being away for so long, they would return.

Exploration and gameplay is where the game shines. As I explored the world around me, I was fascinated to discover how this post-apocalyptic Earth came to be. It is here, with its exploration of climate change and the impact of pollution, that helps to paint a unique world brought about by the hubris of humanity. And though we have created many good things that have made things simpler, and take for granted the wonders before us, we have also helped contribute to the death of the natural world.

Though COVID-19 has seen a decrease in air travel, it has done little to help the planet. A recent article I was reading (at time of writing the post) indicated that the Earth is still ever so close to midnight. With rising temperatures along with Pacific Northwest in recent months, more devastating fires and the outbreak of thunderstorms that continue to perpetuate a tale of devastation, there is a lot that needs to be done. 

We only have one planet and it feels like little is being done to help salvage what is left for next generations. And to be honest, with the themes in Biomutant and Horizon Zero Dawn and my own plot in Control State, the climate is very much at the forefront of the social conscience.

These little tidbits of lore aside, I also liked seeing the remnants of once grand towns and seeing how these humanoid animal creatures interpret those that are left behind. It doesn’t have the same level of thought levelled to them as Horizon Zero Dawn, but there’s plenty to see and fiddle around with. From old arcade cabinets to telephone boxes. These are all fun puzzles but the rewards left much to be desired. 

In fact, the whole loot system was a disappointment. It was never worth it to purchase anything. Better to craft and upgrade the gear that you had. And for those that were colourless or were green or yellow, it was better to simply break them into smaller components to be used. Even then, I reached a point mid-way through that there was no need to craft further weapons. I’d already found my go-to two-handed weapon and was satisfied with its speed and power. 

While the game encourages the player to mix and match gear and setups, by exploring all of the map, I’d already had enough bio points to upgrade all my resistances – with the gear I’d picked out help supplementing any other weaknesses.

Combat too, became a bit rote. Dual pistols married with kiting around enemies meant I could maintain good crowd control. My two-handed sword, occasionally mixed with a crush weapon, also meant that I could whack enemies up close and still keep my distance. 

There was hardly any challenge. Except maybe with the WorldEaters, which were a little more novel as you were restricted to whatever vehicle required for that segment. Yet, though it was not terrible hard, I did not get the sense that I could crush all my foes as many of the enemies scaled up with the player character. This was a bit frustrating because I would have liked the fantasy of becoming stronger than everyone else in my immediate vicinity and seeing enemies flee before me.

Despite a lot of these misgivings, I still had fun running around the world of Biomutant and doing what I do best: trying to save everyone with the occasional jerk choice decision to see what the player character would actually do (and honestly, some of the responses that they provide you with do not equate to the actions that I thought would happen). Much like a lot of the reviews out there, I can’t rightfully say that it was the best game that I played. There were tons of times my PlayStation 4 Pro stuttered and the loading times were on the long side.

I had high hopes for Biomutant and honestly, I was a little letdown that it didn’t meet my lofty expectations. Still, that is no fault of the developers. And if anyone cares to enjoy a little distraction while dealing with lockdowns (or the inevitable rise of the Lambda variant) and is wholly sick of brown first-person shooters, this colourful adventure might be for you. 

Do expect to get hit on the head about global warming, climate change and other things humans are doing to befoul the environment!

With the new updates, you can also reduce the amount of narration that you have to endure as well! Which is all for the good. Unless you actually want more. But that’s adjustable too. Of course, I don’t know why you would (and it’s my theory that the narrator is the automaton that accompanies you – which I suppose is interesting, but it’s also kind of grating when it’s like: Ah! Daylight!)…

But I don’t know your life. You might be into that. And that’s okay. Just keep being you, I guess, dear reader. You’ll suffer no judgement on this end. NONE AT ALL.