Hey, it’s midnight in Stockholm, so….
On May 25, 2021 (today-ish), the brand-new video game Biomutant launches to the public. My pal Stefan Ljungqvist has been working on this amazing game for years, and I’m thrilled that it’s finally out there for the world to play.
I first met Stefan something like 30 years ago, back when he was at Target Games in Sweden and I was working on the Mutant Chronicles roleplaying game, among many other projects. We’ve kept in touch over the years since then, through many different companies, catching up when we could and even teaming up on projects here and there. He was a key part of Avalanche Studios (creators of Just Cause), and I worked with him there on a game that was never announced much less published, for instance.
Stefan is the driving force behind Biomutant, the first project from his new company Experiment 101, which is now part of THQ Nordic. He’s amazingly talented at art, design, writing, and team management, and he brought all his skills and experience to bear on this game–and, wow, does it show. It’s a gorgeous game with a wonderful world and a unique kind of playfully brutal tone.
Back in 2019, Stefan brought me on board to help with the game’s writing. While his English is excellent, he wanted a hand from a native speaker he could trust to find and respect his vision and ambition, and I was honored to leap into that role. While the story and characters all sprang from Stefan’s mind, I helped mold that with him and wrote and polished the game’s extensive texts and dialogs, working from his examples.
Only a small team of around 20 or so core people worked on the game, and Stefan did something different with the credits that play after the game’s title screen shows up. Lots of people would have chosen to put the spotlight on themselves after working so hard on this game, but he set it up so that the game displays our names–including his–in a random order, emphasizing that this was a team effort in which everyone involved played a vital role.
I’ll tell you right now, though, that none of it would have happened without him.
I cannot wait for you to play and enjoy it!
