Summary
"Corruption 2029 has it's moments, but ultimately fails to live up the quality of Mutant Year Zero"
Developer – The Bearded Ladies
Publisher – The Bearded Ladies
Release Date – February 17th, 2020
Platforms – PC –
A couple of years ago, The Bearded Ladies dropped a title called Mutant Year Zero. They’re a small studio, and MYZ had little fanfare before it’s release but the combination of stealth exploration and tactical turn based gameplay made for a fantastic experience. The unique world, characters and story helped flesh out the great gameplay structure and it was one of my Games of the Year.
Corruption 2029 is very much a spiritual successor to Mutant Year Zero. In certain ways this benefits it, but in many ways it doesn’t hold up to it’s predecessor.
Corruption 2029 will mostly remind players of Mutant Year Zero with it’s gameplay. Corruption has players controlling a small squad roaming a dystopian country side replete with broken down motels, gas stations and military bases.
As you explore these environments, players will find various notes, newspapers and radio’s detailing the state of the world and giving out lore about the two primary factions vying for control.
As enemies get closer, you can take your squad of three and begin placing them around using stealth in order to best lay out a plan of attack. Once combat begins the gameplay does a complete shift to a more turn based, tactical combat that’s familiar to anybody who played X-Com. Two action points per turn, reloading, even the cover system are based on the now tried and true formula X-com has created.
The favorable comparisons to Mutant Year Zero start and end their unfortunately.
Corruption 2029 has some fun battles, and using each new weapon and experimenting with augments is fun for the first couple of battles.
The problem quickly reveals itself as soon as you complete any mission in the game. Mutant Year Zero was based on the classic Pen and Paper RPG with the same name. It had some really unique characters, a compelling story and so much character to all facets of the world design.
In between missions you had a nice hub to go visit, with a bunch of characters you could speak too, shop at, upgrade your gear. It was a complete experience that drew you into that universe.
Corruption 2029 has none of that. The game starts pretty abruptly after a very short explanation of the two rival factions, The UPA (United Peoples of America) and the NAC ( New America Council).
The squad you play as are from the UPA, and are described as soldiers called Units. Unit’s are more mechanical than anything else, and are thus controlled remotely from outside observers.
The general premise of a second civil war and mechanized troops being controlled remotely has so much promise. The problem with Corruption is that it never really tries to tell any interesting story with that premise. Outside of some radio broadcasts and random newspaper clips you find, the story doesn’t ever live up to it’s potential.
The game is comprised of three acts containing several missions each. It’s not very long, and even in the short run-time you’re forced to consistently backtrack to the same handful of area’s repeatedly. The game also lacks any central hub, and the three characters you control basically feel like one person.
Gone are almost all of the RPG mechanics from Mutant Year Zero. Instead, between missions you have access to a very simple loadout screen. Any augments, consumables or weapons can be freely swapped out and used by any one of your three squad members.
This is a huge let-down, as the deeper RPG mechanics and the great characters in MYZ really helped carry that game and gave purpose to everything that was happening in between missions.
With almost all the story, deep character upgrade systems and hub gone, all you’re left with is mission design and the gameplay itself.
Sadly the mission design doesn’t really vary at all. Regardless of the objectives, every mission just boils down to eliminating every enemy in the map. Once they are all defeated you’re free to hack computers, retrieve items or whatever the objective is without much fuss.
The combat also comes across as just okay. It can be satisfying, and when certain conditions line-up the augmented powers and weapons are fun to use.
The main issue are smaller in nature but they can add up to a lot of frustration. Very basic elements such as line of sight, and grenade targeting can be very fussy when they shouldn’t be. Multiple times I’ve had squad mates just get stuck in objects and they remain their for the whole battle. Nothing has been game breaking by any means, but these little issues make the game feel rushed. It has an overall lack of polish that Mutant Year Zero had.
I really don’t like making these comparisons so readily, but it’s tough to ignore. The entire game is built exactly like it. Even basic things such as font, U.I and menu options are almost one to one. These similarities ultimately hurt Corruption 2029.
If it was allowed to have more of it’s own identity, or took more risks with it’s gameplay and storyline, this could have been exceptional.
Instead at times it feels like a proof of concept to what MYZ would ultimately become. It’s fun for the price, and if you really loved Mutant Year Zero there is fun to be had here, but not much.
