The Shape of Biomutant: a Comparative Study about Narrative and Linguistic Choices in Game Localization

Narrative creativity is something that makes a work of fiction as interesting as it can be. Despite this, it is quite rare to find a video game that has been written like a fairy tale. In regards of Game Localization, it is always something interesting to tackle. One of the most interesting examples of this type of creativity in this era of video games is Biomutant, a 2021 video game that did not leave a big mark in the grand scheme of things. Despite that, some questions still stand: how has this game been written? How is it, linguistically speaking, when its english-to-italian localization is compared with other video games from all eras? And how much has Transcreation been of effect in the localization process of this experience? This thesis has the precise objective to study how a video game gets localized depending on its language, target and specific necessities that depend on the type of experience. It dives deep into a comparative study on Biomutant that jumps from Linguistics to Narrative, then wordplay and composite words and finally to Transcreation, also giving a rapid look at the localization studios that worked on each experience, all backed up by an interview with a professional that has worked on one of the games taken into exam.