Biomutant, the open-world, post-apocalyptic Wung-Fu fable RPG was originally released in May 2021. While it didn't exactly set the world alight, it was still an enjoyable, new IP from developer Experiment 101 and publisher THQ Nordic. The game sees your custom created critter trying to save the tree-of-life from a plague that is ruining the land and making its roots bleed death. To do this you will need to unite the divided tribes who are currently feuding in an eternal war in a world that's full of sentient animals. The character creation is pretty nice, with a good variety of options to choose from which make every character unique. You can change the species, customise their appearance and then you get to equip them with skills akin to other rpg games. As this is an rpg game, you will level up as you complete various quests, increase your stats, upgrade perks, craft/recycle weapons and equip a variety of different armours. You can grab a wide variety of weapons and play how you want to play - want to shoot from a distance while avoiding enemies? You can! Want to get in close and melee your opponents? You can do that too! Or do you just want to fling special magical abilities to pulverise your opponents? You can do that as well! The martial arts style combat system allows you maximum freedom of movement and agility while mixing shooting, melee and powers from your mutations. Learning new Wung-Fu combat forms through progression will make sure combat never gets old. However you can load up all your points into one melee attack/ranged weapon and overpower all the enemies that come your way.
The game world itself is stunning. The new upgrades in performance really make it eyewatering with it's bright colours, lush environments and improved gameplay smoothness. The use of HDR really adds to the experience and makes it look even more beautiful than it did before. Exploring the areas as you play has never felt better.
However its not all positive. The game does unfortunately fall foul of too many overcomplicated systems that sour the experience somewhat. It just feels like things have been bolted on and forced in and in the end feels too convoluted than it should be. Added to the fact the narrative is rather lacking with terrible dialogue and generic quest layouts. It's a shame as the unique combat and weapon crafting are fantastic but it all gets a little dragged down by these issues. I would definitely like to see the IP expanded on in a sequel in future however.
If you already own a copy of Biomutant on Xbox One you can upgrade your game for free! Simply put the game in on the relevant next gen console and you will be able to start the update downloading.
So lets rundown the upgrade details for each version on Xbox.
Xbox Series X:
Faster loading times, HDR Support and three different visual modes.
Quality Mode: Native 4K (with Dynamic Resolution) @ stable 30 FPS
Performance Mode: Native 1440p (with Dynamic Resolution) @ stable 60 FPS
Quality Unleashed: Native 4K (with Dynamic Resolution) @ up to 60 FPS Xbox Series S:
Faster loading times, HDR Support and three different visual modes.
Quality Mode: Native 1440p (with Dynamic Resolution) @ stable 30 FPS
Performance Mode: Native 1080p (with Dynamic Resolution) @ stable 60 FPS
Quality Unleashed: Native 1440p (with Dynamic Resolution) @ up to 60 FP
Whilst Biomutant remains the same fun but simple open world RPG it was before, the new graphical modes really let it shine in the visual department. The biomes look stunning in 4k and with the addition of HDR you're in for a treat. If you're looking for a new experience you aren't going to find one here, but for a free upgrade (which we always appreciate!) it's more than enough reason to jump back in and replay the game again. Plus if you haven't experienced it yet you can now play the best version of the game! TOTAL SCORE: 7.5/10
Biomutant was originally released onto the Xbox Store on the 25th May 2021. It's playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles. The game is priced at £34.99 and can be purchased HERE. A copy of the game was provided for this review by the publisher. A big thank you for that.
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