Mutant Year Zero - Review Roundup

Silver

Spaceman
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Mutant Year Zero: Return to Eden has received generally positive reviews all round.

GameWatcher - 7.5/10

TOP GAME MOMENT

Finally figuring out how to take out the first boss after a half dozen different tries. I've probably never been more proud of myself and my (lack of) tactical skills.
CogConnected - 85/100

People are so used to specific styles of turn-based strategy that the way Mutant Year Zero approaches things may seem too different, potentially scaring off fans of the genre as well as newcomers. That being said, there is a lot to like between the polish of the game's world-building, the genuinely unique approach to encounters, and the flexibility of each character's skills. If you're not afraid of a little challenge and are looking for a strategy title that oozes charm, then you may want to dip a toe in the Zone with Dux and Bormin.
Twinfinite - 2.5/5

This game was a title with real potential. The unique setting, combat framework, and general artistic direction laid a robust foundation for unique gameplay. However, that potential vanished following the shallow narrative, tactical, and progression design. The numerous bugs, glitches, and technical issues only soured what fun remained.

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden feels entirely spread too thin. Without much depth to its name, it remains a unique setting devoid of personality.
CulturedVultures - 8/10

That said, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a fantastic game that anyone who likes tough as nails tactics should really check out. Everything from the combat to the stealth to the world itself is masterfully implemented and works together to create a truly great experience.
WorthPlaying - 8.5/10

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a charming, fun and well-made game with plenty of humor and excellent gameplay. It's an example of how you can expand on a tried-and-true formula in a way that makes it distinctive and exciting. The only thing that drags it down are some bugs and occasional difficulty spikes that feel more frustrating than fun. If you're a fan of XCOM-style games but want a new approach, you should absolutely try MYZ, which is one of the best surprises of the year.
IGN - 7.9/10

The Verdict

By blending real-time stealth with tried-and-true tactics gameplay, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden breaks exciting new ground for the turn-based strategy game. Even with some mechanics that don't mesh perfectly with the gameplay, it teases your brain in interesting, insightful ways.
PCInvasion - 3.5/5

Mutant Year Zero's biggest flaw is its length. While the harder difficulties will surely slow down even the most brilliant tactician, I can't imagine a play-through taking longer than 20 hours. As of the writing of this review, Mutant Year Zero is available for $35 US. Whether or not this is enough content for that price is up to you.
NoisyPixel - 7.3/10

When I think about an important characteristic that video games should have to be "good", I can always judge it for the fun it provides and Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a very fun video game. Players that enjoy the SRPG genre will most likely have the same sentiment, but I can't help but warn that this game will not play as expected to those who come in new to the genre. Instead of Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden being a combat game with choices, it plays more like a puzzle game that demands to be played in the way the given situation calls for.

Due to the high amounts of AI aggression and rate of damage, experimenting with tactics almost never rewards the risk. In the end, the game does have a Duck named Dux and I simply wanted to get past all the battles just to hear what sassy thing he has to say next.
RockPaperShotgun - No Score

Again, I'm greedy. I want a bigger, beefier, more flexible Mutant Year Zero. But that's because the small, linear but smart, powerful and atmospheric Mutant Year Zero I got grabbed hold of me so completely.
Thanks Farflame!

More information.
 
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I played the full game and enjoyed it but to answer your question I need to understand what you find shallow. The skill tree is limited (something like 7 or 8 or 9 skills per characters but most skills are unique per character - a few have share skills like stone skin or corpse eater but not skill is uniform across all characters). If you do everything in the game you can just max out or maybe get all but one skill. There are also 'attributes' you can raise - not int, wis, ... - but hp, movement speed - these use the same points to raise skills and again are not uniform across all characters.
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Items are hand placed and the game is fairly tightly balanced so the difficulty doesn't really change too much after the prologue. I think replay value is fairly limited but I found it a lot of fun. This is really a budget production but it is also at a budget price. It took me 19.5 hours to complete on hard.

I'm planning to play this eventually. Can you tell if it really is kinda shallow (as some journos complained)?
 
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Well line of sight and cover do make a difference - also weapons have range limits so some weapons can hit from 20 units and others from only 10 units. Accuracy drops based on range.
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I don't think flanking impacts damage. I view the combat relatively simplistic but not simple. You do have flame attacks and grenades (that can hit a group). There is also one physic character you can have that does electrical damage that branches (you will find several enemies with this form of attack).
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Reading the above it sounds very complex but it really isn't - it is relatively simple. Early in the game you can effectively sneak and kill an enemy in isolation with silent weapon but later in the game it is harder since silent weapons generally won't kill higher level enemies and they can alert others nearby on their turn if you fail to kill.
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Each character has 4 attack options (weapon 1, weapon 2, special skill, grenade). Also there are mechanical opponents that can be 'shocked' to disable them. Each weapon has 3 upgrades (mostly +1 damage per upgrade) and can be 'modded' with items you find - the basic layout is very good - the problem is the number of items et all are limited because it is a 'small' balanced game. I would like to see a higher production version that has vastly more options in all department and be about 3x longer.
 
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A small balanced fun game is much better than a long mediocre one in my book. The former I'll finish and its nice in between epic games. I felt this way about Demonicon, Ara Fell, The Dwarf Run, Hard West, Mars: War Log, and Frayed Knights among others.
 
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@you; -that doesn't sound too bad. I've heard lots of complaints that the combat is too simplistic, and that pumping up stealth makes you unstoppable.

Think I'll wait until after Christmas for a sale and some more bug patches.
 
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Rock Paper Shotgun also wrote a review, @Silver;. Feel free to add it to the review roundup above.
 
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Very well done review summary, @Silver;!

To me, this sounds like one where I should wait for the (almost inevitable) DLC to show up then play the complete version.
 
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I broke down and played it for a bit. I'd say it is fun and a bit simplistic and not crazy difficult. Had a very enjoyable time. Didn't finish the game as I will shelve it and wait for patches and DLC.
 
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Oh, and yes it's 'unbalanced' but honestly I don't care about balance in single player games. I'm a softcore min /max player at heart so I do go for the strongest builds but I don't care if all builds are equal. Still play what's fun.
 
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Good product for streamers and it seems that smaller streamers (under 40 viewers) have answered the call.

A small balanced fun game is much better than a long mediocre one in my book. The former I'll finish and its nice in between epic games. I felt this way about Demonicon, Ara Fell, The Dwarf Run, Hard West, Mars: War Log, and Frayed Knights among others.

It does not work for this product.

Its shortness is the main difference with products that go for content. The devs did not take advantage of the small content to deliver solid gameplay, put under control.

It is a vid product oriented toward content browsing/draining as so many others these days but it is low on content.

For content oriented products, the amount of content is the first quality. This one delivers little.
 
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Nice to read some more reviews for this one, thanks for the post. Seems a bit short of a game for me, but I know I'll be playing it at some point, I'll grab it next time I have a lull in the back log.
 
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