The first gameplay demo for Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden is here and it gives us a lot more to go on for Mutant Year Zero than we could have hoped for
Earlier in the month we saw Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden get all announced and everything but only had a cinematic trailer to go on to get a feel for what the game would truly be bringing. It looked amazing, but from the description that came with it, it did not feel like the same game that The Bearded Ladies were working on and aiming to give us. Not in a bad way, but the description was more tactical-adventure while the video looked more plain adventure in a weird setting. It was odd, but it was what Funcom wanted to give us for Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden just before GDC. Now that GDC has come and gone through, we now have a much better look at what we should be expecting from the game when all is said and done.
You can see the new gameplay below, but it looks like the team took the time to record a full demo session for Mutant Year Zero that was being shown out there at GDC and given it to those of us who could not make that show. We are not talking a few minutes of gameplay to highlight specific things here. What we have is about thirty-five minutes of footage that ranges from cinematics in the game, to core stealth gameplay, to core turn-based tactical gameplay, to a bit on how things are upgraded and ‘leveled’, to just general cool things that team has placed out there in the world of Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden. If you have the time, watch it all. If not, here are a bit of the highlights and things to know.
It looks like Mutant Year Zero will be using an animatics style for the cutscenes. So we will be getting a lot more on the side of narrative instead of flashy scenes to watch. Not a terrible thing, but not what some were expecting given the announcement. That and how the game looks as a three-quarters top-down tactical set up either. You can see that The Bearded Ladies have used some of the best parts of the game engine to make an amazing looking version of our future, but only in the gameplay sections. Not a terrible thing, but something we will have to get used to as we move around and get ourselves into positions in the game.
There is a freedom of movement aspect to how we will traverse “levels” in Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden. It looks like things will be free to explore as we wish, but we will get sucked into combat if we trigger it ourselves or if we alert enemies to our presence. All of which looks to transition smoothly from one to the other. In a few sections, we can see the characters being moved around outside of the detection zones so they can start the battle on their own terms and with the advantage. Of course, there is always the chance of enemies kicking things off first which will put all of the characters at a harsh sounding disadvantage. It is not shown in the video we have, but that is how it sounds.
Once combat kicks off, it looks to progress through the basic turn-based system where players get to move and act then enemies get to move and act. Even if some of the battles are only the player getting the drop on the enemy and killing them without setting off the whole camp or area into and alert. It is an interesting take on it all and it does make Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden look like a game that can be played many different ways. Mix in the fact that there is a level of randomness you can see with attacking and abilities, combat can play out differently each time. You may want to rethink that whole 25% miss chance for a lighter hit with a 90% hit chance is all I am saying.
Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden — First Gameplay
Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden is a tactical adventure game combining the turn-based combat of XCOM with story, exploration, stealth, and strategy. Take control of a team of Mutants navigating a post-human Earth. Created by a team including former HITMAN leads and the designer of PAYDAY.
- Tactical Combat: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is the ultimate fix for your tactical strategy addiction. Dive into a deep, turn-based, tactical combat system inspired by the XCOM games.
- Explore A Post-Human Earth: Journey through a post-human world of abandoned cities, crumbling highways, and overgrown countryside. Check back at the Ark, a neon-bathed oasis of ill repute and questionable characters, to restock your supplies and plan out your next adventure.
- Control A Team Of Mutants: A duck with an attitude problem and a boar with anger issues; these aren’t your typical heroes. Get to know Dux, Bormin, Selma, and many other characters each with their own unique personality and deranged perspective on the world and their situation.
- Master The Stealthy Approach: Sneak through shadows to avoid conflict or to catch enemies unaware. Real-time stealth allows you full control of approach: sneak into an enemy camp, position the team of Mutants to your advantage, and gain the element of surprise.
- Unlock Mutations: Unlock new mutations and abilities for your Mutants, such as Selma’s Stoneskin, Bormin’s Charge, and Dux‘ uncanny ability to sneak into a camp full of enemies unnoticed, despite being a 4-foot tall walking, talking duck with a crossbow.
- Dynamic Environments: Use the environment to your advantage. Stay out of floodlights, hide from line of sight, or just blast down fully destructible walls and buildings and wreak utter havoc.
- Loot, Loot Everywhere: From makeshift slingshots to high-powered rifles and top hats to police vests, make sure you equip your Mutants for the dangers ahead. Nothing says post-human quite like a mutated boar in spiked metal armor charging at you with a blunderbuss in his hands.
In terms of leveling and advancement in Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden, it looks to all be handled via a point buy system. You can unlock new skills and ability bumps though these points you earn along the way. The costumes and clothing you pick up along the way will also augment your characters and give them boosts as well. Nothing seems to be dependent on the type of item it is as there is no reason that a top hat would make Dux a better sniper, but it does here in Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden. It could be due to the way that the characters look at the world and try to make sense of things that we all take for granted each day. Just like the basic lores and stories we will hear.
By that I am talking about how the characters try to make sense of the lost world as best they can which brings some levity to Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden too. In the video, you can hear about a “Boom Box” that is thought to be a bomb because of the name or the area of the Horned Devil that used to be a fun camp for kids with a Moose Mascot. The denizens of the new and mutated world only have a little bit to go on here and they are doing what they can to make sense of it all. I love when games and stories do that and I cannot wait to see what else Mutant Year Zero skews for the fun of it.
What are you thinking about Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden now that you have had a huge chance to see it in action? Do you like the way that the stealth gameplay and tactical aspect can play well together or do you just want to always start in combat and move right along? What about the new world that is being built here and how far do you think the team will go to skew what we know to build a richer faux-world? Let us all know down in the comments and then discuss. As we get more form Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden, we will pass it along here on the site. Just keep coming back and checking in so you can see it all.