Biomutant

Biomutant remains a slow burner. It took a while to get its hooks into us, but it sure did. It's not startlingly original and is a bit overburdened by its sheer scope, but we don't feel shortchanged by our forty plus hours playing it. Start a new save on PS5 if you want to get a clean sweep of trophies though.

Certainly representing the definitive version of the flawed but ultimately enjoyable Biomutant on PlayStation consoles, Biomutant's PS5 debut largely erases the performance issues and instability that plagued the PS4 version of the game, delivering a handsomely made open-world adventure that can be enjoyed by gamers of all ages.

Even a year later, Biomutant still left us impressed in just about every area. From the adventure to the world and its history to the characters and quirks, Biomutant remains a compelling title. That said, the PS5 iteration doesn't feel that ambitious. The positives, such as an increase in fur and its interactions with the world, come with divisive negatives, like level of detail pop and controller features. It's still a good title for those who haven't played it before, but if you've already finished the game, you'll be thankful that you don't need to pay more for a marginally improved experience.

Biomutant has ambition but at the end of the day, it just isn’t all that fun. Experiment 101 put together a strange chimera of ideas in their game that never quite connects in meaningful ways. Finding fun was hard because the story isn’t great, exploration is a chore, and combat is serviceable. I did like the puzzle-like nature of the Worldeater boss fights because they break the monotony of quests. Technologically speaking, the game looks and performs well enough. However, I encountered a few bugs that required dying or hopping to the title screen to fix. All in all, Biomutant had the potential to be a frolicking Zelda-like but everything about this ecologically-minded adventure falls short of its ambition.

Biomutant had bags of potential but squandered this at release. The developers have now had a year to to come out swinging with fancy-pants graphics and dozens of wholesale changes the game needed. It could have been Biomutant 1.5. Instead, the game is still let down by all the same questionable game design, pointless side-quests and ghastly amount of narration that makes you want to blow your face off. The PS5 update brings framerate smoothness to make combat feel and play better – it’s really this new version’s only saving grace. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to improve upon our original verdict.

Biomutant on the PS5 is, for better and for worse, the same game published a year ago on other platforms. Its enhanced graphics are a nice addition, but the flaws of this action RPG still reside in its outdated gameplay formula.

Loading times are faster and the whole title feels a lot smoother, more polished thanks to its next-gen makeover. For those who didn’t like the title in the first place, I’d say avoid. But if you’re intrigued, and you have a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription, it might be worth you trying out the two-hour full game trial on the service before purchase. For those with the original, it's a bit of a no-brainer to download and resample this version.