Biomutant is a unique action-adventure RPG set in a gorgeous, kung-fu inspired world. The title borrows a lot from other games and has been cruising largely under the radar since its announcement nearly four years ago. It's finally here, and critics are beginning to reveal whether the long-awaited delivers on all that it promises.
The initial response to Biomutant has been mixed. Critics enjoy the title's art direction and ideas but stumble through bugs and hollow content. Here's what they're saying.
Luke Reilly, IGN: "To its credit, the way Biomutant fuses all its components together has resulted in something that is actually unique, at least broadly speaking. It's certainly the only open-world post-post-apocalyptic kung fu action RPG starring anthropomorphic animals I've ever played. The key disappointment is that the structure of the actual game that all these ingredients have been injected into is anything but unique, with objectives and tasks overtly recycled or riffed upon mission after mission.
With excellent enemy creature design, a rich and diverse world, and piles and piles of choice when it comes to combat and customization, Biomutant has a lot of the building blocks of a top-drawer action RPG. It's really missing only a few, but they're big ones: its cookie-cutter approach to objectives and puzzles feels two-or-so generations off the pace of other open-world action games, and that leaves the quest to gather all of the things feeling repetitive early on."
Alice Bell, Rock Paper Shotgun: "Everything is a fry-sparker or a gunsflexer or a chugyard. It was like running a cheesegrater over my brain while being forced to watch back-to-back episodes of In The Night Garden. I skipped so many conversations. And you might not hate it, of course, but Biomutant tries to engage with some serious themes around morality and war and so on at the same time. It's definitely a bit dissonant to talk to a big dude who is heavily implying he is an alcoholic and using words like nim-him-bibble to do it.
But even without that, there's too much going on in Biomutant. Maybe if there weren't so many unnecessary things then the devs could have spent more time making the annoying bits less annoying. Making those menus clearer and easier to use, properly signposting critical QTEs in boss fights, and tightening the combat lock so fights feel less chaotic and you can be more intentional with your attacks. Who knows? In the end there isn't loads wrong with Biomutant, it's more that the bits that are wrong are pervasive, and you have to wade through extraneous fluff to enjoy the bits that are right. Really cool hats, though."
James Davenport, PC Gamer: "Biomutant feels like it's going to be much more, but in practice it's an endless stream of new ideas that go nowhere and beautiful, toxic landscapes with little to offer except an excuse to use photo mode. (I'm at 127 screenshots and counting.) It's especially disappointing because Biomutant's nonchalant, optimistic vision of the post-apocalypse is a refreshing take on the end times, with a weasel dressed like Elvis for every fascist cannibal emperor in Fallout.
But if you strip out the gangly, affable muppets, all that's left is a broken open world RPG with little else to discover except another cheap riff on the same color-matching puzzle, plastered over a rotary phone or microwave or whatever. At least it looks amazing."
Marcus Stewart, Game Informer: "Much like its gene-spliced protagonist, Biomutant is a hodgepodge of ideas stitched together to form what is ultimately a mixed bag. The game blends elements of open-world design with stylish action, gunplay, crafting, a morality system, and more. Like many jacks-of-all-trades it winds up being a master of none, and a thick layer of technical jank on top of half-baked ideas makes Biomutant feel like a case of feature creep that needed to be scaled back.
Biomutant consistently shows glimmers of promise but it takes patience and a pair of rose-colored glasses to see them. I genuinely loathed my first several hours with the game, but once I made cooler weapons that made combat more tolerable or admired another postcard-worthy sight, I felt more disappointed than anything. Biomutant has all the ingredients of a unique, entertaining adventure. It just spends too much time doing everything possible to try and impress its audience instead of polishing its handful of strengths."
Zack Zwiezen, Kotaku: "It's a shame that Biomutant isn't a better put-together piece of software. Its world feels unique, the way it blends different combat styles is fun and it's a visual treat to look at on a big 4K TV. But countless bugs, performance issues, overly talkative NPCs, boring quest design, and a sense of overall jank makes it hard to excitedly share this game with people. If you can put up with the rough edges and don't mind an annoying narrator, you might have a good time with Biomutant. There is certainly a lot to do. But if you prefer more stable games, I'd advise waiting."
Zoey Handley, Destructoid: "I can gripe about Biomutant's shortcomings until the gnoats come home, but I feel that would give the impression that I didn't like the game. On the contrary, I really enjoyed it. Exploring its world was a joy, finding a new 'ultimate weapon' that I could take apart and turn into an even better weapon was always exciting, and it kept providing new experiences throughout its runtime. The combat is fun, allowing you to mix and match different abilities to find the best way to inflict pain. It also does a good job of leaving it up to you how you tackle the game, providing a bevy of options and just letting you choose what you want to do.
It's just got a lot of loose screws, which is horrifying to see on a roller coaster, but not quite the same omen of death in a video game. I think the team did the best they could putting all the little pieces together, and the amount of content that resulted is dizzying for a bargain priced title developed by a small team. I honestly think that Biomutant's potential isn't going to be fully realized until a sequel, spiritual or otherwise, but what's here is perfectly entertaining."