BIOMUTANT

The world is dying from a plague, the Tree-of-Life is bleeding from its roots and the Tribes are split. Your job is to decide whether that ends with a unifier or an executioner, and the mutation system is how you get there.

Different points unlock different abilities

Bio Points unlock Biogenetics abilities and can improve resistances, while Psi Points unlock Psi-Powers. Some Psi-Powers also require a particular Aura alignment. These are upgrade choices, not powers granted automatically by walking through a contaminated area.

Check the cost and requirements of an ability before spending its points. Your starting class supplies an initial selection of perks and equipment, while later upgrades and crafted gear develop the build further.

Combat is movement first

The fight system is built around maximum freedom of movement and agility while mixing three damage sources: melee, shooting and mutated powers. That ordering matters. Positioning is not separate from combat here, it is what makes the mix work, and a build that leans on psi-powers still has to stay mobile to use them.

Upgrade Points earned through levelling can unlock Wung-Fu techniques and perks. Read which weapon type a technique uses before buying it so that the move fits your equipment.

Weapons are assembled, and gear is survival equipment

Crafting is unusually loose. You mix and match parts to build your own one- or two-handed weapons in the slash, crush and pierce families, and you do the same for revolvers, rifles and shotguns. Then you add modules, and the examples are not subtle: cork-screws, battery-powered chainsaw modules and vials of bio-contaminated sludge. Characters you meet will also build things for you, including bionic wings, a jump-pack, and modifications for your Automaton, the scrap-toy that follows you around.

Armour does double duty. Gear is the environmental preparation the store describes, a gas-mask and oxygen tank for the Dead Zones, thermos-resistant clothing for the cryonic areas and protective gear for bio-contaminated creatures, and it is also where your defensive numbers live. So a piece that answers a zone hazard is still a piece with stats on it, and your loadout is a packing list and an optimisation problem at the same time.

The world is traversed, not crossed

The open world is described as a dying wildland with tunnels and bunker networks beneath it, mountains above and an archipelago offshore, and you move through it by foot, mech, jet-ski, air-balloon and region-specific mounts. Different terrain calls for different travel tools, so consider the route as well as the destination.

Narratively, you are guided by a Storyteller who narrates the journey, and your actions decide how the story of survival ends. Post-launch patches added a Narrator setting under the dialogue options and changed how often some of the narration plays, so if the voice grates there is a control for it, alongside a patch that doubled the level cap and a long run of fixes.

Should you play it

Yes, with a clear expectation of what you are buying. This is a 2021 open-world action role-playing game with a very large map and a lot of systems stacked on top of each other, and the mutation and crafting layers are what give it its own shape. Consider it if you enjoy combining weapon crafting with a selection of combat abilities.

Two things to check before you start. The add-on worth knowing about is the Mercenary class, which the publisher first gave away with digital preorders and later put on sale for everyone else, so if you want that class, decide before you pick a character rather than after. And the PC listing still asks for an internet connection and a Direct3D 11 capable card alongside its memory and graphics lines, so read the whole requirements block rather than only the storage figure.