Tabletop RPG Mutant gets the video game treatment in Mutant Year Zero
The Bearded Ladies think it's a weirdly appropriate label for their upcoming game: tactical adventure. You'll get the tactical combat of an XCOM and the story-based adventure of, uh, an adventure game. That's what Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden [official site] is going for. There's a party—a human, a duck, and a boar, each with their own idiosyncratic personalities—and pulls the camera back up to an isometric viewpoint, then fits some real-time stealth and exploration into the mix. Unlike XCOM, however, it looks like it's less about base building or map expansion and more about salvaging and surviving.
You won't get all of that from the pretty fun cinematic debut. But I've got some pics going that show off gameplay, below.
Mutant Year Zero has ex-developers from Payday and Hitman. Publisher Funcom will show live gameplay at GDC 2018 in San Francisco in March. The video game is based on the Swedish (and translated into English) tabletop role-playing game, Mutant, that's been running in some form or another since the 1980s.
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden launches its entirely-too-long-of-a-title on PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime here in 2018.
Funcom And The Bearded Ladies Announces New Game For Pc, Xbox, & Ps4
Funcom - Feb 28, 2018 12:02 GMT
– ‘Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden’ is a tactical adventure game featuring a deep storyline set on a post-human Earth, which combines strategy and the turn-based tactical combat of ‘XCOM’ with real-time exploration and stealth gameplay –
– Currently in development by an experienced team including former ‘HITMAN’ designers and Ulf Andersson, the designer of ‘PAYDAY’ –
OSLO, Norway – February 28th, 2018 – Of course the world ends, it was just a question of time. Extreme climate change, global economic crisis, a lethal pandemic, and increasing tension between old and new superpowers. For the first time since 1945 nuclear weapons were used in armed conflict. Mushroom clouds rose from east to west before the dust settled. The humans are gone. The Mutants are here.
Funcom, the independent games developer and publisher, and Bearded Ladies, a Sweden-based game development studio that includes former ‘Hitman’ designers and Ulf Andersson the designer of ‘PAYDAY’, today announced a brand-new game called ‘Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden’. Proudly standing out as a tactical adventure game, it combines the tactical turn-based combat of ‘XCOM’ with real-time exploration and stealth gameplay, wrapping it all up in a deep storyline set on a post-human Earth.
The game, which is being developed by Bearded Ladies and published by Funcom, is set to release in 2018 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Players must take control of a team of unlikely heroes, such as Dux (a crossbow-wielding, walking, talking duck) and Bormin (a boar with serious anger issues), and help them navigate a post-human Earth with its abandoned cities, crumbling highways, and mutated monsters on every corner. The ultimate goal: save yourselves by finding the legendary Eden.
“It’s an unusual label for a game, but tactical adventure really fits the bill, no duck pun intended,” says Executive Producer Ulf Andersson at Bearded Ladies. Andersson is also known for being the designer of the 2011 megahit ‘PAYDAY’. “Our goal is to blend the deep and tactical combat of ‘XCOM’ with a branching storyline that unfolds as you explore overgrown forests and abandoned cities with your team of Mutants. Mixing that with real-time stealth gameplay gives you a unique way to approach or avoid combat situations you encounter while exploring."
For more video material, screenshots, and more information about ‘Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden’, please visit the official website that launched today on www.mutantyearzero.com.
Funcom will be showing off the first ever live gameplay at GDC 2018 in San Francisco in March. Demos will be held behind closed doors at the Moscone Center showfloor. Those interested in checking out the game and meeting with the developers can get in touch with Funcom to set up an appointment.
‘Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden’ is powered by the Unreal Engine and will be available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 in 2018. The game is based on the classic ‘Mutant’ IP that has spawned several popular pen and paper role-playing games since the 1980s, including the current ‘Mutant: Year Zero’ from Free League and Modiphius Entertainment. The IP is owned by the Cabinet Group and the interactive rights are controlled by Heroic Signatures, a company owned by both Cabinet Group and Funcom (see earlier announcement).
