- Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden - Review -

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

While playing Mutant Year Zero I've seen the Road to Eden game as a prototype of something that could be great. I was thinking about unique mechanics that could have been better implemented and about a story that could have been excellent if it was told otherwise. Still, I do not think Mutant Year Zero is a bad game. Most things in it were done solidly, but nothing more than that. The result is the title of an average quality that could have been much better.

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is an isometric, tactical game based on moves. You play as mutants who can use their power in combination with standard weapons to eliminate their opponents. When you are not in the battle, you are free to explore the game environment. Currently, it can only be played in a single player.

The story of the Mutant Year Zero is located in a world devastated by a nuclear war. The fall of the bombs caused a radiant that mutated some people, but also some animals. Mutants can use different powers like mind control and cure of the skin. This brings us to our initial major characters: Duxa, mutated duck, and Bormin, a mutated bitch.





A mutant duck and a bug are warriors who go to the wild parts of the world in order to find resources for their home.

Dux and Bormin are Stalkers, warriors who go to the wild parts of the world to find resources for their home, a settlement called The Ark. They have the task of finding a scientist who disappeared while trying to find Eden, a place that this scientist thinks is a The kind of paradise, if you did not understand it from the subtle title.

The mutation ideas also intrigued me. Mutants do not often see themselves in this world, most of your opponents do not use power as your characters. This gives your team a sense of uniqueness, and develops the world in which you play. is described as some kind of paradise, but it is essentially unknown to us. Through the story, Eden is slowly discovering, and serves as a solid motivation for the progress made by possible outcomes. The primary element of the story is the connection between this world and the one before the nuclear war.





There are often humorous situations in which characters misinterpret what the items people use today are used.

However, I'm afraid that's the best Mutant Year Zero to do with your world and story in general. The rest of the world is simply lifeless. Rarely when you discover some fascinating story that happened in the past. Most notes that you find are in the game purely to exist, for no particular purpose. I would like to see more imagination in the design of the location.

The World of Mutant Year Zero is a true example of untapped potential.

At first, I was excited to get to know these characters. Unfortunately, they simply do not leave a good impression on the long run. There is a very small amount of dialogue in the game, and this is a dialogue that has either clarification of what we see or sentences that exist purely to fill the script. For that reason, I have never associated with the characters.





Due to a lack of dialogue, we do not find out almost anything about them.

On the other hand, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden looks very good, especially when you remember that this does not come from recognized developers. The surroundings impressed me with the amount of detail. The forests are decorated with mushrooms, flowers, murky ponds of water and fireflies - they are often more pleasant than the main settlement you visit. Snowy locations radiate cold and brutal beauty - snowflakes cover what is left of the Ancients.

Character models look solid. It helps make their visual designs great. All the characters perfectly belong to this dark world.
The design of the characters highlights their rough appearance.





Mutant Year Zero is an isometric tactical game that is divided into a free exploration of the world and struggle. Fighting is based on moves - something like XCOM. One of the original ideas present in this title is that your team of mutants can sniff, i.e. They can kill their opponents without being noticed and thus avoid the battle completely.

You will definitely want to do this because Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a difficult game.

A stealth is crucial in the game because the opponent is often more than the characters in your team. In addition, your weapons do not cause too much damage, and later enemies are much more durable. Most often, you want to stay in the shadows for a long time and execute enemies who have moved away from the others. Then, if you have to enter an open battle, you need to position your characters better as soon as the action starts.
Stealth is a unique concept that the game uses to spice up conflicts with its enemies





All this creates a very interesting and unique dynamic between stealth and direct conflict. Shuffle only works well - it is simple and effective, without unnecessary complications. Opponents have a field of vision that is designed for the environment you are in, and their positioning generally supports you if you use stealth. Weak enemies are often on the edges of their territory, practically waiting to kill them.

However, the effectiveness of stealth decreases as you progress in the game. The damage caused by the silent weapons is average at the beginning of the game, and far below it at the end. While you were initially able to eliminate one or maybe two enemies before you were noticed, you just do not get paid later because it's easier and more effective to use your noisy weapons right away. This is a pity, because here there is a core of a very good fighting system.





Although the core of an excellent fighting system is there, there are no quality accessories that make it truly great. The weapons in the game are not sufficiently diverse and most of them have no unique characteristic. The only difference in the extent and extent of damage they can cause. Why does not the shotgun gain a higher likelihood of a critical blow if I am standing in front of my enemy? Why does not the interlayer cause more damage while I'm unnoticed?

I was rarely in the game when he was excited if I found a new weapon because none of them rewarded some unique style of playing. There are several interesting concepts like the laser gun that destroys the walls, but it's the peak of creativity when it comes to weapons design.
No weapon rewards some unique style of playing.





One of the better additions to battles is mutations, the skills that you can learn in the game. Mutations make a lot of sense when taking the story into account. Often, in the games, the system of skills is forced, without making any sense for the story and the world. This can not be said for Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. These mutations are a good factor to consider while fighting. They add a little more complexity, although I am also somewhat disappointed here that they have not gone into complete madness and have made some more interesting powers.

Battles generally lack creativity and diversity. The design of the enemy is quite boring, because there are only a few of them: classical bandits, aggressive dogs, robots ... How you go with playing so you notice more repetition. This title rarely attempts to present a new mechanic or something like that. The combination of stealth and direct conflict is an interesting idea, but it can not carry a gameplay on its back.





Unfortunately, the fighting system stagnates in the second half of the game.

Something positive that I have to mention is the way Mutant Year Zero rewards your curiosity and effort. Whenever you want to avoid an enemy group, you might see a chest of precious shields, and it implies you to overcome the threat. This rewards those who are willing to take risks.
In addition, the game provides "money" (parts of weapons and other currencies in this world) to those who are willing to explore the world. If you see some space behind the destroyed building, do not be surprised if you find hidden gifts.

In the end, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a tactical game of central quality. You will not find a deep story and interesting characters here, but if you want a unique fighting system that challenges you - maybe this is for you. It is a classic example of a title that is sufficient for shorter entertainment, but no one will remember it in a year.