Darkest Dungeon vs Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
Darkest Dungeon is a horror roguelike game from Red Hook Studios (2016) while Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a horror RPG game from The Bearded Ladies (2018).
What each one is
Steam files Darkest Dungeon under Horror and Roguelike. In contrast, it files Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden under Horror and RPG.
Darkest Dungeon is a challenging gothic roguelike turn-based RPG about the psychological stresses of adventuring. Recruit, train, and lead a team of flawed heroes against unimaginable horrors, stress, disease, and the ever-encroaching dark. Can you keep your heroes together when all hope is lost?
A tactical game combining the turn-based combat of XCOM with story, exploration, stealth, and strategy. Take control of a team of Mutants navigating a post-human Earth. Created by a team including former HITMAN leads and the designer of PAYDAY.
At a glance
| Darkest Dungeon | Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.9/10 | 7.7/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (92%, 161,942) | Very Positive (90%, 20,534) |
| Critic aggregate | 84/100 | 78/100 |
| Price | $3.74 | $34.99 |
| Install size | 2 GB | 8 GB |
| Steam Deck | verified | playable |
| Released | 2016 | 2018 |
| Developer | Red Hook Studios | The Bearded Ladies |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Darkest Dungeon vs Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Darkest DungeonHorror roguelike gameMutant Year Zero: Road to EdenHorror RPG gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Darkest DungeonTurn-Based Combat, Dark Fantasy, Dungeon CrawlerMutant Year Zero: Road to EdenStrategy, RPG, Turn-Based CombatThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Darkest Dungeon ✓Score 7.9 · 92% on Steam · 84 criticMutant Year Zero: Road to EdenScore 7.7 · 90% on Steam · 78 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Darkest Dungeon161,942 reviews · 7 add-ons · 2 GBMutant Year Zero: Road to Eden20,534 reviews · 2 add-ons · 8 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Darkest Dungeon ✓$3.74Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden$34.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Darkest Dungeon ✓VerifiedMutant Year Zero: Road to EdenPlayableValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Darkest Dungeon takes 3 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueDarkest Dungeon and Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
- PlayStation
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Darkest Dungeon (GamingPickz Score 7.9)
- The cheaper right now: Darkest Dungeon ($3.74)
- Better on a Steam Deck: Darkest Dungeon (verified)
- Lighter on storage: Darkest Dungeon (2 GB)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: Darkest Dungeon (161,942 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
Turn-Based CombatDark FantasyRPGDifficultTurn-BasedSingleplayerStrategyAtmospheric
Where they differ
Dungeon CrawlerRogue-likeLovecraftianPerma DeathDarkIndie
Post-apocalypticTurn-Based TacticsTacticalAdventureStealthTurn-Based Strategy
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Darkest Dungeon is demanding, for players who want a challenge. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is demanding, for players who want a challenge.
System requirements, side by side
| Darkest Dungeon | Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | Open GL 3.2+ Compliant | NVidia GTX 580 / AMD Radeon HD 7870 |
| Minimum CPU | — | Intel Core i5-760 / AMD Phenom II X4 965 |
| Minimum RAM | 2 GB | 6 GB |
| Install size | 2 GB | 8 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Darkest Dungeon · Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Darkest Dungeon and 1 for Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Darkest Dungeon and Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden in scope?
Darkest Dungeon has drawn 161,942 Steam reviews, ships 7 add-ons and installs in 2 GB. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden has drawn 20,534 Steam reviews, ships 2 add-ons and installs in 8 GB.
Is Darkest Dungeon or Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Darkest Dungeon rates higher (7.9 to 7.7). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Darkest Dungeon or Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden?
Darkest Dungeon is cheaper right now at $3.74, against $34.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.