Biomutant is a game that encourages players to carve out their own destiny, through a combination of character creation and decision-making. It’s likely that no two players will have the exact same experience. However, that freedom to choose can be both a blessing and a curse. In my case, it’s the latter, as I played Biomutant in the worst possible way. (No spoilers below, as I want new players to learn from my terrible, terrible mistakes.)
Getting lost in the menus
When it comes to video games, I’m not the most patient guy. If I’m in a menu that demands more than three clicks to get where I want, then I’m likely to get bored and quit out. This is why I didn’t craft any new weapons until I was level 20!
Unfortunately, the starting gun can only do so much, which forced me back into the menus for another go. After pressing the “Options” button on the PS5 controller, selecting “Gear”, moving to the “Crafting” tab, selecting my character’s main hand, and then pressing “R1” to get to the “Craft new Ranged Weapon” option, I finally made a powerful new rifle.
This flipped a switch in the game, with my new rifle absolutely melting enemies with toxic slime. It was a sight to behold and I felt guilty at avoiding crafting until this late stage.
I encourage new players to brave the labyrinth of menus and craft new weapons as soon as possible!
Saving Psi and Bio Points
I saved up each and every Psi and Bio Point so that I could afford the most expensive abilities. This was a mistake, as the best Psi-Powers are hidden behind level and Aura gates, and some of the best Biogenetics require the least number of points.
I missed out on a key part of gameplay by refusing to invest these points. Don’t be like me: Experiment with different abilities. If you don’t like them, you can always reload an earlier file and reinvest in something new.
Put it all on Luck
When a player levels up in Biomutant, they get to decide where to invest a chunk of 10 skill points. It’s a good idea to spread points relatively evenly amongst Vitality, Strength, Intellect, Agility, Charisma, and Luck. However, I did no such thing, choosing to invest all of my skill points into Luck.
With each new level I achieved, I popped another 10 points into Luck, further bolstering my Critical Chance and Loot Chance. I was interested in boosting both of these stats as Critical Chance would make it more likely that I’d land critical hits, while Loot Chance would make stumbling upon super-rare items more common.
To my dismay, it quickly became apparent that ignoring the other stats had made my little mutant very squishy and slow. Despite playing on Normal, I felt like the game had been cranked up beyond Hard.
The worst part of all of this is the way that Ultimate Weapons demand certain statistics in order to wield them. My Agility rating of 28, for example, limits me from using the two Ultimate Weapons I’ve acquired so far. My slow little guy can’t even fire his fancy new guns!
New players will want to carefully consider where they invest skill points. Sadly, there’s no respec option to fix things.
Using tools as weapons
While tools can do a decent bit of damage when you first get them, they are quickly made obsolete by the various craftable weapons. Past Mack didn’t bother to learn this, however. Instead, he just went around smacking everyone with his big metal fist, dealing 300-odd damage when he could have been dishing out 500-600 alongside bonus status effects.
New players will want to treat the tools as tools and have a dedicated weapon for combat. Don’t be like this idiot!
Upgrade bench hide-and-seek
It wasn’t until the end of the game when I finally found upgrade benches. I must have missed the tutorial where they were introduced because I had no clue that they were hidden away in balloons floating above the ground.
Having not accessed upgrade benches before, I hadn’t upgraded any of my equipment. Instead, there was a pile of unused resources stacked up in my backpack.
Those hunting for upgrade benches need only look up. You’re welcome!
Overthinking Wung-Fu chains
For whatever reason, I thought players needed to pull off three separate special Wung-Fu moves in order to trigger the Super Wung-Fu state. I was wrong.
To rapidly earn Super Wung-Fu, players can use one special move, then another, before then repeating that initial special move. This makes it much easier to spam Super moves against bosses and tough crowds.
Mastering two special moves is all players need to deliver a sweet barrage of spammable Super moves!
Playing on PlayStation
While I’m less to blame on this one, I did make the unfortunate mistake of playing Biomutant on PlayStation. This appears to be the worst way to play right now, as the PlayStation version is limited to 1080p at 60 FPS(ish), even when upscaling the visuals on a PS5 or PS4 Pro.
The quality difference between console and PC is truly unbelievable. I’m been blown away by the ultrawide 4K screenshots that our reviewer shared here.
Hopefully there’s a PlayStation patch soon that allows the game to properly leverage the power of the PS5 and PS4 Pro.
After managing to ruin Biomutant for myself, it’s probably good that I didn’t review the game. Instead, Paul Tamburro took the PC version for a spin and loved it.
