Biomutant – Grade-A Eurojank

After more than a few years in the oven, Experiment 101 and THQ Nordic released their open-world, post-apocalyptic Kung-Fu fable RPG Biomutant. And despite its weird premise and vibrant colors, the game’s reception can now, a couple of months after its launch, safely be described as lukewarm at best.

But we now also get this VentureBeat article that approaches Biomutant from a different angle, that of “Eurojank,” or in other words an overly ambitious project from a place where Polish is known to have a capital P, and the other kind happens to someone else.

Here’s a couple of paragraphs to get you started:

The world-building also appears in your gear and quests. You find castoffs and spare parts in boxes, crates, and other hidey-holes as you explore. You can combine some of these. A handful of the cobbled-together weapons look like guns inspired by super-soakers. Armor looks more like souped-up clothing than protective gear. Some of your melee weapons look like items you’d expect in a postapocalyptic setting such as Biomutant, such as modified baseball bats or knives-on-sticks.

Then there’s your vehicles. You clomp around in a mech or ride the waves in your Jet Ski-like craft. An element of your quests are to find parts to get these working again. And they have that cobbled-together feel the other gear has, except this time, you’re expected to take on giant monsters that threaten the world inside these claptraps.

Lots of narrative, crafting, mutations and skill points for character builds, different classes — as you can see, this is a lot of systems for a small indie studio. And some of it works well, but other things (like combat) don’t.