Following layoffs at ZA/UM earlier this 12 months, a number of the builders affected have offered some particulars in regards to the Disco Elysium spin-off recreation they had been busy engaged on previous to it being cancelled as a part of them being let go. As with all the Disco Elysium stuff we have not gotten because the orginal got here out, it sounds very cool.
In the event you’re out of the loop, to say it has been a turbulent time for these working on the studio since Harry and Kim arrived in our lives again in 2019 could be a little bit of an understatement. Previous to this 12 months they’re already been key figures in that first recreation’s improvement parting methods with the studio, and documentaries exploring simply how messy the state of affairs had gotten.
Now, in report from PC Gamer, quite a lot of former workers on the studio have shed some mild on what the challenge codenamed X7 was wanting like earlier than it was canned.
Based on the devs, this spin-off set within the Elysium universe – not a sequel, by the way in which, as that concept had already been shelved after the departure of authentic Disco devs Robert Kurvitz, Aleksander Rostov, and Helen Hindpere again in 2021 – was “about one of the vital beloved characters in Disco Elysium” and helmed by fellow authentic dev Argo Tuulik.
“It was one thing nobody else however Argo may have carried out, and it might have been 110% genuine, most hardcore Disco since Disco,” former X7 lead author Dora Klindžić stated if it, including the the sport “would have superior the story, the emotional threads, and gameplay parts all of sudden to actually evolve the style of psychological RPG as Disco Elysium began it.”
“I really feel prefer it was the very best shot at a Disco-like recreation with out [Kurvitz], Rostov, and different people who made the unique Disco Elysium,” one other ex-ZA/UM developer added. The response inside the studio to an inner showcase of the sport in late 2023 was reportedly fairly optimistic, with some believing it may assist “reassure followers that ZA/UM is just not a husk, that the IP is in secure palms and that the studio is stuffed with proficient folks with a real love for the world of Revachol.”
Sadly, having begun improvement in 2022, and at a stage when it was wanting prefer it is perhaps prepared for launch in 2024 or 2025, X7 is now one thing we’ll greater than doubtless by no means get to play. Which, naturally, sucks for each us followers and, far more importantly, the builders who had been engaged on it.
In the event you’re now as bummed out by this information as I’m, you would possibly wish to learn this function we put out on World Psychological Well being day final 12 months, through which one in all us discusses how a few of Disco Elysium’s messages helped him overcome some issues affecting his life.
