While ZA/UM is now a very different studio to the one that made Disco Elysium, the team that now exists at the studio has revealed Zero Parades, an intriguing spy thriller CRPG.
You’re one of the best spies out there, Hershel Wilk, alias CASCADE, but you’re one that’s haunted by past failures and seek redemption by taking on a new and mysterious assignment. That drops you into a three-way power struggle for control of a new city, going up against international bankers, foreign techno-fascists, psychic doppelgängers, and plenty more.
You’ll fail in your mission, but then you’ll have another chance to right this wrong.
Here’s some Steam blurb:
- Become an Anti-Icon: Play as Hershel – brilliant, relentless, magnetic… and cursed. A former top operant whose touch turns everything to shit. She is as dangerous to her enemies as she is to her friends.
- Espionage Reinvented: Descend into a world of bootleg mind-erasure, failed space programmes, and state-sponsored pop stars. This is espionage stripped of glamour – no parades, no happy endings – at least probably not for you.
- Failing Forward: In the life of an operant, failure is inevitable. Here, it’s another way forward – every misstep opens doors that success would run swiftly by.
- A Story-Rich Espionage RPG: From the studio which brought you Disco Elysium. Blending the psychological depth of a spy novel with surrealist undertones and richly drawn characters.
- A Question of Identity: Who are you when no one is watching? Or, at least, when you *think* no one is? In ZERO PARADES, the answer will define much more than just the assignment. Cope with the terror of reality by giving up parts of yourself and try not to lose your mind in the process.
Originally released for PC in 2019, Disco Elysium was enhanced and came to consoles in 2021, and a stunning example of narratives within video games. In our 10/10 review of Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, Gamoc said, “The story is absolutely captivating, the world is filled to the brim with detail, and the characters and their motivations are remarkably well thought out. […] Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is a masterwork and you are doing yourself a disservice if you miss it.”
