Following layoffs at ZA/UM earlier this year, a number of the builders affected have offered 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 the entire Disco Elysium stuff we have not gotten because the orginal got here out, it sounds very cool.
If you happen to’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 game’s development parting ways with the studio, and documentaries exploring just how messy the situation had gotten.
Now, in report from PC Gamer, numerous former employees on the studio have shed some mild on what the challenge 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 best way, 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 some of the beloved characters in Disco Elysium” and helmed by fellow authentic dev Argo Tuulik.
“It was one thing nobody else however Argo may have completed, and it could 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 components 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 that 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 constructive, with some believing it may assist “reassure followers that ZA/UM shouldn’t be a husk, that the IP is in protected arms and that the studio is stuffed with gifted folks 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 probably 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.
If you happen to’re now as bummed out by this information as I’m, you would possibly need to learn this feature we put out on World Psychological Well being day final 12 months, through which one in every of us discusses how a few of Disco Elysium’s messages helped him overcome some issues affecting his life.
