Biomutant dropped on the Switch a little over a month ago, and despite having some launch day jitters, looked to be a technically impressive port of the RPG/Action Wung Fu Fable. The game seemed interesting enough, but admittedly, I looked passed the original release back in the day and was almost going to skip it on Switch as well, until I had a chance opportunity to play Biomutant after the initial launch window. What’s it Like? Rummage through the trash, sharpen your blade, and prepare to evolve as we review Biomutant for Nintendo Switch.
Biomutant tells the story of your character, a Wung Fu mutant mercenary who is tasked with either restoring the Tree of Life, or destroying it depending on who you align with. There are 3 main story branches in the game and I don’t want to spoil it for you here but there were plenty of surprises and flashbacks to help flesh out the world and your motivations. Story sequences are narrated by an off-screen character voiced by David Shaw Parker, who has a soft and soothing voice, that sounds very similar to Stephen Fry. While the narration is fine in itself, I felt like it took me out of the game, rather than investing me in it. The story still manages to deliver a lot of emotional impact in parts, but I feel like it may have hit even harder if the characters themselves were talking. When you first create your character, you can assign traits and stat points that change their appearance, and despite trying to go for a badass, balanced warrior, my character ended up looking like a mix between Sid the Sloth from Ice Age, and Ren from Ren and Stimpy. It’s this level of customisation that makes Biomutant so fun, and I was crafting all sorts of unique weapons to try to mix up my playstyle.
Gameplay mainly revolves around tight, third-person combat as you traverse an open world with multiple branching storylines and missions as you level up and mutate your character to suit your playstyle. There are a lot of core mechanics at play that are slowly introduced so as to not overwhelm the player and I found the pacing to be just right, allowing me to get the hang of something, before introducing something new. You can choose alliances, be good or evil, craft weapons and armour, and mutate new abilities to help you in combat. Combat is fast-paced and rewarding, reminding me of the Batman Arkham series albeit with a balance of ranged and melee combinations to keep your enemies guessing. You will flit in between groups of enemies, dishing out kicks and punches, before diving out of the way of an incoming attack while unloading rounds to keep up the momentum. This combat style was fun and engaging and as I leveled up, introduced me to more combos and special moves so I rarely got tired of clashing with rival tribes. Littered throughout the world are puzzles that I didn’t find too taxing, but it was a nice way to break up the action here and there.
Graphically, Biomutant is a rather impressive port, cramming a lot of detail into the handheld version of the game. On launch, the environments didn’t have as many objects or details, but a patch was released shortly after the launch that added a more detailed environment, better performance, and higher visual fidelity making the world around your character a delight. That being said, there can be minor “jank” with your character during cutscenes, and there is a grainy look at times while exploring. The game runs well and I only noticed minimal slowdown when things were fairly action-packed. Performance is relatively the same in docked and handheld, although on the OLED in handheld, that game looked incredible. There are lots of little details scattered throughout the world as well as comic book-style “boom” and “pows” while scrapping with other animals in the game, giving combat a stylish approach.
For my vision-impaired Biomutants, I’m pleased to say there are accessibility options that may help you enjoy the game even more such as scaling the UI, changing its opacity, selecting colours of subtitles, and even autocompleting Quick Time Events for ninjas who may not be as fast on the trigger as they hoped. At $60 AUD, it is a bit on the pricier side for a port of this age, but much like Kingdom Come: Deliverance, there’s been a lot of care and an impressive amount of optimisation to make Biomutant as good as it can be on the Nintendo Switch. Despite looking rather bland on launch, Biomutant has already received a post-launch patch that has improved both visuals and performance. There’s a lot of adventure here, and more so for completionists, with the story taking around 15 hours to complete, and completionists will be kept busy for around 45 hours, giving you good value for money despite the premium price tag.
For the final evolution of this review, it’s safe to say that Biomutant is a pleasant surprise. The evolution of your character as you play means no 2 games will be the same, and the narrative told by short and sweet interactive flashbacks helps drive your motivation to see it through to the end. Its combat and gunplay are fast, stylish, and slick, and the interesting post-apocalyptic setting where animals rule in an almost martial arts dynasty is an interesting one. Biomutant may not look as sharp as it does on other consoles, but it’s an impressive port with great performance and detailed visuals. Much like my Wung Fu champion crafting and recycling in-game, I’m glad Biomutant got upcycled to the Nintendo Switch.
So, What’s It Like? Biomutant is like Darksiders, crossed with The Legend of Zelda.
In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by the publisher, but this does not affect my score.
