Control Freak

Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden Is A Tactics Game That Adds New Mutations To The Xcom-like.

- Alex Wiltshire

Let’s get it out of the way. Yes, that’s an anthropomorphic pig and a duck, and yes, you can play as a fox, too. Ha! But you’ll forget their inherent ridiculousness as you start to explore Mutant Year Zero’s skeleton-strewn Sweden and face its stern tactics challenge. Very quickly Bormin was simply my gruff stalwart tank, Dux my sharp-eyed, crit-dealing sniper, and Farrow my sneaking shotgunner. God, I love that gang.

Let’s get the other thing out of the way: The setting is third-hand Stalker. But again I forgot it as I got to grips with Mutant Year Zero’s meeting of real-time exploration and turn-based strategy. Here’s the idea: The world is divided into lots of discrete but connected areas as you set out to find a member of your settlement, The Ark, who’s gone missing. You’ll encounter enemy encampments, weapon chests, scrap caches, and weapon parts, which act as currency to buy gear and upgrade weapons back at the Ark, to which you can fast travel.