Now There’s ANOTHER Disco Elysium Spin-Off Studio, and This One’s Coming Out With Some Proper Fighting Talk
Hot on the heels of two ZA/UM spin-off studios proclaiming their existence to the world alongside an intention to make separate Disco Elysium spiritual successors of their own, another developer made up of some of the people who made the game has exploded onto the scene.
But this new, seemingly fifth(!) outfit trying to keep the Disco dream alive doesn’t sound too thrilled at today’s confusing and chaotic group of announcements from various collectives of former ZA/UM staff, who are all saying they’re doing sort of the same thing.
This latest studio, Summer Eternal, was founded by Argo Tuulik, who was involved with co-creating Disco Elysium’s worldbuilding all the way back from ZA/UM’s tabletop RPG sessions in early 2000s Estonia. Tuulik was part of the punk collective that grew from this group of friends to the studio that delivered Disco Elysium to critical acclaim and commercial success almost five years ago to this day.
But Tuulik left ZA/UM in acrimonious circumstances after being laid off in February amid what was reportedly the cancelation of a Disco Elysium standalone spin-off. On his way out, Tuulik alleged “incompetence and injustice” at the studio.
Tuulik told IGN he’s starting a “revolutionary new RPG studio” and has got a number of key disco Elyisum developers to join his cause. Here’s the makeup of the studio as it stands today, October 11, with more people said to be coming on board in the coming weeks.
- Argo Tuulik and Olga Moskvina, who were among the five writers of Disco Elysium
- Lenval Brown, a voice actor known for his voice work on Disco Elysium
- Dora Klindžić, who was a principal writer in ZA/UM
- Anastasia Ivanova, who was a senior concept artist in ZA/UM
- Michael Oswell, who was the graphic designer at ZA/UM
- And Aleksandar Gavrilović, who was managing director of game developer Gamechuck
It’s worth noting that neither Robert Kurvitz, the lead writer and designer of Disco Elysium and founding member of ZA/UM, nor Aleksander Rostov, who was art director on Disco Elysium, are currently involved with either Summer Eternal, Dark Math Games, Longdue Games, or ZA/UM itself. Both were fired from ZA/UM in 2022 amid allegations of mismanagement and misconduct, and are now reportedly making a new game of their own at a studio called Red Info, which is backed by Chinese internet company NetEase.
“We must be living at the dawn of a cultural Golden Age, when like mushrooms after rain the companies promising ‘the next Disco Elysium’ are popping up every hour on the hour,” read a statement from Summer Eternal.
“It’s a sure sign that the fifth anniversary of the release of this monumental game is approaching and every corporation wants a piece of the fortune.
“However, often forgotten in this money lust are the creatives themselves, first instrumentalized for press releases and afterwards underpaid, silenced, bullied, sued, abused… But it is all of us – the creatives, the workers, the players – who should be holding control over the means of our creation and who should be celebrated on this day.
“Therefore, we announce today our own vision of a worker-owned co-operative, a complex structure that will ensure that not only moneylenders but every worker, every creative, even every player, has a seat at the table.”
Summer Eternal has opened the doors to its website, which contains a manifesto for game development that wouldn’t be out of place in Disco Elysium itself and word of an incoming crowdfunding campaign.
“I believe that the last time around we made something genre-breaking,” Tuulik said. “Discipline-transcending. Something completely new. I am not ready to give up on that. The lessons learned, skills developed, experience forged — for five fucking years I’ve been waiting to put them to use. So we went back to the drawing board with one goal in mind — let’s do it fresh from the start, but this time let’s not fuck each other the moment the checkered flag drops. It makes the entire mankind look bad.”
That choice quote above is a reference to ZA/UM’s high-profile collapse following the release of Disco Elysium back in 2019. Some background for the uninitiated: Disco Elysium is a narrative role-playing game developed and published by controversial studio ZA/UM. Gameplay revolves around navigating dialogue trees rather than combat, with each of the 24 skills representing a different aspect of the amnesiac detective protagonist’s abilities and thoughts. The player is free to support or suppress his ideologies as they work through the story. Disco Elysium is considered by some among the greatest video games ever made.
It went on to enjoy enormous success, winning numerous game of the year awards and selling millions of copies. A TV series adaptation deal followed, as did the release of an expanded version of the game featuring full voice acting and new content subtitled The Final Cut. A follow-up seemed all but guaranteed, but after high-profile staff exits and subsequent messy legal tussles brought ZA/UM to its knees, what might have turned out to be a Disco Elysium sequel was canceled.
Fast forward to today, October 11, 2024, and the cusp of Disco Elysium’s five-year anniversary, and we now have multiple spin-off studios laying claim to the spiritual successor throne. One of these, Dark Math Games’ XXX NIGHTSHIFT, is a ‘true detective RPG’ that looks remarkably similar to Disco Elysium, even down to the isometric perspective and dialogue text that moves up the right-hand side of the screen as the player makes choices and hears voice actors bring a narrator and the protagonist’s internal monologue to life.
When asked how he felt about this rapid-fire emergence of new Disco Elysium spin-off studios all saying they’re making spiritual successors, Tuulik told IGN: “You know the scene from Lord of the Rings, where Arwen is taking Frodo to Rivendell with the ringwraiths giving chase horseback and right before the river scene you finally see all nine ride together to stop Frodo? It’s kind of like that.”
So what, exactly, is Summer Eternal building? Tuulik says it has a complex structure involving co-operatives with not only full time workers but also freelancers and part-time collaborators, and even a player-ownership of a game studio aspect. It will take some time to set up, he said. There are no assets for the video game Summer Eternal is working on, but Tuulik did tell IGN about it in vague terms. In short, it’s “definitely not a Disco Elysium sequel,” but it will be a role-playing game.
“What I can say is that here in Summer Eternal we share a belief that role-playing games are the pinnacle expression of current human culture – something every other discipline can contribute,” Tuulik said. “Art-form of the century. And we have found a way to combine role-playing with serious, funny, moving, narratives in a way that allows us artists to express ourselves in a unprecedented way. When one day I’ll come to you with news of something, it will be a role-playing game.”
“It will definitely not be a Disco Elysium sequel!” Tuulik continued. “It is time to break away from the past and start a new chapter. It will be a completely new setting and story with new mechanics. But end of the day we are who we are and RPGs are what we will make – do what you will with it :)”
Tuulik even had a message for his former colleagues (“comrades”) at ZA/UM, including Kurvitz and Rostov:
“To all other former respected comrades (Kurvitz, Rostov, everyone) – long time no hear, but we would love for you to join the struggle as well: time to roll up our sleeves and start building communism!”
As for ZA/UM, it reportedly canceled a standalone expansion for Disco Elysium back in February, leaving several staff members at risk of losing their jobs.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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