From our friends at Free League Publishing and Modiphius Entertainment.

Here’s the Link to Free League’s Mutant: Year Zero page.

Disclaimer: I was granted a review copy of the PDF for this product. I have not been compensated for this review. Opinions expressed herein are my own. I do not work nor am I officially associated with Free League Publishing.

I had a very positive first impression of Mutant: Year Zero. Prior to receiving the book, I had heard of the game. I’d heard mostly good things about the system in other reviews and other products. I want to focus this review more on the setting and some of the various gameplay aspects rather than combat and core mechanics.

The rules are solid. I don’t think there’s much I can add to reviews of the system itself that hasn’t been said before elsewhere. The mechanics have proven to be functional time and time again in other publications by Free League and various Third Party Publishers. The game works.

A somewhat new take on an old apocalyptic future trope.

I have to be honest and say this game wasn’t quite what I was expecting at first. I mistakenly believed that Mutant: Year Zero was a precursor timeline to an old game called Mutant Chronicles. I’m not sure where I remember hearing/seeing that idea or if it’s another case of isolated localized Mandela Effect on my end. (*It happens.)

Regardless of its humble origins, M:YZ is a good post-apocalyptic game in its own right. I’ve played RIFTS, Gamma World, Aftermath, TMNT After the Bomb, and so many other similar games. Mutant: Year Zero differentiates itself with a unique playstyle. It’s not enough just to survive in this game, you have to look out for your community, deal with various Bosses (*like Clan leaders in Vampire: the Masquerade,) explore a radioactive wasteland full of various monsters, robots, and other hazards to find potable water and edible food for everyone including your character.

Mutant: Year Zero isn’t just post-apocalyptic survival. It’s a constant struggle for food, water, and bullets. Ammo is currency. (*Which makes me wonder about spent brass, but we’ll talk about that another time.) Friends, favors and alliances are golden. This is one time when players have to take their character backgrounds seriously.

All of the post-apocalyptic stuff is bad enough, the characters also have to figure out the riddle of why they’re where they are now, who came before, and what to do next. I respect this game’s commitment to exploration. It’s not enough to just survive. Food is running out. People cry for help.

Emphasis on community.

Every new game of M:YZ starts off fresh in a new Ark. The Ark is home. There are over a hundred people who depend on your character and others to organize, feed, and protect them. The Zone is fraught with dangers. The Rot (aka radiation and disease) touches everything to a certain degree. There are no mecha, rad suits, Hazmat gear, or anything to readily protect a character unless they are fortunate enough to build or acquire something.

This style of play seems to be becoming more popular in post-apocalyptic games. Another recent release, Salvage Union from Leyline Press, features a similar type of overarching scenario with its Crawler environment. The idea behind both games are that the PCs have more responsibilities that just roaming the radioactive wastelands and killing everything they come across in the vague hopes of finding an uncontaminated can of Cream of Asparagus soup.

Addressing the Mutant elephant in the room: Powers.

It’s not enough to live in a post-apocalyptic dystopian future with rival gangs, the Rot, giant monsters, and killer robots. The fine folks that wrote Mutant: Year Zero threw in some superhero style mutations and a healthy dose of teen angst. As far as we can tell, anyone over the age of about 21 is dead. The before times are forgotten and by the way, you can move stuff with your mind as well as have insect wings.

I love X-Men comics as much as anyone, but I’m not 100% sure it was necessary. Using your mutation powers in M:YZ usually comes with risk as well as some reward. If your character pushes themselves hard enough, they can sprout a new mutation. The downsides are Mutation Points are a pretty valuable commodity and if the power misfires it can leave the character with a permanent injury on top of a new power.

The good news is that everyone knows your character is a mutant, because they’re all mutants, too. On the other hand, some of those powers are pretty strong and if an NPC unleashes some on your characters, the group might be starting over and taking the Ark’s population down by one or three. Also, the Trauma table is pretty grim in places.

Lastly, Mutant: Year Zero has great GM support built in.

There can be a lot for a GM to manage with any game in this genre. M:YZ honestly has a lot of moving parts to it. I recommend picking up the boxed set if you can find it somewhere relatively inexpensive or at least get the cards. I think they add a nice random element to help the GM manage the session.

Another thing the book recommends, and in this case I kind of agree, is to have the players help design the Ark starting out. Statistically, there’s not much to work with, but outlining some of the social groups within the Ark and figuring out some of the complicated web of relationships definitely helps. I once designed a relationship chart for a game that made the conspiracy guy’s strings on the corkboard map look amateurish. Player help, especially for mapping and art, goes a long way.

It’s also good to note there is a pretty good adventure in the back of the book to help get started. I won’t ruin it with spoilers, but it does capture the vibe of the game quite well. There is also a ton of material in the random tables within the game to help GMs establish their own adventures in or out of the Zone.

I’ll also mention that some of the sourcebooks for this game look freakin intense! While I haven’t read any of them yet, Mechatron and Elysium look like fun. The Zone Wars miniatures game looks like a good, fun boardgame night in the M:YZ universe, too. Link to the Zone Wars preview here.

In conclusion, I see how this game got so popular. I wish I had gotten on board with it a lot sooner. It’s a very solid, fun looking RPG with untold hours of potential gameplay. I could see a campaign in this world going for years just looking for the humans who survived the apocalypse. You also have the endless, possibly TV style episodic drama with the Ark every session. For Cyberpunk fans, the precarious relationships and Boss interactions could be a lot of fun. There’s a little something here for everyone.

Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.