ZA/UM Studio, the company behind Disco Elyséejust released a trailer for its next RPG Zero parades: for dead spies. This is the first real footage we’ve gotten of the game, although we did get a mysterious teaser last year while it was still being called. C4 Project.
This is a highly stylized science fiction RPG in the vein of Disco Elyséebut with a unique scrapbook-like visual style. It’s called a “psychedelic spy RPG”, and the name suggests a strong focus on espionage. It actually looks pretty neat.
This is something of a shadow casting announcement, because Zero parades will be available on PC on May 21. It’s only two weeks away. It’s coming to PS5, but not until the end of this year. The game has been kept under wraps since ZA/UM Studio lost the core team that created Disco Elysée.
This includes creator Robert Kurvitz, art director Aleksander Rostov and writer Helen Hindpere. All three were fired by the company’s new management in 2022, after the trio was accused of misconduct and attempted theft of intellectual property. It should be noted that Kurvitz wrote the novel which Disco Elysée is based on.
Lawsuits were filed and Kurvitz and Rostov started their own company. The two men refuted allegations of intellectual property theft and wrote in an open letter that they were fired due to an investigation into the takeover of ZA/UM by Estonian businessmen Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel. Both men had previously been convicted of investment fraud and accused of creating a hostile work environment for women.
“I know of at least five women who have left or been forced to leave the studio since Disco launched, citing Tõnis Haavel as a major factor. There are no women in creative leadership and very few women in management positions in general,” said a former writer for Elsyium Nightclub said PC gamer.
Other former ZA/UM employees started a company called Longdue which is creating a new game called City of Hope which acts as a spiritual successor to Disco Elysée. It’s been a while since we’ve had any news on this. Either way, we only have two weeks to see if ZA/UM still has any juice left after all the aforementioned drama. Zero parades: for dead spies will be available for download on Steam, Epic Games Store and GOG for $40.