Nearly five years since the game launched, Disco Elysium has left something of a rotten legacy. One of the most critically acclaimed games of the modern era, this groundbreaking RPG was instantly praised by critics and consumers alike for its deep RPG systems, exemplary writing, and its bleak , tragic storyline that was thoroughly and thoroughly conceived. I also really, really love the music.
Tensions between developers and the company’s publishing arm, as well as a decidedly rancid atmosphere at the studio, led many of us to think we’d never get a game like Disco Elysium again. Or will we?
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Despite missing some of the key staff that made DE so memorable, the new indie developer Longdue It was announced that something very disco-like was being developed – and there were even a number of staff members who worked on the original (but notably, the three “main” protagonists: Robert Kurvitz, Alexander Rostov and Helen Hindpe you) ).
According to a press release, the studio already has “more than a dozen strong people” on board, “including team members who worked on the original Disco Elysium and its unreleased sequel.” The team has also attracted talent from across the industry, including veterans from Bungie, Rockstar, and Brave At Night (who you may recognize from Yes, Your Majesty).
“Longdue’s first role-playing game explores the subtle interplay between the conscious and subconscious, the visible and the invisible,” reads the press release. “Set in a world where choices arise between a character’s psyche and the environment, players will navigate an ever-changing landscape influenced by internal and external forces.” I don’t know about you, but it’s important to It does sound a bit pale to me, doesn’t it?
If you liked what The Thought Cabinet did in the original Disco Elysium, you might like the new “psychographic RPG” mechanics Longdue is developing, where every decision reshapes the world and the people who inhabit it. Role. It’s an experience where the lines between mind and environment become blurred, and every choice collides and transforms, guiding players through an ever-changing narrative landscape. Interesting to me.
The press release certainly said all the right things to grab my attention. It states that Longdue’s goal is to create games that “resonate emotionally and intellectually.” It assures us that the studio aims to “build a reputation for consistent high quality, focusing on depth and narrative integrity.” According to the release, this is “just the beginning of Longdue’s journey to becoming a trusted name in the greater RPG canon”.
However, the studio is funded by “private investors from the tech world,” and we saw how that went with Studio ZA/UM. It turns out that those rich enough to bend light around them have the ability to cause a lot of problems for creatives. Who would have thought, huh?
But reservations aside, I’m excited about it. We don’t find many games these days that are as narratively and mechanically rich as Disco Elysium – the closest games I can think of are probably Citizen Sleeper and Confession, but neither achieve the same effect . I’m not alone in thinking that Disco Elysium is truly something special.
But good things never last, right? In a story that could have been spun from one of the game’s many side stories, the post-launch collapse of the idea for Disco Elysium was messy, personal, and painful. Key figures in the development of the first game (Kurvitz, Rostov, and Hindpere) parted ways with developer Studio ZA/UM in 2021, sabotaging the sequel in their exit.
Then, earlier this year, we learned that another spin-off game set in the same universe had been cancelled. Rumor has it that we’ll never get a sequel or spin-off to Studio ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium.
Whatever Longdue is doing, then, may be our best chance of getting something even remotely similar. I will continue to pay attention to this matter and will notify you as soon as there is any news.
