BIOMUTANT

After my last few experiences with CP2077, RDR2, and Dishonored 2 (bad ports, poor optimization, and crash after crash) I've rediscovered my appreciation for games that just work. And if my PC barely has to make an effort to run it? Even better. I think the hate this game received says far more about the state of mind of your average person than it does about Biomutant. Maybe I'm wrong, but if running around exploring a post-apocalyptic petting zoo while shooting and swinging a sword “bores” you, perhaps you've become too jaded for this sort of recreation. People need to calm down. You're playing a video game, not filing your overdue taxes. The "tedious" and "unbearable" intro is just fine (if you play games for fun and lack the demeanor of an angry child with low blood-sugar) and is integral to telling a story and setting up the gameworld/gameplay. The game is spinning a yarn while introducing you to the world and characters you'll be exploring and interacting with. If you just kick back and play (and I mean “play” as in like a kid plays) you're almost certain to enjoy it. The narrator is quite charming and gives the game the same relaxing tone as a David Attenborough documentary. Combined with the squeaks and chirps of the various critters and the effect is delightful. The crafting of weapons and armor is familiar and fun, shooting looting and swordplay are all solid. The real star is the music, for me. The look and the sound are so damned relaxing and enjoyable that I have been playing this all evening right up til bedtime, and firing it right back up in the morning. It's almost meditative. Listen, I've been playing for four decades and I tend to like GOOD games. Witcher, STALKER, HalfLife, FEAR – I'd like to think I know a good game when I see it. This is a good game and well worth the investment.

I own this game on another platform. At first I thought it wasn't for me. In the beginning the story is very slow and has a lot of tutorials, so this game takes a couple hours getting into. Once the story is set and the tutorials are complete is when BIOMUTANT really gets interesting. The combat is really unique, and a lot of fun. The combinations are satisfying to perform and see happen on screen. Whether you're hacking enimies up close with mele weapons, or shooting from afar, everything is very fluid and you feel in control of the character at all times. BIOMUTANT lets you build your character in a number of different ways, allowing for multiple playstyles to be accomodated. The Mutations make you feel like the character is really yours and can be taken in the direction that the player wishes. Decisions when building your character actually carry weight, which I appreciated. The story is good enough to keep you involved, but nothing special if I'm being honest. The dialouge is pretty wacky, (Trains being called "chug chugs", or the past being referred to as the "once was" etc.) and felt kind of gimmicky at times. Your Automaton has to translate everything anyone says, which slows down the flow of the game a lot, and isn't explained very well. I didn't get this at first and just thought the game had a narrator. This is where I think a lot of the negative reviews are coming from. The game has a few bugs, but nothing game-breaking and nothing that can't be easily patched in a couple updates. I haven't had a crash, or had to reload a save yet, which is nice. All in all I think this is a really interesting game that's well worth your money. If storytelling and dialouge are super important to you, maybe skip this one. But if you want something with fun gameplay and great combat, than BIOMUTANT is a game that you will thoroughly enjoy. Thanks for reading.

Erase all of the reviews from your mind, give it a try on sale. You will be surprised to find a pretty good open world ARPG. Came for the charm, almost left for the tedious ugly introduction, stayed for the exploration and combat. The charm never went away from start to finish.

Do you like tutorials? Do you like having your hand held over each and every step? The game suffers from the same plague most modern games suffer from. It assumes you the player are to stupid to understand it's systems so it guides you through everything. The game also uses a narrator who is used to spoon feed you every nuance of the story along with every little moment that occurs in the game. Let me tell you the story of this sign post, then lets talk about the map and this place you should go. Can't risk letting you figure this out on your own, you might enjoy that. At first you think it's tolerable if you can just get through the tutorials, but it doesn't let up. You'll be hit with a constant stop and go to your gameplay so it can introduce some new tutorial or visual element it wants to talk to you about. Finally the tone of the game, can it please pick one? Are you a dark and tough world of animals fighting for survival? Or are you a whimsical fairy tale full of wonder and enchantment?

I found the start of the game kind of charming with the narrator talking and the odd, gibberish creatures made. I also thought the first 8 hours I put into the game was rather entertaining, lots of exploring, combat here and there, crafting all sorts of different weapons and applying skills/bio/psi points as you earn them. However, my enjoyment wore thin and eventually turned into irritation as my time in the game continued. The narrator: I enjoyed it at first, the small bantor he made, but as I got a few hours into the game I grew to lothe the narrator. I also become annoyed at the annoying gibberish noises that the NPCs made. There are zero speaking creatures in the game, it's all narrated. NPCs all mumble and make awful sounds and the narrator talks to you about what they are saying. As you wander around the narrator talks about everything and doesn't stop, even if you turn the option down to limit the narrator's comments. About 3 hours into the game I turned the narrator's volume off, same with the gibberish and I just read subtitles. I found none of the characters likeable and the awkward way they spoke (subtitles) made following any kind of story a chore. Eventually I just clicked my way through everything to save me the headache. Light and dark path seems to play very little of a role in the game, almost like it's an after thought. Don't worry about it. Combat was fun, at first, then it became boring. Melee, psi powers and ranged....melee is the kid no one wants to play with. It can be powerful, but you're spending half the time trying to dodge and get in close to fight. Psi powers are entertianing, but not even required to combat anything. Ranged is OP. Once I hit 8 hours I had crafted extrodianry ranged and melee weapons...I just dodge left/right/backwards and shoot my ranged weapon. I thought the world looked great and it was fun exploring towards the start, but in the end it all became tedious and dull. An okay game, but not one I'd recommend.