154 reviews liked by Kappelen


Stray

2022

If you like cats play this game; if you don't like cats...................UMMMMMMMMMMMM............ play a much better game with a dog in it like Hades, or The Blair Witch.

I think I am too stupid for this game.

Loved this game to death but never ask me to explain it's plot to you.

Now this is just fucking depressing.

Biomutant is a massive disappointment. It looks great and runs great and has good customization, but a bafflingly bad story with flat characters and no charm whatsoever, floaty combat that is all style and no substance, a barren and flat open world with copy-pasted ubsioft style camps, quests, and landmarks, and the worst sound design I've seen in a video game severely drags this one down.

Alright, early impressions since I'm not sure I'll keep going with it for much longer. I've played like, 8-ish hours. (edit: I don't think I ever picked it back up, lol)

What Works:

1. The world and characters look incredible. Everything is lush and colorful, the environmental art in particular is really stellar.
2. Weapon customization/crafting is all visually represented. When you make a weapon or put attachments on your armor, it's very satisfying to see the things you made on your character's back.
3. The character creator is pretty unique and fun to mess around in.
4. There are a lot of upgrades and skills, and you're collecting skill points pretty quickly, so the pacing of your character's growth feels steady as far in as I am.

What Doesn't Work:

1. I don't think the narrator does a bad job with what he's given, but I think his casting is an odd choice, and I really hate the implementation of the narrator in this game. I know you can adjust the frequency of his random dialogue, but that doesn't solve the issue that the critters speak in gibberish which is then translated/narrated in a stylistically inconsistent manner, which also has the effect of doubling the length of every line of dialogue since you're hearing it twice.
2. The combat is disappointing, and this is coming from someone who thinks NieR: Automata's flowy smooth combat is good and fun. There's little indication of when you're being peppered with bullets, the "parry this" indicators are unhelpful and the attacks aren't telegraphed enough to rely on the animations (you're usually fighting in grass as tall as your short critter anyway). You can either rush in and get hit a bunch for seemingly random amounts of damage while you chip away at enemy health, or you can kite and shoot. You can't cancel an attack animation with a parry, so I guess you're supposed to stand there and wait for an attack that might be parry-able or might require you to dodge ineffectively. I've spent enough time discussing this, but in summary: For a game that wants to be a kung-fu (excuse me, "wung-fu") fable, the combat is a complete mess.
3. The writing is really stupid. It's full of cutesy made up words, like bullets are "pew pew" and poop is "brown bobs" or something. It's like Clockwork Orange but aimed at the Harold And The Purple Crayon reading level demographic.
4. A devil and an angel on your shoulder argue with each other in the most annoying possible voices through dumb exchanges that are supposed to be comedic. It doesn't work, but it sure does happen literally every time you do something because this game has an Infamous-style morality system that affects which powers are available to you.

I think ultimately the issue with this game is that it has a lot of the same problems Ghost of Tsushima has. Repetitive, no real innovation, a beautiful world that is ultimately empty... This one is much more loot-oriented, and Ghost of Tsushima had an engaging story/characters even if it was rehashing classic stories. I think if I cared about Biomutant's world and characters, and if it had much of a story at all, I'd be able to put up with the combat and the formulaic emptiness. There's nothing drawing me back in.

there is one moment in the game where a really peaceful melody plays that made me almost cry
so yeah its everything it needs to be: funny, depressing, inspiring

Best walking sim I've played bar none

So much fun to play through. Story is a little lacking, but the gameplay is so much fun.

best co-op game i have ever played

Fine with a cool aesthetic and nice story although limited as it quickly runs out of ideas for the paint ball mechanic, turning into unrelated if interesting ideas like the box forming, before the ending which doesn't use any of the mechanics at all for a basic climax.

2 lists liked by Kappelen