May 24, 2019

Mutant Year Zero is getting a new DLC with a flame-throwing moose

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

Questions like “What if a moose could breathe fire” are the ones that keep me up at night, and fortunately, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is about to answer that one specifically with a new DLC set to launch in July.

Seed of Evil adds a new story campaign to last year’s Fantastic Mr. Fox-meets-XCOM adventure, and introduces a new mutant named Big Khan, a tough-as-nails moose with his own special abilities and synergies.

The expansion’s story is centered on a new menace in the Zone, and takes a cue or two from Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. A malevolent plant seems to be abducting people—friends and enemies alike—and replacing them with twisted copies made of plant tissue. Big Khan calls them “pod ghouls,” and he doesn’t seem to like them much.

Fortunately, one of the mutations Big Khan has available to him is called “flame puke,” and it does exactly what it sounds like it does: He spews a jet of fire over a wide area, setting anything organic alight.

Seed of Evil comes out July 30 alongside the Nintendo Switch launch of Mutant Year Zero.

May 23, 2019

Stealthy animal XCOM-alike Mutant Year Zero unveils Seed of Evil expansion

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

Developer The Bearded Ladies has unveiled the first expansion for its stealthy XCOM-alike Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. It's called Seed of Evil, and is heading to PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Switch on 30th July.

Mutant Year Zero, which was inspired by the Swedish tabletop RPG of the same name, released last December. It won many a fan on release, thanks to its solidly designed turn-based strategy action - successfully combining stealth and combat - and its wonderfully engaging cast of animal misfits, as they journeyed across the post-human, post-apocalyptic world.

Earlier this year, The Bearded Ladies revealed that it would be bringing the game to Switch this summer, and while that's still the case, there's been a bit of rejigging of dates. Mutant Year Zero will now arrive on Nintendo's console slightly later than first announced, on 30th July.

May 23, 2019

Seed of Evil, the new Mutant Year Zero Expansion, Revealed!

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden - Jens Erik (Community Manager)

We’re excited to reveal the new expansion to Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. It’s called Seed of Evil and it will expand the original game in multiple ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3dcfchKuKA

The expansion picks up where the original game ended and offers hours of more gameplay, new locations to visit, expanded gameplay options, and a new Mutant to add to your party: Big Khan, the moose.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1088000/Mutant_Year_Zero_Seed_of_Evil/

When a mysterious enemy with the power to control plants threatens the Ark, the Stalkers must use their fighting skills to defeat the enemy's minions, discover the enemy's true identity, and save the Ark.

We highly recommend that you finish the main story in Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden before playing Seed of Evil, due to story spoilers and the level range of the new content.

New features and Content

Seed of Evil brings a wide breadth of new content to Mutant Year Zero. Discover huge new maps, battle new enemies, improve your mutations, equip new gear, and face off against a vicious new adversary.

Continue the main story

See what happens after the ending of Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. The lives of Bormin, Dux, Pripp and the others at the Ark continue. New events are unfolding as the weight of their new knowledge weigh down on them, and a new enemy appears from the shadows of the Zone.

Meet Big Khan, a brand-new playable Mutant

Buying the Seed of Evil expansion lets you add an entirely new Mutant to the team: Big Khan the moose. He is a veteran Stalker who has been exploring the Zone on his own in self-imposed exile. His size and strength make him an excellent fighter, capable of landing highly damaging critical hits against enemies. His unique mutations are Ground Pound and Flame Puke, attacks that make him effective at dealing with groups of enemies.

A new threat rises

The Ark has become enveloped in mysterious roots, and many of its inhabitants seem different from their normal selves. Even the Zone Ghouls seem to have changed. This new menace threatens not only the Ark, but the entire Zone, and it’s up to your team of Stalkers to set things right!

The new storyline in Seed of Evil offers new challenges in brand new maps. You will visit the Hall of Electric Coffins and the Mausoleum of Suburbia, to name a few. These areas are populated with new enemies, forcing you to rethink your regular tactics.

Improve your mutations

We’re introducing a brand-new mechanic in Seed of Evil that will allow you to upgrade and improve your mutations. Upgrade Bormin’s Hog Rush to a Bear Smash for increased power, or change Corpse Eater to Corpse Feaster, so recovering HP no longer costs an Action Point. Dux’ Moth Wings can be upgraded to Wings of the Sniper, which removes all range penalties from shots when flying.

Retake lost territory

Zone Ghouls and Polis Bots are once again encroaching on places like the Spear of Heaven or the Sea Titans. This time they’re stronger than ever and your Stalker team is tasked with clearing them out. Beware, though, the enemies are stronger than before!

New release date

We have decided to move the release date for Seed of Evil and the retail Deluxe Edition of Road to Eden a month. The new release date for Mutant year Zero: Seed of Evil, and the retail Deluxe Edition, is July 30th.

We know you’re very excited about the expansion, so are we, and we can’t wait to see what you think!

May 9, 2019

Mutant Year Zero Fanart Contest Winners

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden - Nicole V(Community Manager)

Hey Stalkers! We want to thank everyone who participated in our recent fanart contest. We got some really amazing entries. :) You are all incredibly talented!! We will be contacting the winners about their prize. You can see them here as well as the names and backstories some of their creators have given them. If you are the artist behind any of these, feel free to reply to this thread or the one in the official forums! You can include your artstation or website link as well.
Behold!

One Eyed Zoe

Truk

Created by Ryan. You can see their incredible gallery here

Rott

Preem

You can read their fantastic backstory here

Here's a taste of it:
During his travel through the wastes, Preem found a peculiar device - the Sony Walkman. A machine that spoke to him and weaved stories from nothingness. He kept it secret, listening it every night for comfort and scouring through junk on the regular for the metallic AA tubes that refilled its whispers.

Dux

Created by Henry

Peanut

This drawing and backstory was created by Björn.
You can read her detailed backstory here which includes how she got her name. Here’s a great sample:
In the open she used her sensitive hearing to localize others and realized she made a hell of a noise limping through the terrain. She learned that the hard way as someone spotted her and shot off a piece of her ear and tusk, barely making it out alive. She solved it by wearing a wooden shoe which has the right height to even out the length difference and thus making her basically soundless moving around.

the Berserk Brothers

Created by Björn Barends. See their gallery here

Feb 27, 2019

Try Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden for free

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

The farm animal tactics game Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is quite good: Maybe a little shorter than it should have been, but "a tense, absorbing and atmospheric" game in the style of XCOM. Even so, the front-facing weirdness of the thing—characters include an anthropomorphic duck, a brutish, bipedal boar, and a literal stone cold fox—may have put some people off.

The obvious solution is to give people a chance to try to try the game without paying for it, which of course is why we're here—because a demo is now available on Steam. It's about a 3GB download, and it sounds like it's a pretty thick slice of the game: Funcom said it includes "all content from the beginning of the game, up [to] and including reaching the Ark."

The "Download Demo" button isn't very prominently featured, but it's there, buried on the right-hand sidebar of the Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden Steam page, just above the list of Steam features. Hit that and you're off to the races. The recently-announced Stalker Trials "challenge mode" expansion, with scored progress through specially populated maps, leaderboards, and a handful of new options and bug fixes, is also now available and free for everyone.