How it Plays
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is like XCOM. It’s a lot like XCOM. And if you’re like me, that’s reason enough to play it. Developed by The Bearded Ladies and published by Funcom in 2018, Mutant Year Zero is loosely based on the 1984 role playing game Mutant by Äventyrsspel. If the idea of playing a turn-based strategy game with a crew of mutant animals battling a psychotic cult and police robots still trying to dispense jaywalking tickets 100 years after the bombs fell doesn’t sell it for you, then I guess I’ll go on. I mean, I don’t really understand you, but I’ll try. There are fun hats? And not just cosmetic hats like in Steam World Heist. These fun hats give you immunity from mind control.
It’s probably more useful if I talk about the ways this game isn’t like XCOM rather than the ways that it is. When not in combat, you’re free to wander around in real time searching for scrap (money), artifacts (artifacts), and gun parts (gun money). The world is cool and detailed – the colors, rich, the buildings, crumbly – and the mutants are lovable goons. The story is interesting and offers a satisfying ending. Everything looks the way it should, your standard overgrown, post-apocalyptic neighborhood except all the street signs are in Swedish. I think. The real-time mechanic plays an important part in combat. You can get relatively close to the enemy without engaging which allows you to scout the map and pick your attack position. You can use the “silent” weapons to pick off enemies on the fringes. This turns out to be vital as you get further into the game.
There’s no base building. The Ark, your home base, is just a still screen with a couple of shop menus. I like the base building in XCOM but this was something of a relief. Nothing to do except upgrade my guns, load up on med kits and grenades, and get back to the shooting. There are no unit types. All units can use all the weapons so you can make any unit your sniper, just give them the rifle and the top hat and you’re good to go.
This game is lots of fun. If I had to complain I would complain about the camera angle. At times my mutants would start talking about something they could see but I couldn’t. They’d be like, “Whoaa! Look at that!” and I’d be sitting there like, “What? What is it? I don’t see anything!” Then two minutes later I’d find it. Never bothered me in combat though. I would also complain that it’s not long enough, but I look forward to trying to beat it in Iron Mutant mode. Should be challenging, you only get five units total! No recruiting rookies in this one.
Advice to the Player
Work the edges. You’re never going to kill all those dudes at once.
Don’t neglect your silent guns. And for pete’s sake don’t deconstruct them.
Smoke grenades will put you out if you’re on fire. The game will tell you this eventually as a hint on a loading screen, but I want you to know going in as it is extremely useful information.
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