The 20-person team, founded by former employees of Avalanche Studios, is determined to stay small. But while it does help keep the studio afloat, it also has its limitations. “At the end of the project, there are only a certain amount of mistakes that you can physically repair throughout the day,” says Ljungqvist. And that’s what’s been a big part of Biomutant’s last year of development: bugs.“It was a lot of work for QA because it’s not easy to find in an open world game,” Ljungqvist explains. “And once they are found, we have to fix them, and that’s an extra challenge for us because we’re a small team.
Ljungqvist is realistic about being able to steer Biomutant completely flawlessly – a game with so many systems in his sandbox world is hard to deliver without the strange problem – but he wants it to get into the players’ hands as well as possible. ‘Any game goes with him [smaller] mistakes, but I’m talking about mistakes that make the player experience really disruptive, ”he says. “We do not want to go along with it. I think that’s what caused us to just wait until we’m ready to do it. ”
However, quality assurance is not the only thing that has happened at Experiment 101 in the past year. Biomutant also mutated in that period. “If you look at the screenplay, I think it was at about 80-85,000 words by the end of 2019. Quite a novel,” Ljungqvist recalls. ‘But in the last game it’s closer to 250,000 words. It was a big deal to pack the script. ‘
These new words were spread over many different areas of the game, which in turn required further development work on the features. Ljungqvist notes that due to the extensive script, players can expect a reactive karma system called Aura, which will change the NPC dialogue based on your light or dark fidelity. There is also a better tutorial system that better communicates Biomutant’s overflowing toy box with ideas. In addition to the additional text that forms the basis of these features, the game will be available in 13 different languages, 10 of which are fully pronounced, so it is necessary to add all the words. It is safe to say that it was a busy year for Experiment 101.
However, Ljungqvist was careful to speed up the studio. “I’ve been doing this for quite some time,” he says, referring to his ten-year tenure at Avalanche Studios. “I was burnt out myself. I learned a lot about the themes, about the topics. I learned to recognize it. This explains the way in which the studio is ‘ready when it’s finished’ and the lack of constant public updates. Ljungqvist says this is an approach supported by publisher THQ Nordic at a level he ‘has never had before’.The lack of pressure from THQ Nordic to ship Biomutant was a blessing, as the negative outcome of a predicament would be devastating for both individual staff and the studio as a whole, Ljungqvist explains. ‘I mean, the studio, we’re 20 people and we can not afford it [staff] leaving the studio, or being destroyed during development. That would be devastating. ”
“For certain prints, you can do it in a limited form,” he admits. ‘But the most important thing is that you get paid, which is not crazy in our industry. And also you get ‘repetition time’ because you have to rest. If you only do this constantly for 12-14 hours a day, you will eventually have to pay for it. ”
“I think it’s part of the studio’s DNA not to do that,” he concludes. ‘That’s why I think if we do, it’s controlled, and it was rare. I assume we are willing to do this for a few days now, but that is not the constant thing. It will kill you. ‘
With the announcement of the May 25 release date, some fans were surprised to see that PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are not listed as platforms on which Biomutant will launch. Still, it is easy to accept the silence of Experiment 101, and the continued development was due to the preparation of Biomutant for the next generation of systems. Ljungqvist confirms that this is not the case – Biomutant is a ‘last generation’ – but there is good reason for it.
“When we developed the game, we were leading the last generation,” says Ljungqvist. “And if you look at it from a development perspective, it’s very important, because it’s easier to scale up than to scale down.”
“I think for us as a team we want as many people as possible to play the game,” he adds, noting the current small installation base for PS5 and Xbox series consoles. “If we only release it for ‘next generation’, I think it would not have been a good way forward.”
Despite this, Biomutant still utilizes the high specification hardware. “There is a high-end version of Biomutant that has already been made for PC high-end versions,” says Ljungqvist. “I mean, the game already exists in a form as you would expect on current platforms.”
“Are you going to be able to play it on the consoles?” he asks himself about the PS5 and Xbox Series X, and teases the future of Biomutant. ‘Definitely. We’re looking ahead to what’s going to happen, but you’ll definitely be able to play it on the consoles. ”
Matt Purslow is IGN’s British news and entertainment writer.