Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is based on the classic ‘Mutant’ IP that has spawned several popular pen and paper role-playing games since the 1980s, including the current ‘Mutant: Year Zero’ from Free League and Modiphius Entertainment.

Of course the world ends.

It was just a question of time. Extreme climate change, global economic crisis, a lethal pandemic, and increasing tension between old and new superpowers. For the first time since 1945 nuclear weapons were used in armed conflict. Mushroom clouds rose from east to west before the dust settled.

Now it’s over and the Earth is still. Nature has invaded ruined cities. Wind sweeps through empty streets, turned into graveyards.

The humans are all gone. Scavenging through the remains of civilization are the Mutants, deformed humanoids and animals alike, searching for salvation or just something to eat. To survive, you and your companions must venture out to explore the Zone.

Maybe one day you will find the Eden of legends, the ancients’ haven in the middle of hell. That’s where truth awaits, the stories say. Maybe you will find your answers there.

Then again, maybe it’s all bullshit.

Players must take control of a team of unlikely heroes, such as Dux (a crossbow-wielding, walking, talking duck) and Bormin (a boar with serious anger issues), and help them navigate a post-human Earth with its abandoned cities, crumbling highways, and mutated monsters on every corner. The ultimate goal: save yourselves by finding the legendary Eden.

Funcom have rolled out a free demo of Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden on PC, which you can download through your Steam client.

All content from the beginning of the game, up and including reaching the Ark, will be available in the demo, so you’re getting a decent chunk of the game. If you’ve been on the fence about buying Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden you can check out the demo and try before you buy. Or send it to that friend who’s looking for a new game to play.

It’s the perfect opportunity to see if the game is for you.

The most requested feature from players after release has been replayable gameplay, and the free updateaims to introduce exactly that. Stalker Trials brings with a challenge mode that allows players to take on new challenges in the zone, racking up points based on skill and performance, and competing with friends and strangers on leaderboards while also unlocking more powerful weapons and items. 

The Stalker Trials give access to all characters, with all mutations and skills unlocked, but you will have to buy and upgrade your weapons and armor before heading out. Once you’re satisfied with your loadout you can journey into the Zone and link up with Pripp, the bartender. He’s the brains behind the Stalker Trials, and will score you on your progress as you fight your way through an area. Your rewards will be more powerful items and equipment. Your progress will be noted down on the in-game leaderboards and the weekly and all-time top Stalkers will have an NPC named after them for other players to take down. Pripp will also reward you with extra points if you clear a map in certain ways.

Key Features:

• TACTICAL COMBAT: Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is the ultimate fix for your tactical strategy addiction. Dive into a deep, turn-based, tactical combat system inspired by the XCOM games.
• EXPLORE A POST-HUMAN EARTH: Journey through a post-human world of abandoned cities, crumbling highways, and overgrown countryside. Check back at the Ark, a neon-bathed oasis of ill repute and questionable characters, to restock your supplies and plan out your next adventure.
• CONTROL A TEAM OF MUTANTS: A duck with an attitude problem and a boar with anger issues; these aren’t your typical heroes. Get to know Dux, Bormin, Selma, and many other characters each with their own unique personality and deranged perspective on the world and their situation.
• MASTER THE STEALTHY APPROACH: Sneak through shadows to avoid conflict or to catch enemies unaware. Real-time stealth allows you full control of approach: sneak into an enemy camp, position the team of Mutants to your advantage, and gain the element of surprise.
• UNLOCK MUTATIONS: Unlock new mutations and abilities for your Mutants, such as Selma’s Stoneskin, Bormin’s Charge, and Dux‘ uncanny ability to sneak into a camp full of enemies unnoticed, despite being a 4-foot tall walking, talking duck with a crossbow.
• DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT: Use the environment to your advantage. Stay out of floodlights, hide from line of sight, or just blast down fully destructible walls and buildings and wreak utter havoc.
• LOOT, LOOT EVERYWHERE: From makeshift slingshots to high-powered rifles and top hats to police vests, make sure you equip your Mutants for the dangers ahead. Nothing says post-human quite like a mutated boar in spiked metal armor charging at you with a blunderbuss in his hands.

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, powered by the Unreal Engine, is currently available for PC, Xbox One, and PS4.