Zero Parades Hands-On: Disco Elysium Vibes, a Flawed Spy Heroine, and No Release Date
Zero Parades is a story-driven isometric RPG from ZA/UM that follows operative Hershel Wilk through a dystopian sci-fi city. The game uses heavy text, skill checks, and an artsy visual style, and it was shown at Gamescom in a preview session.
What Zero Parades is
Zero Parades is a new intellectual property from ZA/UM described as an espionage RPG. Players control Hershel Wilk, a spy who tries to reassemble her former team to complete a mission. The world is presented in an isometric view with heavy text-based narration and an art style that resembles oil painting.
How it plays
The game is largely text-driven. Players explore environments, choose dialogue options, and face skill checks that affect success rates. For example, breaking a locked gate is easier if you invested skill points in strength.
ZA/UM also showed a *pressure* system that tracks physical and psychological tolls on the protagonist, and a *conditioning* menu that records how choices influence skills. The studio described a design approach where actions can have both positive and negative consequences; one example the developers used was:
“It’s like smoking,” the developers explained. “You’re taught not to smoke because it’s bad for your health, so you won’t do it. But then you go to a party, and you get the choice to smoke with other people to gain information. You might accept the negative effects to gain something else.”
Differences from Disco Elysium and the controversy
Zero Parades shares many design elements with Disco Elysium, including detailed writing, skill checks, and an artsy visual presentation. However, ZA/UM says Zero Parades is a completely new IP and not related to Elysium.
In 2021, Disco Elysium lead designer Robert Kurvitz, art and design lead Aleksander Rostov, and writer Helen Hindpere left ZA/UM after a major share purchase that changed the studio’s ownership and leadership. Kurvitz, Rostov, and Disco Elysium’s executive producer Kaur Kender later claimed the studio was acquired fraudulently. Meanwhile, ZA/UM’s new CEO, Ilmar Kompus, said Kurvitz and Rostov were fired for misconduct.
Those events led to a public dispute and subsequent legal actions. The controversy attracted extensive reporting and a video investigation by People Make Games.
Comments under Project C4’s reveal trailer show many fans reacted strongly to the studio changes and ownership dispute. ZA/UM’s public materials emphasize the new game’s separate IP while still using familiar mechanics.
What stood out at Gamescom
At Gamescom, the preview showcased the open city, rich descriptions, and multiple dialogue choices for most interactions. I observed that actions often present several options — and that failure can lead to different, playable outcomes rather than a hard stop, a design approach sometimes called “failing forward.”
The protagonist is written as a flawed, ordinary person rather than an idealized hero. According to the presenters:
“Hershel is no James Bond,” I am told. “Big gadgets and action aren’t her thing.”
The preview also included moments of humor and pointed lines in the dialogue options, and it showed the conditioning system updating as choices were made.
Release info
Zero Parades does not have a release date yet. ZA/UM has presented gameplay and systems publicly, but they have not announced platforms or a launch window.
