A small creature resembling a cross between a rat and a panda wearing samurai armor asks me to acknowledge my dark side.

He is the leader of the evil Jagni tribe that I will soon be joining.

Then I set out on a mission to kill a huge three-headed monster.

From the ruins of

our industrialized societies, a new world has emerged, where tribes populated by beavers, mice and vultures are endowed with magic and supernatural martial arts abilities and weapons skills.

As a player, I control what looks like a mutated squirrel with a past as an advanced kung fu apprentice.

My moral choices affect my "Ki": the energy that flows through all living things and determines what "aura" - light or dark - my little warrior animal will radiate.

Much like the different sides of the "power" of Star Wars.

The target group for Biomutant

seems to be children of today's urban and environmentally conscious New age parents.

The game paints a world where predatory capitalism and environmental degradation have long led to a revenge of nature.

Greenery has taken over and our world metropolises have been transformed into giant flower pots.

Sometimes there is a little too much environmental preaching.

For example, when the dog Gizmo gives me an assignment to pick up rubbish for the environment and the generation after me.

However, the reason I play video games is to avoid doing boring things like picking up trash…

Thankfully, the lion's part of Biomutant consists of entertaining fighting against big fantastic monsters.

Stefan Ljungqvist, creative director at the Swedish game studio Experiment 101, has a long past in Kung-fu, which also permeates much of the story.

Although it is called "Wung-fu" for the rodents in the game.

Biomutant's sense morality

that our nature carries a collective memory marries unexpectedly well with the martial arts philosophical parties that advocate discipline ("That which does not kill hardens"), self-sacrificing and meditative reflection, all presented in harmony with a respect for nature.

The more kind-hearted rodents are trying to save the dying ecosystem, embodied by a large "Tree of Life" threatened by giant monsters called "world eaters".

The more evil small animals see the death of nature as a necessary evil, so that they can finally dominate and control the fate of the world.

The polarization between a

more altruistic and a selfish worldview may lie as a backdrop, but for the most part the game offers a constant building, mutating and other kind of pillage to build the perfect warrior.

The possibilities for modifying weapons, fighting styles and magical abilities appear to be almost endless.

The open world also offers several convenient ways to get around.

Riding on a green donkey, in a large walking robot or on a jet ski called "googlide".

It may be painfully cute at times (the animals and monsters have names like Goop, Porky puff, Lupa lupine, Fluff hulk and so on) but the consideration for game physics, role-playing game details and a unique concept makes Biomutant something special: a kung fu fable for Greta The Thunberg generation.

In the video you can see what the game looks like.