Features missing from the final product of a video game that were promised along the way is nothing new in this industry, it’s something that a lot of us are pretty used to. And, to its credit, the developers at Experiment 101 actually kept in most of the concepts that they talked about, teased, or even showed in-engine throughout the course of the development for Biomutant.
That said, the list of missing features from Biomutant is still noticeable. And, the slow discovery of this sizeable pile of cut content likely had something to do with the game’s decline in sales. So, let’s take a look through all the interviews, trailers, and promotional material and see what we can find. Here’s hoping some of these are added back into the game in a later patch/update.
10 Mutations Were Originally Going To Mutate Your Appearance
Let’s start with the most obvious one, the total lack of mutations affecting your character’s appearance in any way. This is something that was never shown in the trailers but was mentioned by the developers multiple times throughout the leadup to Biomutant’s release. In particular, Stefan Ljungqvist mentioned a few times in separate interviews that there would be mutations that could give you grab claws, extra limbs, and so on.
To make matters worse, on the back of the Collectors Edition of the game, there’s even a paragraph mentioning this feature, even though it’s missing from the game entirely! You can still change your appearance in-game, but not at all in the way they were hinting at.
9 Psi-Powers Would Be Accessed Through These Old-World Chambers
The process by which your version of the Ronin would get their mutations, both Psi Powers and Biogenetics, was vastly different in earlier trailers. In the game, as it stands now, you can access both of these things from the same menu. But, in early gameplay trailers, there were these seemingly experimental chambers from the “old-world” that would serve the same purpose.
In particular, the Psi Powers would be unlocked and upgraded by interacting with these machines, making Psi Powers feel a lot more like earned abilities that you had to get through exploration, rather than just farming Psi Shrines at every new Outpost. The game, as it is now, does have some neat spots to find, but this would have incentivized exploration a whole lot more.
8 Mutation Pools Were How You Obtained Biogenetic Powers
Speaking of these cut methods of unlocking supernatural abilities, you might not know that the Mutation Pools originally had a very different purpose. Currently, they’re the way you can change your character’s appearance without affecting their stats, but they used to be the Biogenetic variation of the Old-World Machines we just mentioned.
Basically, it seemed like you would find these pools spread throughout the world, jump into them, upgrade or unlock new Biogenetics, and hop right out with these newly unlocked incredible powers. Looking back on it now, it’s obvious these pools were repurposed, considering it doesn’t make much sense why you would need so many of them spread around the map if they just change your appearance and can be re-used.
7 The Compound Climbing Bow
This next one hurts us, simply because it looks so fun to use. Once again, back in the earlier days of Biomutants development, there was a lot of footage shown of this Compound Bow you could use that would allow you to grapple or pull yourself to wherever you pointed it at.
At this point, it made the game look like the devs were going for a “you can climb anything” sort of exploration style, akin to something like Breath of the Wild. Yet, there’s only one bow in the final release of the game, and it looks nothing like this one nor does it have the same unique ability.
6 The Ronin Making Any Noises Whatsoever
Coming up next is a small complaint and maybe even one that’s arguably for the best depending on who you ask. Basically, there’s a lot of “gibberish” in this game. Every NPC talks in this babbling fake language similar to something like the Sims games. And, in contrast to the annoyance of the Narrator, the gibberish is honestly pretty bearable. But, there’s one character who is shockingly quiet, especially compared to the early looks at the gameplay of Biomutant a few years back.
That’s right, we’re talking about the Ronin, aka the character you control. Your create-a-character used to have their own gibberish they’d use when they talked to themselves, the narrator, or other NPCs. Yet, in the final release of the game, your character is basically dead silent. How fun would it have been to scroll through all the different types of gibberish, pick one out for yourself, and pick how frequently your character likes to babble in conversations?
5 Fur Type Option
There are two features from the create-a-character intro of the game that are oddly missing from the 1.0 version, and one of them is the fur type option. Once again, this footage is taken from the 2017 gameplay trailers/hands-on impressions, and in it the Ronin has one extra layer of customization.
Basically, you could control what “type” of fur your mutated monstrosity would have, whether it was thick, unkempt, closely shaven, long, or just default. This never made it into the full game.
4 Workbenches Being Crafting Benches Instead
Again, here’s another thing that the older versions of Biomutant had that was less convenient but made a lot more sense contextually. Basically, in the 2017 gameplay trailers, it was shown that you actually crafted your ranged and melee weapons at the workbenches.
This was obviously meant to imply that unless you found a workbench, you couldn’t craft or edit your already crafted gear. And while that sounds like more of a pain in the long run, being able to switch things so easily on the fly in the current build of the game is one of the larger factors that makes the combat so easy.
3 There Was Originally Going To Be A “Prosthetics” System
As far as cut content goes, this is one of the ones we actually saw the least. Once again, according to some different interviews during the hands-on early looks with the Head of Studio, Stefan Ljungqvist in 2017, they were working on a prosthetics system as well that would give you extra abilities as well as change your physical appearance.
Right after he mentions this in the interview, the footage shows the Ronin using the early version of the Klonk Fist plays, so maybe this prosthetics system eventually became the tools system instead?
2 Tribe Choices Would Impact Your DNA Strand (AKA Your Stats)
There are six different tribes in Biomutant, and, coincidentally, there are six primary stats as well. As far as tribes go, there are the Jagi, Myriad, Netra, Pichu, Ankati, and Lotus tribes, all of which have very different philosophies, appearances, and Tribe Weapons. Conversely, your character has different stats that are initially impacted by the appearance you choose in the creator, such as Vitality, Strength, Intellect, Charisma, Agility, and Luck.
Now, in earlier versions of the game, the developers talked about how the different tribes you chose to align with would impact your DNA strand, thereby impacting your stats overall. It makes sense too, considering how each Tribe Leader sort of “encapsulates” the different stat-based looks your character can take on. But, it seems like they decided to scrap this idea entirely, choosing to focus on the Tribe Weapons instead.
1 Being Able To Pick Your Gender
Finishing things up with the second create-a-character scrapped feature, gender/sex options! Originally, it seemed like you would’ve been able to select either a male or female Ronin to play as, though it didn’t make much difference in how they looked physically.
To be fair, you’re a mutated animal, we weren’t expecting Disney-level stereotypical eyelashes and curves. But, giving players more options instead of less is always the smarter call, so it’s curious that they removed this option at all.
NEXT: Biomutant Complete Guide And Walkthrough
