Will Biomutant Be a Sleeper Hit?

New action RPG Biomutant will release on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on May 25, 2021, which is right around the corner. Developed by Swedish developer Experiment 101 and published by THQ Nordic, the game has taken six years to see the light of day. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t know much about it or maybe have never even heard of it.

It features a cute furry protagonist with a ton of crazy weapons at his disposal, who sometimes fights a group of surrounding enemies with hand-to-hand melee combat. But if I hadn’t already told you I was talking about Biomutant, you would guess I was describing the new exclusive PS5 game, Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart. Which coincidentally comes out a few weeks later.

When asked which one of these games is the one most people are waiting for, the answer is A Rift Apart by leaps and bounds. Ratchet & Clank is a beloved series that’s been around for nearly 20 years with several installments under its belt. But I’m personally much more excited to try Biomutant for the first time ever, as it’s a brand new IP.

As you can see in the trailers, Biomutant is based in a gorgeous open world. Throughout the game, you traverse a map that’s 8x8 km in size - filled with biomes like lush green hills, snowy tundras, and dangerous swamps. The fantasy environment reminds me of the vast open spaces found in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a game I also loved immersing myself in.

But that’s not the only game from which Biomutant takes inspiration. PC Games has touted Experiment 101’s new property as featuring combat like Devil May Cry, exploration like Fallout, and bullet time like Max Payne. Players will be offered boatloads of options when crafting their own playstyle, as just about everything in the game is customizable - from your character’ physical look and clothes to the modifications on your mounts and weapons. In fact, the developers have estimated that the game contains over 200 million combinations for weapon creation alone.

It seems like a massively diverse RPG. But with the Ratchet & Clank sequel right around the corner, Biomutant might not be on the radar of other PS5 owners. While I am finally seeing some coverage for Biomutant by gaming news outlets, it’s only been happening in the last week before its release.

Could Biomutant be this year’s sleeper hit? If it is, I’m definitely one of the gamers staying woke,  as I’ve already pre-ordered this baby.

Image source: Press Kit