Experiment 101 and THQ Nordic's upcoming RPG BioMutant has certainty caught the attention of many, DualShockers included, since its announcement at Gamescom. RPGs can usually be quite long affairs, so during a recent interview with Stefan Ljungqvist, Co-Founder and Head of Studio at developer Experiment 101, DualShockers asked how long it should take for players to complete BioMutant.

According to Stefan, it is hard to peg down an exact length, as BioMutant is an open-world game that has a lot of players choice. That being said, he believes a minimum of 10 hours is required to beat the game, though many players' times are likely to go over this. While he encourages players to take their time and explore the world, they are only some requirements players must complete in order to finish BioMutant:

"It's a hard one to answer as it's an open world game, but our go-to reply is minimum 10 hours...Simplified, there are just a few “requirements” you “must” complete in order to make it to the end of the game."

The variety of choices players have also gives the game a lot of replayability. When asked about replayability, Stefan gave a few different examples of endings players can run into. There is a massive tree that is located at the center of BioMutant's world. Players have the option to heal this tree by finding "spiritual creatures" called Nono that hide in glitter grass throughout the game's world, and by defeating the huge creatures that are eating the branches. Doing so increases the chance of the world's survival at the end of the game, giving players a "bright ending", while those who don't will get a "dark ending":

"We’re really trying to encourage replays through our “open way” of completing the game...You are playing as the world is dying and the chance of world survival is represented by a massive tree-of-life that stands at the center of the world with its roots stretching out across the land. As a player, you have the option to heal the tree and such, increasing the chance of world survival at the end of the game. You can end the game without healing the tree; however, your personal end of the game that time will be that the world dies, so kind of a dark ending in some player’s preference.

But if you chose to work to heal the tree of life, this is done by finding small spiritual creatures called Nono that hide in glitter grass found in the open world and leading them to the root segments, that’ll increase the chance of world survival by a couple of percent per Nono. Or/and you can chose to confront and defeat the huge creature gnawing at the end of each root and this will heal that root completely. Healing all roots will give you a hundred percent chance of world survival at the end of your game - and some players will obviously want to go for that bright ending.

That being said, the endings can vary due to there being many tribes who are all fighting for power. These tribes are associated with the game's Yin-Yang morality system, so if players side with either a more Yin or Yang tribe, they will determine who his king at the end of the game and how they rule over the world. Stefan associates the Yin tribe ending with the Sith from Star Wars, and the Yang tribe endings to the Fellowship from Lord of the Rings:

"The world is inhabited by a number of different tribes that stand divided, each vying for power. As a player you have multiple choices here and they all tie into the Yin Yang system. If you chose to ally and work with a “dark” tribe Master and help him either subdue or defeat the other Masters, that will make him king at the end of your game and will change it accordingly. In addition, your Yin Yang will also play into the end.

For example, one of the most dark endings to the game would probably be that you are Yin and helped a Yin Master to power by either defeating (they’ll be ghosts at the end) the other Masters or subduing (chained up) them and didn’t heal the tree-of-life. In Star Wars, this would be the equivalent of being a Sith under a Sith Lord and succeeding with ultimate destruction of the world.

But on the other hand you could be Yang and work with a Yang Master to unite the other Masters and heal the tree of life. Then you’ll have more of a Lord of the Rings Fellowship ending, tributing the king in a world that’s bright, and everything in between. Defeating all of the Masters yourself is an option in itself, so there’s a bunch of endings open for you to discover here."

Be sure to stay tuned for DualShockers' full interview with Stefan Ljungqvist, which is coming soon; in the meantime, you can also see how the ability to tone BioMutant's narrator down will impact the game as a whole. BioMutant is currently slated to release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime in 2018.