Since Covid hit, we, the gamers, have been quietly waiting for a solid RPG to come and eat all our time up. Games have been quite scarce with deadlines being pushed back, production slowing down, and projects just being canned altogether. Hype is at fever pitch at the moment for something that will keep people coming back for more. Then ‘BIOMUTANT’ came along. BIOMUTANT by Experiment 101, fills that empty void that 2020 left, with some wholesome but fun as hell adventuring.

Our quest begins as a unique and devastating plague crosses the land, causing the Tree Of Life to start dying. Not only that, our once peaceful furries are mutating and producing offspring with genetic enhancements and not all of them are using their newly found abilities for the greater good. Shock horror there, but as the narrator chirpily adds “usual beginnings often result in unusual endings, “ which is definitely the case in BIOMUTANT.

The story in this game is the stuff made of old Kung-Fu fables, with it branching or perhaps rooting its way all the way back into the past, creating a strong sense of history. As you travel along the way you learn pockets of information from the past and how that affects your future. From nasty, waste dumping corporations to flashbacks of family traditions, trauma and loss, it all comes together like a beautiful fairytale your grandma would tell you in bed. I loved every bit of the story; it pulls at the right heartstrings then warms you right back up again, with its fabulous pacing. I also can’t shake the feeling that ‘Worldeaters’ is probably a subtle metaphor for the human race and their destructive paths across the planet.

The game opens up with some of the coolest character customisation I have seen in a long time and I was living for it. Firstly, you must pick which of the six breeds/variants you could call them, each with their own unique stats. They have a range of levels of Vitality, Strength, Intellect, Charisma, Agility, and Luck, and once you start tweaking these further, the appearance of your little mousy thing changes to reflect your stats. You can also adjust your resistance to certain hazards here too. Once you have developed your base character then you must pick a class. These include a very stealthy option, a marksman, a magic wielder, a tanky, and a rogue-like gunslinger. The customisation even in the initial opening is insane. I spent ages creating my character and adjusting his colors to my own style of gameplay.

Once you get stuck into actual gameplay, your character has the ability to run, jump, hack and slash his way through enemies with light, heavy, and combo attacks using melee-ranged weapons or even hand-to-hand combat with his mighty ‘Wung-Fu’ skills. Like a typical RPG, you must cross a decently sized map on foot or with a decent amount of cute in their own sort of way mounts, doing story and main missions collecting leveled loot along the way to make your time easier as you encounter different levels of enemies and bosses. The map size is fairly decent, with fast travel spots conveniently opened up as you mark your territory with your wicked wizz across the world. Missions and actions grant you aura, a sort of moral compass that somewhat reminded me of Fable, depending on your actions these can send you into the light or the dark, opening up or closing opportunities and skills.

While the gameplay is fun with its many combos of moves and Wung-Fu approaches to attacking, I found the missions at times bland with the clique object collection type missions. The tribal missions of taking outposts were nowhere near as exciting as they could, especially at the beginning when you should be wowing the audience. In saying that though, it does help push the narrative along well as allies get stronger and as enemy tribes get weaker.

The beauty of this game though is the loot and what you can do with it. The crafting is whimsical, cute, and simple, but by all means, do not undervalue it. You can craft some amazing weapons by essentially merging together junk. These also have rating levels so I found myself hoarding materials to make a range of rad-looking weapons. Also, littered around the world are add ons that increase weapon damage but you need to be strategic with them as a foe may be resistant to it thus wasting it.

The narrator is brilliant. I can not express this more. Voiced by David Shaw Parker, he brings a very David Attenborough feel to the story as he tells the story of our little furball. The art is gorgeous with a dusty watercolour-like silkiness to it, however, sometimes it feels like the developers have gone a bit overboard with the kinda traditional Kung-Fu show haze filter over it. I generally thought it could go without it as it would be very pretty vibrant. In saying that, the sunsets and sunrises look absolutely amazing and everything is beautifully detailed in the fore and background. It is just a shame that at times it feels a bit empty as you cross vast landscapes of the environment, a few more enemies in between would help this.

While there are some cool characters and enemies, the highlight of the game is definitely your own character. I couldn’t help but squeal with glee the first time I saw him break out into a run on all fours like his real-life counterpart would. Upgrading him with the many skill point systems (3 different skill currencies) means you can make him a toxic wonder, melee beast, or a gun-toting cowboy.

Looks can be deceiving. BIOMUTANT by Experiment 101, is definitely one of the best RPGs I have played this year and while it only looks like a cute mouse scurrying around for kids type of game, it is far from that. There are so many elements to BIOMUTANT, I am bound to have missed something but let me assure you there’s plenty to see, build and do in this epic journey.

Written by: Stacey