If you thought XCOM + Mario was a weird pitch for a videogame, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is here to blow your mind with an even more bizarre pitch: XCOM + Howard the Duck. Plus sealth. Plus, uh, about 30 years of RPG heritage pulled from a Swedish pen-and-paper game called Mutant that first debuted in 1984. This videogame is weird as hell. After watching an hour demo and drilling the developers for more details, I also think it's going to be really fucking cool.
Genetically mutated animals and humans are scavenging and fighting to survive in the post-apocalypse. Exploration of Mutant's near-future post-apocalyptic setting adds the biggest twist to XCOM's formula, with characters to level up, loot to find, and a story to unravel. It also gives you the opportunity to stealthily roam around an area before triggering combat. Like a typical RPG, everything plays out in real time as you're roaming around the world. Once you start a fight, though—or get spotted while you're trying to get into position—it's pure, tactical XCOM.
