Following layoffs at ZA/UM earlier this yr, a few of the builders affected have supplied some particulars concerning the Disco Elysium spin-off sport 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’ve not gotten for the reason that orginal got here out, it sounds very cool.
Should 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 can be a little bit of an understatement. Previous to this yr they’re already been key figures in that first sport’s improvement parting methods with the studio, and documentaries exploring simply how messy the scenario had gotten.
Now, in report from PC Gamer, a lot of former workers on the studio have shed some gentle on what the venture codenamed X7 was trying like earlier than it was canned.
In accordance with 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 unique Disco devs Robert Kurvitz, Aleksander Rostov, and Helen Hindpere again in 2021 – was “about one of the beloved characters in Disco Elysium” and helmed by fellow unique dev Argo Tuulik.
“It was one thing nobody else however Argo may have accomplished, and it will have been 110% genuine, most hardcore Disco since Disco,” former X7 lead author Dora Klindžić mentioned if it, including the the sport “would have superior the story, the emotional threads, and gameplay parts all of sudden to really 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 sport with out [Kurvitz], Rostov, and different those who made the unique Disco Elysium,” one other ex-ZA/UM developer added. The response inside the studio to an inside showcase of the sport in late 2023 was reportedly fairly optimistic, with some believing it may assist “reassure followers that ZA/UM isn’t a husk, that the IP is in protected arms and that the studio is filled with gifted individuals with a real love for the world of Revachol.”
Sadly, having begun improvement in 2022, and at a stage when it was trying prefer it may be prepared for launch in 2024 or 2025, X7 is now one thing we’ll greater than possible by no means get to play. Which, naturally, sucks for each us followers and, way more importantly, the builders who had been engaged on it.
Should you’re now as bummed out by this information as I’m, you would possibly need to learn this function we put out on World Psychological Well being day final yr, through which one in every of us discusses how a few of Disco Elysium’s messages helped him overcome some issues affecting his life.