Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

XCOM-like TBS game with heavy emphasis on narrative and stealth. I recommend playing this game on the highest difficulty, because on easier ones you probably won't be engaged and will become bored quickly (my playthrough was on Hard without Ironman mode). The main reason for this is that the game is really user-friendly in many aspects, for example: 1) Abundance of resources if you clear side locations 2) Invisibility when in cover, even if the enemy is facing you from the uncovered side 3) 100% hit chances when you position yourself right (not 95% like in XCOM games) 4) Medkits fully heal your squadmates outside of combat. 5) You can always switch weapons from your backpack, equip new grenades and armor, and change passive and active perks, and even the entire team composition during your mission (just not during the fight). It allows you to always be flexible when facing different enemy compositions and to choose the best tools to deal with threats. Overall, the game loop looks like this: You go on the mission and farm resources. Then, you ambush isolated patrols, making sure you can take them down in 1 turn with silenced weapons (this is why you want to fully upgrade them first in this game). After taking down patrols, you may have 1-2 engagements with 2-3 enemies where you will need to actually fight. You must then take advantage of your positioning and incapacitate or kill or immobilize as many targets as possible during your first turn. After that, you kill them all. There is, I believe, only one full-scale tactical engagement with overwhelming enemy forces, and this is a side quest activity, not even the endgame boss (but I have a feeling that I broke the last boss fight with stealth lmao). After beating a mission, you can return to the hub or proceed to the next location. In the hub, you can upgrade your weapons, replenish consumables, and buy some armor/weapons (I didn't do that though; all I used I found on a mission). Weapon progression is pretty straightforward: you have silenced weapons (pistols and crossbows), shotguns, sniper rifles, and assault rifles with 2 general tiers: ballistic and plasma. Also, you can upgrade your weapons twice to make them deal more damage and critical damage. Also, you can use scopes and attachments to boost their range/crit chance/damage/stun effect for robots, etc. To me, this game loop was really satisfying, and on Hard difficulty I've never found myself in a situation where I wouldn't know where to spend my resources up until the game ending. Character progression is fine, although some perks are shared between different characters. But they have some specialization and situational application. It was fun to use these perks; most of them are useful for fights. The other thing I liked a lot is the setting. Because it is a post-apocalyptic Sweden, not really this popular as a location for a post-apocalyptic world. It feels authentic. Although I've seen a lot of Russian vehicles in their cities, I don't think people in Sweden really like VAZ-2109 or "Gazels" so much lol. But all text on location (billboard advertisements, graffiti) is in Swedish. The characters are likeable, different, and have some charisma. As for the downsides: 1) The enemy's circular line of sight, which enlarges when you approach its border, combined with the inconsistency of mouse input to get yourself in cover, can easily lead you to be revealed and forced into the combat phase. This problem is mostly actual when you deal with stationary enemies. Given that, I don't recommend doing Ironman here, because you will be frustrated dealing with this, 100%. 2) Game lore looks promising but overall underdelivers. Writing in in-game notes is very mediocre and not really informative 50% of the time. 3) This is not really a downside to me, but a sheer warning: the game HEAVILY relies on stealth and killing isolated patrols (on Hard difficulty, which I highly recommend playing on to feel the game as intended by the devs). This means you won't be having too many epic fights a la XCOM. Your job here is mostly to prevent that from happening and start fights only with odds in your favor. It can break your expectations a little bit, but I embraced it and genuinely enjoyed it. 4) The plot was very good in the early and mid-game, posing many significant questions you wanted to have answers for, but in the end... Well, you can read about it in Steam discussions; I won't repeat what they say. I would just point out that the journey itself was captivating and interesting. It was a fresh experience for me, combining puzzle elements of a stealth game with XCOM-like TBS combat. I feel these 2 systems worked together pretty well most of the time. Also, game length is reasonable, felt just right to bear it in 15-20 hours (For me it was 25 with idle screen for several hours at least). Definitely recommend it, even if you're not a hardcore TBS gamer.

The idea is cool but it feels a lot more like a proof of concept. The variety is really small and there's barely any meaningful customization options.

Отличная история. Занимательный геймплей. Масштаб уютный, хотелось бы больше и карт и персонажей) Игра зашла! Советую любителям пошага

Absolute banger

Интересный сюжет, персонажи. Из минусов довольно быстро заканчивается. Непонятно как менять способности в бою.

it's a lot of content for the amount you pay for it and has a hardcore mode, so it can be actually difficult and it increases the amount of time you'll spend playing.

Toda una sorpresa, buena trama y combate, se hace corto incluso. Para mí pasar a ser uno más de mis favorito.

Fun game, but rediculously short. What a ripoff. First playthrough on the hardest level and finished in 15 hours.

The Ancients were responsible for melting the ice caps, spreading a plague across cities, and ultimately destroying each other in a cataclysmic war. Decades into the aftermath, the last remnants of civilization live in a megastructure called The Ark. Earth's surface is completely uninhabitable. Prolonged exposure to the environment causes mental deterioration, turning those infected into Ghouls. The Ark's final hope lies in a new breed of mutant humans discovered in the woods who are capable of withstanding "the rot." Known as Stalkers, they are sent on a mission to track down a rogue agent fixated on discovering the mythical "Eden." The main narrative follows Dux and Bormin on their journey to recover Hammon. Hammon is a vital figure to The Ark due to his mutant ability to communicate with machines. Because his powers largely sustain the station's life support systems, The Elder—the leader of The Ark—sends Dux and Bormin into the wasteland to bring him back alive. The setting feels very similar to the Wasteland franchise, sharing a similar sense of humor that permeates both the dialogue and the locations. I enjoyed the endearing voice acting, with the cast nailing Dux as a cynical loner and Bormin as a loyal warrior dedicated to The Elder's cause. Because the party can have up to three active characters at a time, it was interesting to hear how different companions reacted to the events around them. Mutant Year Zero leans into t society so thoroughly dissolved that its characters often mistake everyday objects, like toasters, as lost relics of The Ancients. While these interactions are just a bit goofy, I found they played an important role in humanizing the characters. As the story reaches major milestones, the game features a few cutscenes narrated by Bormin in the past tense, as if he is reading a passage from his own chronicle. I really enjoyed the delivery of these lines. Even though the narrative twist was somewhat predictable, the pleasant cutscene format made the delivery highly satisfying. The gameplay of Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is something of a mix between XCOM and an isometric stealth game. Each location the Stalkers visit is essentially a large tactical map, which has enemies roaming about. When not in combat, enemies have a visual radius around themselves which can detect a Stalker if they get too close. Similarly, the Stalkers are hidden from enemies until they enter their fields of view, or attract their attention through a loud noise (like firing a rifle). These mechanics create a tense exploration phase whenever the Stalkers are not actively fighting. In many cases, combat is optional, as they can simply sneak to the exit of most maps. However, enemies often guard chests containing new weapons or armor, and defeating them awards valuable XP, providing a strong incentive to fight. The stealth system introduces a rewarding planning component. Stalkers can sneak around the map to analyze the best way to initiate an ambush. If an enemy is isolated from their allies and killed silently, it prevents the rest of the map from being alerted. By methodically hunting down stragglers, you can dwindle the enemy's numbers before open combat inevitably breaks out. Each Stalker features two weapon slots, a few grenade slots, and apparel slots for armor and headgear. While body armor typically provides flat damage reduction, hats grant unique boons, such as an enhanced critical hit chance from high vantage points. Upgrading weapons is critically important; it increases raw damage output and allows the application of status-inflicting modules that can set enemies on fire or incapacitate them. Additionally, each Stalker unlocks distinct mutant abilities via personal skill trees, granting tactical options like hypnotizing enemies or growing wings to fly to high ground. The stealth and combat come together rather addictively in Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. While the game's production value limited its cinematic narrative scope, the writers successfully delivered an enjoyable cast of characters to follow through the wasteland. Overall, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a game I highly recommend, particularly to fans of XCOM or tactical stealth games. Or... at least that's what The Elder says.