Biomutant: Light or Dark Aura Guide (& What’s The Difference)
Biomutant offers a morality scale within the game that is called the player's Aura. The Aura works much like a karma system from other RPGs, where what the player does, has a direct effect on what the player will be able to do in their playthrough. This ranges from things like what end options will be available to the player to which psi-powers the player can unlock.
What makes the system interesting is just how much it affects and how many times the player is given an option to take a step in a certain aura direction. The two sides of the morality scale are Light and Dark. While this feels very much like a Good and Evil choice, it appears to be slightly more ambiguous than this.
Early on in the game's premise, players are set with a difficult choice. They have returned to the world of their Mooma's tribe that has been split into six tribes, each one lead by one of the Mooma's previous disciples. The Tree of Life is dying, due to the World Eaters chewing on each end of its roots. Players are given many choices here that sit on one end of the karmic scale or the other. They need to choose one of the six tribes to side with, which will have a direct effect on their Aura. After this is decided, following through with the tribe's ideals and how they believe the crisis should be dealt with will have another direct effect. Or betraying the tribe and following another tribe's wishes, will also lead to a specific ending.
Generally, destroying all life and waiting for the world to fix itself once more after the Toxanol destroyed it in the past, is considered a Dark karma choice. Whereas, helping the Tree of Life and society flourish is considered a Light karma choice. However, there are several smaller choices players can make to affect their Aura specifically.
Beyond the larger-scale decisions players will have to make, players will also be given chances to interact with Helpless Souls. These can be found in different locations, usually in a cage, guarded by a group of enemies. While defeating the enemies and releasing the Helpless Soul may feel like a good deed, it may not necessarily be considered that. In the dialogue that comes after, players are given a Dark, Neutral, and Light choice. Selecting to help the Helpless Soul is considered the Light decision. Helpless Souls are just one of the many choices players will need to make. Players can also decide the fate of small animals they catch like the Potato People or Nono.
Remember that the player's Aura affects what Psi-Powers they can get. For example, the higher-up Psi-Powers are based on how many Light or Dark Aura points the player has, not which way they lean as a character in full. There are three Psi-Powers for each side.
Dark Aura Psi-Powers:
- Sizzle Ball (Requires four Psi-Points and 10 Dark Aura) - Allows the player to create and throw a ball of fire.
- Telekinesis (Requires 10 Psi-Points and 20 Dark Aura) - Allows the player to Telekinetically pick up enemies and throw them.
- Skyspark (Requires 18 Psi-Points and 30 Dark Aura) - Throws a spark of energy to come down and deal impact damage on a large radius of enemies.
Light Aura Psi-Powers:
- Freeze (Requires six Psi-Points and 10 Light Aura) - Deals frost damage to a selected enemy and creates a slippery surface under them.
- Levitate (Requires 10 Psi-Points and 20 Light Aura) - Allows the player to float above the terrain for as long as their Ki energy lasts.
- Ki Spark (Requires 16 Psi-Points and 30 Light Aura) - This power deals electric damage to enemies in a small radius of the player.
Biomutant is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Coming soon to PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.