Game News Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden Released

[Infinitron]

Tags: Funcom; Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden; The Bearded Ladies

Today is the release day of Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, the post-apocalyptic turn-based-tactics-with-furries game from Swedish studio The Bearded Ladies that was announced back in February. There are many games with similar feature sets that have had no problem calling themselves RPGs, but the developers of Mutant Year Zero have insisted on marketing their game as a "tactical adventure". Certain previews published over the year have helped clarify that decision. Although story-driven, the game is linear and fairly short, with a focus on stealth and tactical combat. It also has no character creation, which would be a particularly crucial feature for an RPG based on a tabletop game. So I guess they've kept expectations low, which is probably a smart thing to do for your first game.

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But has this quality-over-quantity gambit succeeded? The reviews run the gamut, but in general the answer seems to be yes. The PC-centric sites approve of the game, and Rock Paper Shotgun in particular are in love with it.

Windows Central 4.5/5
PC Gamer 81/100
GameCrate 8/10
Gamers Heroes 8/10
IGN 7.9/10
GamingTrend 65/100
Slant Magazine 3/5
Twinfinite 2.5/5
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
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So if you want some well-paced, good-for-what-is turn-based action, you can give Mutant Year Zero a try for just $35 on Steam. This has turned out to be another pretty crazy month for RPG releases though, so you might want to wait a while and see what else is in store.

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

Would be better if I could kill the damn furries instead of playing as them. These have to be the most unlikeable characters ever.

 

[V_K]

So furry WTF whatever is worth a newspost but post-apo batshit crazy goodness isn't?

 

[Infinitron]

Yes, I can only write one game release newspost a day, sorry Aeon of Sands

(btw doesn't "post-apo batshit crazy" describe both games?)

 

[V_K]

(btw doesn't "post-apo batshit crazy" describe both games?)

No, there's a difference between crazy and stupid.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

I bought it. I'm a storyfag so this will probably be my cup of tea

edit: this movie is also based on mutant yeah? I find it fascinating that Infinitron had never heard about the setting before

 

[Tito Anic]

Looks fun.

 

[Drowed]

I can finnaly play a game as Howard the Duck, Bebop, Rocksteady, Walt Disney's Robin Hood (with an eyepatch) and maybe even Master Splinter, and you guys are crying about furries?

 

[oscar]

Looks neat. Watership Down type stuff would actually have some cool RPG potential (animals and sub-breeds as races and classes)

 

[Soulstones]

I reminds me more of TMNT and their villains.

 

[Skdursh]

So what's the verdict? Is it worth purchasing?

 

[luj1]

Looks very meh

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I can finnaly play a game as Howard the Duck, Bebop, Rocksteady, Walt Disney's Robin Hood (with an eyepatch) and maybe even Master Splinter, and you guys are crying about furries?

Holy fuck you beat me to it with that comment. Almost verbatim.

 

[toro]

So what's the verdict? Is it worth purchasing?

I've put 9 hours into the game (Hard mode) and I can say that it is quite good. Not great but definitely not mediocre in the completely bland way as PoE (because that's the reference for the most mediocre and boring game ever).

The first thing you should know is that this is not an RPG, the devs describe it as an tactical adventure game. A better description would be: XCOM with animals (without the base building stuff). Also while XCOM is focused on TB combat and base building, this game is focused on TB combat and exploration (plus story and characters).

Combat is deterministic as you will always do exactly the same damage in the same conditions. No RNG bullshit.

The environment is mostly destructible as in XCOM however the game/engine has some issues with multi-leveled maps.

Autosaving when entering a map. No saving during fights but the player can manually save before entering fights.

Most encounters are brutal (fights with more than 5 enemies are not really manageable) but the game allows you to use stealth in order to trim down their number before approaching the bulk of the enemies. It's a little bit boring as a fight is 50% silent takedowns and 50% TB combat however it's better than XCOM2's concealment mechanic.

Another thing is that there are special enemies (like shamans) which can call reinforcements but there are no pods (thanks God!). On hard you basically have to restart the battle if reinforcements are called. Overall the combat should not be a challenge for XCOM veterans but there are a couple of fights where one wrong move means reload/restart (at least on Hard).

There are no melee weapons. Instead we have crossbows (silent), pistols (some silent), shotguns, rifles, molotovs, grenades, EMPs, medkits and special abilities. All weapons can be upgraded (up to level III) or modified with mods. +1 damage is very important for silent takedowns.

Each party member has some special abilities which can be unlocked. However the builds range is limited and in the end everybody will end up with the same builds in the party. Not great for replayability. The good news is that leveling up is quite fast.

The story is linear (there is only one active quest at any given time) however the world can be explored in a non-linear way as you can use stealth and reach areas which are higher level and so on. Basically you can scout areas, choose your fights and so on. The resources and companions are limited (you start with 2 companions and until now I found 3 more).

The devs paid attention to details: there is no item highlighting but the lantern makes the loot shine There are a couple of funny description for the items.

I did not really listen to the music but the voice acting is quite good.

I'm sure I forgot to mention something but I cannot remember now.

Spoiler

I'm somewhat happy that at level 32 I've managed to kill the Grey-One which is a lvl 45 boss. It's also the boss from the marketing campaign.

My technique was to bait a Tank enemy to rush my Tank and then use a companion to mind control him and wreak havoc in the enemy lines. It was fun.

Bottom line: I like it but I cannot recommend at full price (it's worth like 10-20 potatoes) as it's not oozing with love or originality as Ghost of a Tale or Insomnia: The Ark.

This is a small UE4 game done on budget by 3 developers. It's polished, it can be charming, fun and addictive but it mostly depends on your taste and expectations.

One thing I'm sure, it's much better than Krater or Depth of Extinction (which honestly are shit) and at least one streamer likes it (DansGaming).

 

[toro]

So if you want some well-paced, good-for-what-is turn-based action, you can give Mutant Year Zero a try for just $35 on Steam. This has turned out to be another pretty crazy month for RPG releases though, so you might want to wait a while and see what else is in store.

Mutant Year Zero is not an RPG.
Aeon of Sands looks like weaponized autism.
The only thing remaining is the ATOM release.

What's to crazy about this month?

 

[toro]

I zapped through a couple of Twitch channels and OMFG! it's a sad world.

The game explicitly communicate that:
- you need to trim down the number of enemies before engaging their bulk,
- you need to prioritize enemies,
- you need all 3 companions to focus on one enemy if you want to kill it in one round.

And these guys don't do any of that and instead they are over-relying on Overwatch ... which doesn't work (unless blind luck).

Also some of them are using non-upgraded weapons and then they complain that the game is brutal.

I cannot believe it.

 

[Van-d-all]

So essentially nuXcom "accesibility" game, with MMO *snowflake* ability clickfuckery. Pass.

 

[ArchAngel]

Yes, I can only write one game release newspost a day, sorry Aeon of Sands

(btw doesn't "post-apo batshit crazy" describe both games?)

By looking at news section it looks more like you can only write 1 news post per 3 days..

 

[Mortmal]

So if you want some well-paced, good-for-what-is turn-based action, you can give Mutant Year Zero a try for just $35 on Steam. This has turned out to be another pretty crazy month for RPG releases though, so you might want to wait a while and see what else is in store.

Mutant Year Zero is not an RPG.
Aeon of Sands looks like weaponized autism.
The only thing remaining is the ATOM release.

What's to crazy about this month?

He's doing advertisement, he has to use buzz words like this, and he's trying to do his best to look excited. A very hard task nowadays i must say.

 

[toro]

Finished it. 15 hours on Hard.

I went ham with exploration and fights and by the end of the game I was like level 70 which is 20 levels more that needed for the end.

To be honest, I had no idea that I will reach the end game so fast :/

But it's ok, at least the story was good and in the end the upgraded weapons are so fucking sweet

Anyway the game is fun. For a nuXcom-clone this is great as there were moments when it was better than nuXcom. Also it's really polished for a indie game or whatever the hell it is (Funcom !?)

On Twitch DansGaming is loving this game

Screenshots dump:

Spoiler

 

[Septaryeth]

Finished it. 15 hours on Hard.

I went ham with exploration and fights and by the end of the game I was like level 70 which is 20 levels more that needed for the end.

To be honest, I had no idea that I will reach the end game so fast :/

$35 for 15 hours screams "wait for discount", though if the story is really good I'm willing to overlook that.
Any replayability? Since there is no character creation, do different upgrades for your weapons enable completely different style of play?

 

[toro]

Finished it. 15 hours on Hard.

I went ham with exploration and fights and by the end of the game I was like level 70 which is 20 levels more that needed for the end.

To be honest, I had no idea that I will reach the end game so fast :/

$35 for 15 hours screams "wait for discount", though if the story is really good I'm willing to overlook that.
Any replayability? Since there is no character creation, do different upgrades for your weapons enable completely different style of play?

Fully upgraded/modded weapons make more damage and have increased critical chance but they don't impact the builds fundamentally. They are just fun

Each mutant can have max 8 mutations unlocked (passive and active) but only 3 of them can be enabled at any given time (one major mutation and 2 minor mutations).

The main issue is that some mutations are simply better for certain builds therefore most people will probably end up with the same main configurations.

Example: Duck is Sniper, Pig is Shotgun, Selma is Sniper/Rifle, Magnus is Rifle, Fox is Shotgun (I think !? I did not use the Fox).

However some mutations are powerful enough to change your play style.

Example: Pig can rush opponents or he can be invincible for one round. Selma can summon branches to entangle enemies or have a stone skin (I don't know as I only used the tree huger ability).

Basically for each mutant the builds range will consist of one fundamental configuration (Sniper, Rifle, Shotgun) and 2 variations for the powerful mutations.

Which means that in 1 or 2 runs you will most likely explore almost all the builds the game has to offer and that's why I said that the game has a low replay-ability factor.

 

[Jinn]

Sounds like something I'd definitely have fun with, but will wait for a deep sale on this. 15 hours when you do almost everything is just not enough to warrant the $35 price tag for me, especially when there is minimal replayability. Thanks for your thoughts on it, toro. Definitely sounds cool and I hope the launch went well for the developers.

I feel like this combination of exploration and tactical combat would be a slamdunk with more complex character development and expanded exploration. AKA a bigger game.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Sounds good but i will wait for a discount as people above said already. 35 euros for 15 hr game with low replayability is not justified imo.
Hopefully the game will be successfull enough that Funcom stops doing that MMOfails and focuses on stuff like this

 

[Feyd Rautha]

15 hours when you do almost everything is just not enough to warrant the $35 price tag for me, especially when there is minimal replayability.

I actually prefer more focused games than 80 hour long experiences filled with filler and trash content.

I thought we as a community agreed that Bard's tale IV, to use a recent example, would actually be better if they removed redundant areas and made the game more focused (and shorter).

But I guess that we are so used to games being 40-80 hours by now that some of us (not me) can't go back to games of quality content instead of quantity.