Funcom's Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a blend of XCOM, Fallout, and Daffy Duck

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

The Funcom countdown we stumbled across last week recently ticked down to zero, and I'm sorry to say that it is not a Stalker MMO. It still looks like it might be cool, though. It's a "tactical adventure game" called Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden that blends turn-based combat with real-time exploration on a ruined, "post-human Earth."  

The unfortunate state of things in Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden was brought about by the combined effects of climate change, economic crisis, some sort of pandemic, and a nuclear war. Just to be sure. With humanity finally off the board, mutants have stepped in to take over. The game is being developed by Swedish studio Bearded Ladies, whose members include Ulf Andersson, a designer on games including Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Payday, and Payday 2. 

"Our goal is to blend the deep and tactical combat of XCOM with branching storylines that unfold as you explore overgrown forests and abandoned cities with your team of Mutants," Andersson said. "Mixing that with real-time stealth gameplay gives you a unique way to approach or avoid combat situations you encounter while exploring."   

The trailer clearly isn't representative of gameplay, but the promise of XCOM-style brawls in a Fallout-flavored world, played as an angry, armed Daffy Duck and a cop from Duke Nukem, is intriguing if nothing else. Funcom will show off live Mutant Year Zero gameplay later this month at GDC, and it's expected to be out later this year. For now, you can find out more at mutantyearzero.com, or on Steam

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Latest in Strategy
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
King wielding his axe against would-be assassins in Norland.
Medieval colony sim Norland is getting a 'damn big update' that completely overhauls the game's mechanics: 'We're rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay'
Age of Empires 2
Former Age of Empires 2 dev claims Microsoft demanded its first expansion should have a Korean faction, because 'StarCraft sold 3 million copies in Korea'
Endless Legend 2 Kin faction reveal
It's turtle time: Endless Legend 2's first faction is the fortification-loving Kin of Sheredyn
A massive beachhead assault in indie RTS Beyond All Reason
Over 110 players and 10,000 units clash as this free RTS celebrates its growing multiplayer scene with some of the biggest multiplayer battles ever fought
Latest in News
A True Kin knight stands in a ruin in Caves of Qud, flanked by bloodstained furniture and a freshly mortalized corpse.
Despite making a roguelike where you can have countless arms and legs, Caves of Qud's creators say the ideal form is a limbless sphere: 'We started in perfection and only moved farther from God'
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Metaphor: ReFantazio character art
Metaphor: ReFantazio battle director says turn-based RPGs can still be just as popular as action RPGs: 'I personally believe turn-based games have a long future ahead of them'
assassin's creed shadows review
Assassin's Creed Shadows streamer goes viral after confronting whining commenters: 'Normal people don't get upset about this sh***'
Assassin's Creed Shadows change seasons - An upper-body shot of Yasuke looking cheerfully up into the distance.
'This is just the beginning': Assassin's Creed Shadows dev team thanks fans for their support and promises more to come in the future
Geralt sitting on a wall wearing a Cyberpunk jacket modded by TheRealArdCarraigh
The Witcher 3 devs had to practically remake the game engine to make official modding possible