The appearance, in 2019, of Disco Elysium marked an era demonstrating that role-playing games can be perfectly translated into a video game, offering different options along the way and with a river-like story based on decisions that would define the future of the characters. But its studio, which defined itself as a “cultural association,” has faced numerous problems after the launch, leading to a real battle to be the true creators of the sequel (spiritual, at least). And here we are.
Total sequelitis
There are now three groups of developers who have left ZA/UM and, more specifically, Disco Elysium, who are creating RPGs with the moral dualities and issues that the game presented. The first to act was Longdue, who is creating a “psychogeographic RPG” in which players’ decisions will shape the world. We don’t know much more yet, but Longdue hopes to break away from comparisons and be a completely independent RPG.
But of course, it’s the same expectation at Dark Math Games, where they are making a “real detective game” called XXX Nightshift, in which half of the team are former Disco Elysium workers, including its art director. The game has a trailer and seems to be well advanced.
There is a third contender, Summer Eternal, another studio led, this time, by two of the original writers of the game, who were working on the original sequel of the game before ZA/UM closed its doors. And indeed, as much as we all loved Disco Elysium, it is impossible to deny that behind the curtains lay a realm of terror from which, surprisingly, a great game emerged. What will happen with these three spiritual sequels? Which one will come out on top, if any? Will we ever see this game as the precursor of an entire genre? We can only wait because there are twists and turns ahead.
