ZA/UM's Zero Parades: Is It a New Reality or Just Echoes of Elysium?
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
ZA/UM's *Zero Parades* demo offers a fascinating glimpse into the studio's follow-up to *Disco Elysium*, presenting a game that's both wonderfully familiar and potentially groundbreaking, all while keeping the trademark surrealism and communist-y political themes alive. It's a Schrödinger's cat of a game, leaving us wonderfully curious about its final form.
Right, so you know that feeling when you're excitedly rummaging through a forgotten corner of your wizard's workshop, hoping to find a powerful new spell, but instead, you just find a slightly mouldy, familiar-looking spellbook? That's kinda the vibe I'm getting from ZA/UM's *Zero Parades* demo.
After years of whispers, studio drama that felt straight out of a particularly grim RPG lore entry, and more speculation than a dragon's hoard appraisal, the creators behind the mind-bending masterpiece *Disco Elysium* have finally let us peek at their next big thing. And let me tell you, mate, it’s a bit of a Schrödinger's cat situation: simultaneously feeling like a brilliant, innovative follow-up and a very well-crafted imitation. My brain's been doing cartwheels trying to figure it out.
Based on the astute observations by Mark Warren over at Rock Paper Shotgun, who's been doing some serious digital archaeology in the demo for his feature "ZA/UM's Zero Parades is Schrodinger's Disco Elysium follow-up, and it keeps yelling at me about communism," *Zero Parades* immediately throws you into the deep end of its unique world. You're Hershel Wilk, a spy for the Operant Bureau, navigating a situation that starts with a rather unresponsive partner. Sound familiar? It’s a bit of a 'Freaky Friday' flip on *Disco Elysium*'s iconic opening, where Detective Harry Du Bois was the amnesiac mess, and Kim Kitsuragi was the ever-dependable anchor.
But here's the kicker: Wilk, despite investigating her comatose partner, is no Kim. Oh no, she's very much a Harry. She’s got her own internal chorus, much like Harry's skills personified, including 'Statehood,' which apparently screams communist diatribes at a monkey calling itself the KING OF TRADE. Honestly, 'bloody hell' barely covers it. We're talking about a game that, within minutes, offers you the choice to falsify reports for a corporation or quit, then pits your inner voice against a primate capitalist. It's the kind of surreal, politically charged punch to the gut that made *Disco Elysium* so utterly unforgettable.
That blend of the mundane (corporate drudgery) with the utterly bonkers (talking to a monkey god of commerce) is what makes *Zero Parades* so intriguing. It walks that fine line, making you wonder if you’re experiencing genuine ZA/UM magic or a cleverly disguised tribute. As Mark points out, it feels like an encounter you *could* have had in *Disco*, yet there's that nagging doubt: is it an evolution, or just a very shiny, well-maintained echo?
Wilk herself comes with baggage. Born bourgeois but seduced by a communist spy agency, she's recovering from a mission gone wrong, sidelined and relegated to desk duty. This isn't Harry's blank slate, but it's still a canvas of past trauma and self-doubt. The setting, Portofiro, is described as a slightly more upscale, less decaying version of Revachol, filled with industrial docks, bustling bazaars, and shady alleys. There are music snobs, retired pilot gangs, and even a 24/7 sex line via payphone – because, priorities, right? And lurking beneath the surface are mysterious, terrifying factions like the Weeping Eye, hinting at a much grander, more conspiratorial world than *Disco*'s initially grounded murder mystery.
One of the areas *Zero Parades* aims to forge its own path is in its mechanics. The demo features an intriguing chase sequence through a bazaar, where time stops, and you're faced with skill checks to slip past your pursuers. Mark Warren found these checks heavily weighted in the player's favor, which, while good for progressing the demo, leaves a curious soul like me wondering what spectacular failures (and subsequent narrative branches) we might miss out on. In *Disco*, even failing a passive check could lead to brilliant, unexpected outcomes. Here, the potential for action sequences to become a more regular fixture is exciting, but I reckon the genuine tension will come from consequences, not just success.
Then there are the new health bars: anxiety, fatigue, and delirium, added to the simpler health and motivation system of its predecessor. In the demo, anxiety did rear its head, forcing a stat loss, but fatigue and delirium remained pretty chill. This led to Wilk feeling less immediately vulnerable than early-game Harry Du Bois, who could literally drop dead from a bad chair or a poorly chosen thought. I'm keen to see how these new elements truly impact gameplay over a longer duration, and if they add genuine strategic depth or just more gauges to glance at.
So, where do we land with *Zero Parades*? It’s a glorious enigma, a game living in that quantum state where it's both *Disco Elysium*’s spiritual successor and its own distinct beast. The political commentary, the surreal encounters, the deep character psychology – all the ingredients are there. But the proof, as they say, is in the full-release pudding, not just the demo's amuse-bouche. Will it cast a new, genre-defining spell, or will it simply be a very clever echo? As a curious wizard, I'm absolutely itching to find out what fate this Schrodinger's Disco eventually chooses.
Original article by Mark Warren for Rock Paper Shotgun.
Tags: CRPG, Indie Games, ZA/UM, Disco Elysium, Game Previews
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun