In 2017 I was exposed to an amazing pen and paper RPG called Mutant Year Zero. Set in a post apocalyptic universe, the game was intricate, in-depth and fun as hell; in short, I was hooked pretty much immediately.
Suffice to say, when I heard the game was being developed for PC and consoles by The Bearded Ladies, I flipped. I reached out to the team for an interview and Haraldur Thormundsson, CEO of The Bearded Ladies graciously sat down to discuss Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden with me. Here's how it went.
1) Please introduce yourself.
HT: Hi, my name is Haraldur Thormundsson and I’m the CEO or the Circus Director at The Bearded Ladies.
2) Tell us a bit about The Bearded Ladies.
HT: The Bearded Ladies were founded in 2008/09 and we ran the studio for about three years, then we wanted to go and do different things. Soon thereafter we started wanting to get the band back together and in 2016 we opened the Malmö office and started working full-time on MYZ. The team is a mix of old Bearded team members and senior IO interactive devs, as well as Ulf Andersson from 10 Chambers.
3) What are some of the games The Bearded Ladies are known for?
HT: During the early days we did three games, a helicopter adventure called Landit Bandit, Pipe Madness, a remake of the classic Pipe Dreams and Gamocracy, a crowd sourcing project run with Sony, where we invited the players to design a game with us and we made the game The Legend of Robot together.
4) You just announced a new project; can you tell us about Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden?
HT: MYZ is a tactical adventure game, where we have some of the best elements of gaming stitched into a seamless experience. Players start the game in free exploration. Once they come in contact with enemies, the stealth game begins and they can sneak to gain tactical advantages or to avoid the conflict altogether. If you get detected or engage in the fight, the game rolls into turn-based gameplay and once the fight is over, it turns back to exploration mode.
5) Is this based off the pen and paper RPG of the same name by Modiphus?
HT: Yes it is, and for many in the team this is a childhood dream come true. MYZ IP has deep roots in the Swedish gamers identity and it's a privilege be a part of the team that gets the chance to turn the IP into a computer game.
6) What makes Mutant Year Zero different from other RPG / Strategy games?
HT: Well, as I have mentioned above, the IP [itself] is very unique; it's not every day your main character is a duck or a boar. But the way we have handled the gameplay is different, our ambition is to create something new, so if you are not a big fan of turn based gameplay you will still enjoy our game a lot. And finally, [I think] the look and the art of the game looks great!
8) What platforms will MYZ release for?
HT: PC, XBOX ONE and PS4.
9) What other products are in the works at The Bearded Ladies?
HT: We have not made any decisions on what is next, [but] that is the great thing about a small studio like ours; we don't have to follow a 5-year plan, we do one project and when it is about to close, we decide what to do next based upon what we feel is right [at the time] and what we want to do.
10) Any final words?
HT: Well, if you made this far, I would like to thank you for your attention!
While there is no current release date for MYZ, you can check out all the features of this game at https://www.mutantyearzero.com/.
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