Unfair Dismissal cases dropped

[Update: In comments to Eurogamer, former ZA/UM employees Robert Kurvitz and Sander Taal have brashly disputed the contents of t??he statements released by ZA/UM CEO Ilma??r Kompus.

"The press release quotes Kender admitting that he has filed a 'misguided' lawsuit against ZA/UM in late 2022. We disagree," reads the duo's response. "Kender's lawsuit was based on t??he misuse of ZA/UM’s funds (�.8m) b??y the majority shareholders Kompus and Haavel to increase their own stake in the company. In the press release, Kompus and Haavel admit to this misuse, arguing only that the money has been "paid back to ZA/UM".

"Paying back stolen money, however, does not undo the crime; here, it does not undo the majority that Kompus and Haavel have illegally gained in ZA/UM [...] Kompus and Haavel silenced Kender on this matter, but they will not silence us. Unlike Kend?er, we have not participated in the looting of ZA/UM, and Kompus and Haavel have no power over us."

Original Article

Disco Elysium developer Studio ZA/UM has, to various effect, resolved numerous lawsuits filed against it within the past year. These include a case with the game's executive producer, Kaur Kender, as well as several Unfair Dismissal suits filed by several key members of the studio, who left the team in fall 2022.

The Kaur Kender lawsuit saw the former ZA/UM producer sue the studio's majority shareholding company TĂĽtreke, claiming that ZA/UM CEO Ilmar Kompus had essentially "cheated" him out of â‚? million, while also trying to illegally wrest control of the studio away from the founding members of the team. However, the case will no longer be progressing, as per a statement from Kompus offered to GamesIndustry.biz.

"The facts and the law led to this outcome," Kompus writes. "We are pleased that Kender an??d his attorneys have chosen to withdraw their lawsuit �one that should never have been filed in the first place. Their decision affirms there was no basis for their accusations and that I have acted appropriately and responsibly, as underscored by the corporate records I provided."

A press statement from the studio also includes comments from Kender, who has now "divested all his shares in the studio" and "repaid all his? debts to the studio", as well as reimbursing Kompus' legal costs.

"After leaving my full-time role, I filed a lawsuit which I realised, after seeing the facts, was misguided??." said Kender in the press statement.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v??=nk_K??5DM0UTk&ab_channel=GameSpot

The unfair dismissal suits were filed following the revelation that Disco Elysium designer Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere, and art director Aleksander Rostov were no longer at the studio, having been "involuntary" pushed out of the company by its owners. While initially offering a more diplomatic statement, Kompus and business partner Tõnis Haavel would eventually allege that the departing mem??bers had been "creating a toxic environment", and "belittling co-workers", with the party also accused of "intending to steal the IP".

Studio ZA/UM now says that Kurvits and Rostov have dropped their respective suits, with the studio claiming a lack of evidence prevented the cases from progressing. The studio notes that it expects further accusations and cases to be brought forward by former employees, and it expects these cases to meet similar fates. In addition, Studio ZA/UM has received a â‚?.8 million payment from it?s owner, TĂĽtreke.

"As this transaction shows, open discussions are the best way to clear up misunderstandings and differences, especially when it's for the benefit of the team," writes Kompus. "We've approached this with the collective i??nterest of ZA/UM and our incredible team in mind, and we are glad to have reached a full resolution."

ZA/UM re??solves legal dispute with Disco Elys??ium producer Kaur Kender [GamesIndustry.biz]

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Take a picture with Cuno

ZA/UM has added a new way of looking at its 2019 RPG Disco Elysium. Collage Mode arrives for PC in a new update today, allowing players to place, pose, and snap pics of their favorite Disco Elysium characters.

The new Collage Mode is out now on PC, with console platforms expected to receive the update in ?the coming days. That includes PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and the Switch version.

Through Collage, players can make a scene anywhere around ??Martinaise. Full access to characters, environments, and effects will be unlocked, creating plenty of potential for what-if meetings or situations.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KsrRLlrBl0

There are framings for special looks too, like the Visual Calculus effect. Custom dialogue will also let you essentially create the Disco Elysium fic you've wanted. On top of that, there are "bonus secrets" to discover. Apparently, this includes some new work from the Disco Elysium narrator.

The Collage Mode update wi??ll be free for all players too, so no need to pick up an extra pack of ?DLC.

A new cut

When Disco Elysium first launched in 2019, it made a massive impact. As the years have gone on, it's felt like the type of indie hit that sparks wave of discussion and fervor, similar to Hades or Celeste. Its psychologically driven role-playing and openness to failure have stood the test of time, as its Final Cut has made its way to more and more platforms.

Still, there has also been internal, and eventually external, strife at ZA/UM. The lawsuits finally resolved this week, but it has left a sour footnote.

For those who still want to recapture some of that Martinaise magic, Disco Elysium Collage ?Mode is rolling out on PC now, and will ar??rive on consoles in the coming days.

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If you could only pick one game, what would it be?

Sometimes I'm so immersed in my little narrative bubble in the games industry, I forget that there are some people who have never played a story-centric game in their lives! Considering the industry is more flooded with titles to choose from than ever before, it can be difficult to branch outside of the comfort zones of our favorite genres because there's so much to play. No judgment �it honestly just gets me more enthused that I could have the opportunity to introduce someone to some of my favorite games of all time. That's exactly what happened this weekend when I got to chatting to a friend who works in esports (something I know equally little about as she does narrative games). She asked me for a recommendation, and in my excitement, I started r?attling off a huge list of games before I could stop myself.

I make it no secret that The Last of Us is my favorite gam??e of all time. It has some of the most tight, character-focused writing you're going to find in games, the mechanics play really well off of the story, and it also just holds a special place in my heart.

However, when I started telling this friend about narrative games, I was surprised to find myself recommending Disco Elysium first and foremost. I think maybe it's been on my mind recently because I just had an in-depth conversation with a friend about it, but the more I thought about Disco Elysium, the more I thought that ??maybe it's a better representation of what narrative games have to offer.

Sometimes your favorite isn't the best way to go

The Last of Us is a really great game, but I understand some of the criticisms that it's too linear -- although the "playable movie" kind of thing? is Naughty Dog's bread and butter.

Anyway, Disco Elysium is a game that not only has choices and branching narra??tive, but you can significantly alter the narrative or characters based on how you choose to play. It also has such an organic feel based on what you find or don't find, and while you can miss out on some cool moments, finding them can make for a magical experience.

While The Last of Us has its merits as one of the greatest narrative games ever made, Disco Elysium's story is one that I think is greatly enhanced by the fact that it's a game, even in its weak??er moments. Overall, I think there's a case for it being the better narrative game recommendation. Of course, it also depends on who your audience is.

I love reading, so a text-heavy game like Disco Elysium?? is something I naturally gravitate towards. The endless walls of text might make someone bounce off, therefore rendering my recommendation unsuccessful. There's also the fact that in some instances, the game relies on prior knowledge of tabletop tropes and mechanics.

If the prospective player has never touched a d20 in their life, it might be another reason for Disco Elysium to feel alienating. All of this to say, I think it's still one of the best examples of game narr??ative and I'll gush about it to anyone who will listen.

My honorable mentions

Other ??recommend??ations I sent to this friend as some of my favorite narrative games are as follows:

• Firewatch
• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Kentucky Route Zero
• Florence
• BioShock
• Portal and Portal 2
• Stray

For all my ramblings, I want to know, which game do you think best represents video game storytelling? Which game comes out on top of a story game battle royale as the best ambassador to our non-story-gaming friends? What games make? up your honorable mentions list? Let me kno??w down in the comments!

Story Beat is a weekly column discussing anything and everything to do with storytelling in video games.

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Put down the controller and break out the reading glasses

Odds are if you're talking to someone who loves storytelling in video games, there's lore from at least one game that they can recite by heart. Especially when it comes to games that really focus on the gameplay first, like League of Legends or Bloodborne, lore is a great, indirect way to g??et players engaged in the story of your world if there is??n't much time in the game itself to tell that story.

It can be a case of "come for the game, stay for the story," or sometimes players get into a game because they learned a??bout all the lore first, but either way, loving a game for the world it creates for us is a beautiful thing. But I have to be honest. For someone who loves story in games like, a lot, I just can't bring myself to get into video game lore. I know, I know, brin??g out the torches and pitchforks.

I think a lot of the problem for me is that learning about lore requires a lot of reading. Now I do consider myself an avid reader, so usually that's not a problem for me, but when it comes to reading anything longer than a paragraph in a game, well, I just can't do it. It's because when I turn on a game, I want to play the game.

Goopy Goblin Gamer Brain

In his video "Naughty Dog's Game Design is Outdated," YouTuber NakeyJakey explains a phenomenon he affectionately calls Goopy Goblin Gamer Brain, which means you have "little to no patience for anything that isn't fun or engaging second-to-second gameplay." When I first started getting back into games, it was because I was watching cutscene compilations on YouTube. I thought for sure I cared about story and story alone, but as I started branching out and playing more and more games, I caught Goopy Goblin Gamer Brain. I think it was Hades that did me in.

//youtu.be/QCYMH-lp4oM?t=193

When I play a ?game, something in my brain switches, and I have Goopy Goblin Gamer Brain. I still love to sit down and read a book, but I know when I do so, that's all I can expect to be doi?ng. Now if I'm presented with more than a hundred words at a time, it doesn't matter how compelling the lore is, I'm just not gonna read it.

Of course, this doesn't mean I don't like story in games at all anymore. I just prefer when the nar?rative design is really baked into the moment-to-moment gameplay. I've found that not only when it comes to games, but all kinds of storytelling, I like character-focused narratives over world- or lore-f?ocused stories every time. Give me someone to root for, and then I'll care.

I'm not saying that video game lore can't be awesome or doesn't have its merits, I just think it's not for me. I'd love to be proven wrong here, but I'm hard-pr?essed to find a game that makes reading codexes or reading up on the game while I'm not even playing it compelling to me in absolutely any form. I don't want to have to interrupt my playthrough to feel like I'm doing research for a school essay, you know what I mean?

Lore done right: Disco Elysium

I think a great example of a happy medium for me is Disco Elysium. That game is a masterpiece of interactive storytelling on so many levels, but one thing that blows me away about that game is that they actually do tell you a ton about that game's world �its g?eography, its politics, its socioeconomic status, and so on.

The thing is ?though, it's not hidden away in journal entries or codex en?tries, but instead, it's woven into how you interact with the world itself. You get introduced to the ideologies, religions, politics, etc. of the world because you're always hearing about them through the lens of what other characters think.

You hear about the war through René's melancholy, patriotic recollections, and you learn about Humanism through Kim's r?eserved stance on the religion. It's so el?egantly done that I walk away from each playthrough amazed at how much I learned, and care, about Revachol, its history, and its inhabitants.

If every game presented me with lore like that, I think I'd be a whole lot more interested in backstories and events that happened before I showe?d up. So, how do you feel about lore? Which game do you think has the ?best lore out there? Let's discuss in the comments.

Story Beat is a weekly column discussing anything and everything to do with storytelling in video games.

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Disco Elysium's newest update makes the game more accessible

Disco Elysium is one of my favorite games of all time. I love recommending it to anyone who will listen, but something I forget is just how text-heavy that game is. I'm an avid reader, but for others, the game's script, which clocks in at over a million words, can be pretty intimidating. The good news is, though, that the developers at ZA/UM are well aware of this fact, and have made a bunch of great changes since the game has come out to help make the game accessible to as wide of an audience as possible. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut introduced a fully-voiced experience, but the? newest addition is yeste??rday's free update that added dyslexia-friendly fonts.

The font used for most languages is called OpenDyslexic, which was designed to mitigate common reading mistakes that those with dyslexia can make. The great thing ??is that the font's creators made it open source, so that anyone can use it if needed.

In Disco Elysium specifically, OpenDyslexic is used for the English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese-Brazilian, and Polish versions of the game. Other languages have also been accounted for �the Korea?n version uses a font called Nanum Square Round, while the Russian version uses Adys.

ZA/UM also stated that they're sti??ll?? investigating options for both traditional and simplified Chinese.

The devs shared their thoughts in Steam blog post that announced the update: "It’s important, especially for a game with over a million words, that we continue to make improvements to ensure everyone can have the best ?user experience during their time in Revachol."

It's great to see yet another studio taking down as many barriers to entry as they can -- it feels like the games space is only becoming a more thoughtful and considerate sp?ace (for the most part).

The dyslexia-friendly font update is available to download now, wherever you can play Disco Elysium.

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Respect the drip

One of the principles?? of good character design is recognizability, and part of that is what a character is wearing. Can you tell which character it's supposed to be just based on their outfit? Better yet, can you tell who they are based on one article of clothing? It's not a coincidence that the most iconic pieces of clothing in video games also come from some of the best titles ever made.

??Fashion has b?een a pretty casual hobby for me, but it really is something I love �the clothes we choose to wear can tell the world so much about us, and in this case, the clothes that the developers choose for the characters in games tell us a lot about them.

Some examples that immediately come to mind for me are Chell's jumpsuit from Portal, Clementine's hat from The Walking Dead, or Mayor Lewis' purple shorts from Stardew Valley �you know the ones.

[caption id="attachment_331312" align="aligncenter" width="633"] _{Clementine's hat from The Walking Dead.}[/caption]

The great thing about iconic video game clothing is that a good deal of it is wearable in real life, so we get a bunch of awesome replicas of memorable pieces. I'm also a huge fan of stealthy merch that has a cool design, but would only be recognized as something from a video game if you know about that game. Insert Coin Clothing makes some awesome stuff in that vein, and for that reason it's been a favorite of mine for years �it's where I got my replica of Joel's green flannel from The Last of Us, among other things.

Our favorite fits come to life

Of course, for those who have a little bit more disposable income, there are more upscale options for real-life video game clothes. Disco Elysium's developer ZA/UM has put out a line of clothes from the game, which is fitting considering the clothes become a pretty significant piece of the gameplay. The replica of Kim Kitsuragi's orange bomber jacket has been ?living rent-free in my mind since it dropped a while back, but I haven't had the opportunity to snag it due to its price point and the fact that it sells out so damn fast.

[caption id="attachment_331313" align="alignnone" width="1024"] _{Leon's jacket from Resident Evil 4 (2023).}[/caption]

If you're really looking to flex on your gamer friends, American retailer Schott has a real-life version of Leon Kennedy's classic wool and suede bomber jacket from the Resident Evil 4 remake, which fans spotted after the company had a disclaimer at the end of the game's reveal trailer. Leon's jacket is officially called the Classic B-3 Sheepskin Leather Bomber Jacket, and it's available via Schott's website for?? a tight $1,500. I'm not really sure if Schott designed the jacket after the game, or if Capcom used the design for the remake, but either way, it looks like it would make for a pretty sweet fit.

These are just the video game clothes that I love, but the list goes on and on from here. We want to know, what are your favorite a?rticles of clothing from a video game? Do you own any? Is there anything you wish you could wear, even if i??t seems impossible?

Let's discuss in the comments below!

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Oh, the irony

DJ2 Entertainment has been making their rounds in the news lately �last month, they went public with news of their upcoming film adaptation of It Takes Two. In the same vein, this time they've signed a first-look deal with Amazon. Although DJ2 owns the film/TV rights to all kinds of games, such as Disco Elysium, Life is Strange, Sleeping Dogs, Echo, Little Nightmares, and many more, this deal basically means that Amazon gets first dibs on any of the IPs D?J2 owns, if they want them.

With game-to-film/TV adaptations becoming more and more prevalent, studios and production companies are doing their best to grab up rights as fast as they can �and this appears to be Amazon's latest move to sec?ure the bag.

What this deal doesn't mean is that any of th?ese shows are in active production, but I'd wager that that's going to change within the next few months.

Properties like Disco Elysium and Life is Strange in particular?? are hot right now, and would telegraph well to a serialized television format if executed well. So with all the rumors flying around, let's set the record straight: these shows aren't getting made... for now.

//twitter.com/Sphynxian/status/1494478??686195650560

I was one of the people who previously said that a Disco Elysium show is one of my dream adaptations, but now that it might be happening, and by the hand of Amazon no less, I kind of want to take it all back. For a game that's so blatantly Marxist and anti-capitalist, the irony is not lost on its fans that its adaptation rights currently rest with the biggest corporation in the world. The worst part is, even if Amazon does go through with a Disco Elysium sh??ow, I'm going to watch it anyway, if nothing else out of morbid curiosity.

The post Amazon has first d??ibs on adaptation of Disco Elysium appeared first on Destructoid.

It's about time

With all these games getting remastered and rereleased these days, you'd think I'd be tired of it by now. However, there is one exception to this. Disco Elysium is truly one of my favorite games of the last few y??ears, if not of all time, so I was over the moon to hear we were getting yet another version of the game, it being a physical copy this time around.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ7OQXDM3OU

That's right, we're getting hard copies of the game's extended edition, Disco Elysium - The Final Cut, just ?in time for the holiday season, courtesy of ZA/UM and iam8bit, with Skybound Games helping out with the distribu??tion. The game is available now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and is also compatible with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles via a free next-gen upgrade. It'll run you $39.99 wherever games are sold, and each retail copy will also include an 18" x 24" foldout poster and a code giving you access to a digital artbook, which features over 190 pages of content.

Maybe you're a super fan, and this standard physical copy still isn't filling the Disco Elysium-sized void in your life. Well, they've got you covered with the Collector's Edition that is also available for pre-order exclusively on iam8bit.com. This $249.99 option will come in a "Layers of the Id" premium box, and will include a hand-painted 'Mid Totem' vinyl statue, a hardbound version of the previously mentioned artbook, and a ??physical PS5 edition of the game with a reversible cover. I don't know about you, but the preview pictures basically have me ready to sell a kidney to g??et my hands on it.

If you're still holding out for the physical Switch version of The Final Cut, don't? worry, we have confirmation that it's coming sometime in 2022.

Disco Elysium - The Final Cut offers fully-voiced dialogue, new quests, areas, and chara??????????????????????????cters, so even i??f you've played it before, it's definitely worth picking up again. Plus, you're getting a poster and an artbook along with it �what could be better than that?

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The physical version will go up in November

Xbox owners who have been patiently waiting to be the absolute worst disaster of a detective possible will soon get their chance. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is coming to Xbox in October, and a physical version is fol??lowing soon after.

Developer ZA/UM confirmed on Twitter today that The Final Cut will digitally launch for Xbox on Oct. 12. The physical edition, meanwhile, will arrive on Nov. 9. Pre-orders for the Collector's Edition on Xbox, as well as PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, are live over at iam8bit too.

//twitter.com/discoelysium/sta??tus/144251973367322?6241

The surreal murder-mystery has been working its way onto various platforms since its launch back in 2019. ZA/UM recently confirmed The Final Cut is coming to Switch on the same date as Xbox, on Oct. 12. Earlier this year, Disco Elysium also made its way onto PlayStation.

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut includes the main game, as well as some additional content including fully voiced dialogue and some brand new quests. And that's all good, because it basically makes an already good game that much better.

Disco Elysium remains one of the highlights of 2019, and one of my favorite RPGs in recent memory, possibly ever. It's a brilliant story about a man who just can't seem to get life right, and how he tries to either put it all back together or let it all fall to pieces. And as nice as the redemption story can be, watching things fall apart because of a bad roll is also pretty fun. If you haven't yet checked out Disco Elysium a??nd you've got an Xbox, I'd recommend you mark the date.

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut hits Xbox consoles on October 12, 2021.

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Pre-orders now live at iam8bit and other retailers

One of the most highly acclaimed releases of recent years, ZA/UM's Disco Elysium, is preparing to make its grimy presence felt once again, as the physical edition of Disco Elysium: The Final Cut comes crawlin' to PS4 November 9.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5vyZ04MNrQ

Originally launched on PC back in 2019, Disco Elysium is the down-and-dirty tale of a brilliant but world-worn detective, attempting to solve a murder mystery with a sleazy and dangerous dystopian future. The game was highly praised by critics and fans for its decadent art style, excellent writing, and ruthless approach to storytelling. Disco Elysium would go on to bag numerous end-of-year awards, with the expanded "Final Cut" edition arriving in March of this year.

Boutique publisher iam8bit will release a standard boxed edition of the noir RPG for around $40 USD, which includes a poster, digital art book, and a free upgrade to the PS5 edition. In related news, the premium PS5 Collector's Edition is now available to pre-order on the iam8bit store. This princely set includes a physical PS5 copy of Disco Elysium in exclusive packaging, a hardback 190-page artbook, slickly designed "Layers of the Id"?? packaging, and �??the set's centerpiece �a hand-painted "Mind Totem" vinyl sculpture. The Ps5 Collector's Edition will run die-hard fans a princely $250.

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut i?s available now on PlayStation, PC, and Stadia. Xbox and Switch editions are also in the works.

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What I would give to binge through these shows...

After the success of the Netflix adaptation of The Witcher, and the upcoming productions of Last of Us and Cuphead shows, it s??eems that TV studios are looking more and more to the interactive medium for inspiration. Any attempts to make games work as movies seem to have failed, so it's only natural that they're pivoting to a different medium. When a game's runtime usually clocks in at a few dozen hours, a season of TV makes way more sense when it comes to developing a story.

All this talk ??about the adaptations on the horizon got me thinking about what other games I would want to see new interpretations of, because for some reason this is something I think about a lot. So here's my list of my five dream game-to-TV adaptations, and if any studios are reading this, give me a call, I have plenty of ideas.

5. The Legend of Zelda

_{[Image Source: VG247]}

Alright, before I get a bunch of annoyed comments, I know that TLOZ was already adapted into a cheesy cartoon in the '80s. It has indeed graced us with some legendary memes, but for the sake of argument, I?'m going to pretend for a second? that it doesn't exist.

One of the things I love most about the Zelda series is its core mythology. The idea of Link, Zelda, and Ganon being tied by destiny and constantly reincarnated in an ??eternal battle of good a??nd evil is really compelling, and almost romantic in a classical storytelling kind of way.

Obviously with the games, it's much more about the gameplay than the in-depth character work you'd see on a TV show, but that's exactly why this franchise is a perfect candidate. The story bits were sparse in Breath of the Wild, b??ut I thought Zelda's storyline was heartbreaking, and had a surprising amount of depth, so we know the potential is there to do some intensive character work.

Plus, I think it would be really cool to have? it be an anthology series, with each season bringing a new version of the story, world, and characters to mirror each game's new take on the mythology. They could even go between live-action and different styles of animation, if they really wanted to go crazy with it.

4. Mass Effect

_{[Image Source: Windows Central]}

To my knowledge, there haven't been any games with branching storylines that have been directly adapted to television, and that's for good reason. When players can choose whatever path they want, it might be disappointing to realize the writers went the exact opposite direction. That's why when I pitch a hypothetical Mass Effect show, I imagine it as being more along the lines of the Clone Wars animated series.

Mass Effect is certainly loved for its characters, but its world feels like a personality all its own. Rather than trying to fit Shepard into one storyline that would please everyone, I think it would make sense to create a whole new cast of characters, throw them in, and see what happens. Of course, little nods to the franchise's main cast and events would be a no-brainer. In terms of tone, I would also love to see something like Firefly, but set in the wo??rld of Asari,?? Turians, and Krogans, just to name a few.

Give me a claustrophobic spaceship psychological thriller bottle episode on the new characters' equivalent of the Normandy! Give me scenes of tense intergalactic politics! Give me giant space battles that would make George Lucas shed a singl?e tear! This stuff practically writes itse?lf.

3. Animal Crossing

_{[Image Source: VentureBeat]}

Okay, I know this one is a bit of a departure from the rest of the games on this list, but just hear me out. How cute would it be to have an animated Animal Crossing kids' show? For me this works great because it's already in a fun, colorful setting, which is always a good place to start with children's programming. Then we have these characters that are well-loved and h??ave distinct personalities, but we don't have any existing storylines w?ith them, at least in a traditional sense.

That would really open the door for the hypothetical writers of this show to build ou?t the villagers and thei?r relationships with each other, and I can already imagine what kinds of fun antics they would get up to. I know for a fact that any and all fans of the series would watch this, not just kids, and the world could always use more wholesome content. Make it happen, executives.

2. BioShock

_{[Image Source: Digital Trends]}

BioShock's story is one of the most iconic when it comes to narrative games, so I think doing a 1:1 adaptation of that would be an injustice. However, I think there's a lot of potential in the idea o??f getting a deeper look at Rapture before that fateful New Year's night. So much work went into the backstory of the underwater city, especially considering its ties to the philosophical system of objectivism, so there would be a ton of material to work with.

I can imagine a season about the founding and building of the city, following Andrew Ryan as he works to get his way by any means necessary, and the workers who are being exploited for his gain. Then the rise of the city, but also the rise of the use of ADAM, and then the slow spiral that leads to the inevitable fall of Rapture. If it's a real hit, they could even spin off into the world of BioShock Infinite, because Columbia is just as compelling. Honestly, just writing about this h??urts because I want to see it so bad.

1. Disco Elysium

_{[Image Source: PC Mag]}

This is one of my favorite games of all time, and considering how rich and complex Disco Elysium is, it would be a tall order to do it well. It's another one of those games on this list that has such a distinct experience, especially because of its unique RPG system. While it?? would be a shame to lose the interactivity that makes this game what it is, the world, characters, and tone are so strong, I would be intrigued to see someone take on the task ?of adapting it.

With shows like True Detective being so incredibly popular, I could totally see a Disco Elysium sh??ow putting a new spin on the broken-down-alcoholic cop trope. They could get really creative with the different voices in Harry's head too, using different voice-over and visual effects. Plus I just really love Kim, so s??eeing him acted out in live-action would be awesome.

There are a ton of different ways the hypothetical showrunner could take it, but to me, just taking the dark yet humorous tone and style of the gam?e and really cranking it up to 11 is what would really make it a success. It ??couldn't look or feel like anything else on TV, because it certainly stands out on its own when it comes to the game.

Alright, that's my list! What are your favorite games that you'd want to see as a television series? What's your dream cast for that series? A?re you looking forward to the upcom??ing game adaptations? Let us know.

The post My five dream game-to-TV adaptations appeared first on Destructoid.

Failure isn't (always) the end

_{[Narrated by Dan Vincent]}

Disco Elysium opens with you on the floor. Your character, whoever they are or whatever might be left of them, is face-down in a nondescript hotel room. You are surfacing, breaching the plane between the v?oid and the living only to find yourself harboring the grand-daddy of all hangovers.

This is the introduction to the character you'll inhabit through Disco Elysium. They are many things, and can become ??even more: calculating, feeling, thinking, judging, determined, or remorseful. But in this moment, you are at a low, possibly the lowest of low.

M?oments la?ter, you can die trying to get your tie off the ceiling fan. The headline reads "Cop Suffers Final Heart Attack," and boy, does the word "Final" do a lot of work.

Some people might be picking up Disco Elysium for the first time right now, as it just received its Final Cut update and made its way to consoles. To some, that moment might be pretty frustrating—to go through the entire character creation process, only to die of a he??art attack while trying to recover a piece of clothing. But I'm here to tell you: embrace those moments.

There are a lot of ways you can die in Disco Elysium. Very?? few of them are noble or dignified. You can die kicking a mailbox, by gett?ing into a fight you have no business starting, or even just suffer intense mental damage from seeing your own face in the mirror.

Disco Elysium's moments of failure aren't all terminal, either. Right at the beginning, if you've managed to weather the gauntlet of waking up and getting some clothes on, you can gather your composure and step outside, only to be face-to-face with a beautiful woman. With intense, potentially unearned confidence, you could attempt to flirt with her. And the words that spill ?out can be the eloquent "I want to have fuck with you."

In other games, failure can feel really bad. Getting that big, all-caps FAILED marker means a piece of content might have just been locked off. Disco Elysium is ??okay with failure, though. It's written to embrace failure. And you really should do the same.

Take the flirting example: after your detective has mustered the will to speak and still failed, the woman—Klaasje—laughs. She even asks you to say it again. It's a humanizing moment that can? even lead your character down the path of defining themselves, as someone remorseful and always saying things they regret.

In this moment, you've learned more about one of Disco Elysium's key characters, while also potentially establishing an identity for your own character. After all, your cop has just come up for air from a cataclysmic bender; may??be they are apologetic for all their misguided decisions, or at least they should be. Those thoughts can fester until, eventually, you are the Sorry Co??p.

This route opens up through failure, and can continue to inform dialogue throughout the game, because that's the kind of story Disco Elysium weaves. Failure can be a game over state, potentially, but trying to play in some kind of "perfect" way means you ?can miss a lot of this world.

The failures feed into shaping your narrative, because let's face it, your cop is not Sherlock Holmes. With enough points, they might be able to muster the Visual Calculus and Logic to imagine crime scenes in real-time, to discern boot size from prints in the mud and then calculate the number of peopl??e present when a murder occurred. Oh that's right, a murder happened—ostensibly, your character is in the district of ??Martinaise to figure out why there's a body hanging in the yard behind the hotel.

Yet o??ften, you can fail to complete a task a theoretically good inspector might be able to. It's a struggle to even move the body, a task that becomes the crux of the early game. Every attempt can result in your character simply heaving over, unable to stomach the task. Your failures aren't just fatal mailboxes and word fumbles, but as you learn, your character has been in Martinaise for some time. Your ever-present companion, Lt. Kim Kitsuragi, is here not just to help you, but to ensure the task at hand is finished, because it's likely that you're not up for the job anymore.

It might feel bad to fail a check and watch the health meter trickle down, or simply face humiliation. It might lose you some crucial early-game cash, or it might just make the path forward a little more difficult. But if you're playing Disco Elysium for the first time, I can't stre??s??s this enough: embrace those moments.

Failings can end up defining your cop, and you by extension, and makes your playthrough feel more like your own. Losing one option makes the next o?pportunity to progress all the more dire—I didn't like that I had to literally beg the corporate negotiator Joyce for money just to have a bed for one more night, but I had to, because there was no source of income left. In a brief moment, I had to set my morals aside just to stay wa??rm one more night, because I had so catastrophically failed during the day, and so many times before that.

It's not just your character, either; many of the people in Martinaise have their own shortcomings. They might struggle to understand one another, or be beholden to their old lives to a fault, or simpl?y be bad people. One of my favorite moments sees Kim Kitsuragi, a shining glimmer of a human being, say something incorrect during a brainstorming session and instantly realize it. As you see this internalized realization and correction, clashing against the anxiety of admitting the error aloud and committing it to record, you can allow him that moment to reflect and correct.

It is a small miscalculation with no critical narrative consequences, but it is a small kindnes?s you can grant, as someone whose mistakes run much deeper than a simple inaccuracy. A??s the guy Kim is currently trying to drag out of the abyss, it's the least you can do.

Disco Elysium is molded by those failings, and so I seriously urge you to embrace them. I'm as guilty of save-scumming as the next guy, but the writing of Disco Elysium feels like it rewar??ds those who aren't afraid to fail. Every los??t check adds more to your character as much as it takes away, and it makes their own plight feel like your own. Sure, yes, you died trying to get a tie off a ceiling fan, but you—the player—were also the one urging your character to keep trying.

Failure can end up creating some of the most memorable moments in your time with Disco Elysium. It might mean you end up playing the sorriest excuse for a detective to ever wash up in?? Martinaise, but at least that's rarely a boring person to be.

The post It’s okay to fail in Disco Elysium appeared first on Destructoid.

The plot thickens, comrade

ZA/UM, the developer of 2019's mega-hit Disco Elysium has brought a little bit of mystery to your morning. As spotted by @Nibellion, if you head on over to the official Disco Elysium website, you will be greeted with a stark? red banner, featuri?ng a communist-style insignia and one simple word: "Soon."

There are zero further clues as to what this site is teasing, though the developer has made clear its desire to see the esoteric and dystopian RPG make the leap to console platforms. There is also the possibility that Disco Elysium has DLC or an expansion in the works, though that might just be wishful thinking??. The console port seems a snugger suggestion.

Given that tomorrow will see the annual Game Awards come loaded-for-bear with brand new news and reveals, perhaps the curtain will b??e lifted on this mystery in the next 24 hours. Until then, there's not much else to do bar daring to dream.

Disco Elysium dev ZA/UM seems to be teasing something on the official website (console version release date?)//t.co/4DnLR9fThC pic.twitter.com/yxp0aquAye

— Nibel (@Nibellion) December 9, 2020

The post Disco Elysium ??developer ZA/UM drops mysterious te??aser appeared first on Destructoid.

You're looking a little Pale

During an interview broadcast by the BBC, developer ZA/UM appeared to confirm that its hazy, award-winning RPG Disco Elysium? is currently in the process of ?being ported to Nintendo Switch.

Speaking on BBC 5live's "Game On" podcast, Disco Elysium art director Aleksander Rostov joked to host Adam Rosser that the interview was disrupting his work on the project, saying that he was being "[interrupted] from writing up design? documentation for the user interface and input systems for the Switch port."

Narrative? Lead Helen Hindpere also noted that said Switch port was happening "soon."

Disco Elysium launched on PC in October of last year and has since won multiple a??wards for its excellent music, storytelling, and dialogue, ultimately featuring in the nominations of many Game of the Year lists. A PS4 and Xbox One port are also expected at some point in 2020.

Disco El?ysium Switch port currently in development [GamesRadar]

The post Disco Elysium ??Switch port in the works, says developer appeared first on Destructoid.

Good cop

My first foray into the CRPG genre was the original Fallout. Yes, the Bethesda-era debut was called Fallout 3 for a reason, as Interplay and Black Isle Studios had b??een working their magic alongside of industry titans like (old) BioWare for several years before it became a modern-day RPG fi??lled with busywork.

The complete freedom to approach situations in old-school CRPGs really spoke to me, on top of the action elements and adventure game problem solving. A lot of those games were ahead of their time, and showed off just how enduring the genre is. Disco Elysium is proof of that, over two decades since I fell in love with CRPGs in the f?irst place.

Disco Elysium (PC [reviewed], PS4, Xbox One)
Developer: ZA/UM
Publisher: ZA/UM
Released: October 15, 2019 (PC) / TBA 2020 (consoles)
MSRP: $39.99

If you haven't played a CRPG before and the terminology is freaking you out, it stands for "computer role-playing game." It's kind of a general phrase, but in a generation filled with linear experiences (both from a mechanical and spiritual point of view), CRPGs generally let you actually "play a role" and evolve and roll with the shifting tides, much like an open-ended Dungeons & Dragons campaign. And just like D&D, the character-creation step is part?ly what def??ines your journey.

Disco Elysium lets you begin as a "thinker" (intelligent, bad with people), a "sensitive" soul (affable but unstable), or a physical being (rough, but dumb). Or, true to form, you can adjust your intellect, psyche, physique, and motor-skill stats at will, so long as they add up to 12 initially. After going with a sensitive avatar, I was worried by an errant front-loaded R. S. Thomas quote — but after you immediately start arguing with your own brain and wake up half-naked cl?utching a bottle of whiskey, I w??as swept up.

Your first "quest?" To find your pants. Your ultimate goal? To so??lve a murder over the course of multiple? days. It has the micro and macro taken care of.

The game sells itself as a non-traditional RPG and that's really what it is. Slowly you learn that you're actually a detective on a case, but none of that is communicat??ed upfront. You have to learn the game's systems along with the avatar you're controlling, who is constantly at odds with the fleeting nature of his own mind, with personified bits of his psyche. Nearly everything is done through menus and clicking: which, as a result, feels less "gamey" than almost everything else released this year, in spite of the literal dice rolls for success checks. 

Now, there is a limit. In the end, you need to be some variant of an addict who can't reason with his own brain. Try as I might, the "hero" path that developer ZA/UM heralded wasn't always available, in an attempt to tell a more guided tale?. It's not so much the guided morality I mind, it's that the sandboxes can also be limited and lifeless after you've interacted with them enough, and critical paths can be shut off due to a seemingly innocuous skill check. Think of it like a vast pipeline that eventually comes to a choke point. Items can also be finicky, containing unique statlines that can influence the result of dust-ups. But the juice is worth the squeeze.

What I love about Disco Elysium, in line with its constant reinforcement of a fractured psyche, is that you can't min-max and be good at everything: in fact, it's the moral of the story. A bonus might become a flaw, or you might have no clue how to handle a certain situation. Failure is not only an option, it's an inevitability. I know some peop??le are going to be frust?rated by becoming "locked out" of certain options (even seemingly menial activities like learning more lore about a statue or object), but that's part of the allure of this broken world.

It's also very weird, mostly to its benefit. Dialogue ranges from "we think this is clever" to "hey that's laugh-out-loud funny," mostly thanks to the aforementioned psyche manifestations. Sometimes nothing is left up to the imagination, with characters directly labeled "racist Lorry Driver," which again, plays up the exaggerated, almost cartoonish hell of Disco Elysium, which is best described as factory noire. More often than not it works,?? especially lines like "kid, you wa??nna hang out, I'm not a narc."

When all else fails, Disco Elysium sidles up to its comfort zone: its core investigative game?play. Just when you're out in the sandbox wandering around, doing random crap, boom — the game reminds you that you're a cop and there is an endgame in mind. With that authority comes great opportunity to mess with people (and create comedy), but also get to the bottom of things and learn as much as you can about the game world. There are very few games where a wheelchair-bound cryptozoologist's wife could lead to hundreds of lines of engaging dialogue.

Having an NPC partner constantly with you to comment on how dumb you are adds much-needed levity to the tale. Due to the protagonist's substance abuse, exposition is also delivered in a similarly devilish manner: trying to trick people into telling you basic information about yourself. In some cases, you pry information out of them until they see the absurdity of the situation and have a good laugh. Sometimes, it's just dumped. Such is the nature of Disco Elysium.

The heart and soul of Disco Elysium is stumbling thro??ugh success, which has a certain charm to it. Sometimes ??that road is bumpy and restricted, but the fluff behind those bumps is at least interesting.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Disco Elysium appeared first on Destructoid.

Burn, Baby, Burn

According to its lead designer Robert Kurvitz, stylish indie RPG Disco Elysium is headed to PS4 and Xbox One in 2020. The developer revealed the ports in a new interview with The Escapist.

"The immediate plan, and this is why I won’t go on a holiday anytime soon, is to get Disco Elysium to as many people as possible," Kurvitz said. "We’re going to port it next year to PlayStation and Xbox. We need to be very? hands-on with the design of that. We don’t want to hire a porting company. We think it really is going to lend itself very well to console play because you don’t need to go over minute?? tactics and use a mouse because it’s very narrative in its nature."

Disco Elysium, which launched on PC on October 15, has won over an ever-expanding following with its pulpy ta?le of a down-on-their-luck detective, who ventures into the beat-up city of Revachol in efforts to solve a bizarre murder case. Dialogue and psychology both play an important part of the player's interactions with locals, and the RPG has received high pra?ise from critics and fans for its writing and tabletop stylings.

Disco Elysium is available now on PC and will arr??ive on PS4 and Xbox One in 202??0.

Disco Elysium dev confirms ports for next year [The Escapist]

The post Disco Elysium ??coming to PS4 and Xbox One next year appeared first on Destructoid.

I've been looking forward to this for a long time

I've been following the development cycle for No Truce with the Furies Disco Elysium for a few years now. I have a deep love for European-developed AA games. They are seemingly always oozing with original art styles, worlds, and mechanics that are hard to find elsewhere in gaming. While success is never guaranteed for these games, the experien??ce is always unique and memorable.

I was eagerly looking forward to the chance to dive into this noirish cRPG that was touting itself up to be a story-driven game where you have massive freedom of choice in a world with grey characters. I say that I was excited; they announced Disco Elysium would release right in the middle of October, which ??was shaping up to be the busiest time of year for me, and now that I'm in the thick of it, it is! So thanks ZA/UM, but also no thanks!

While I would have loved to have reviewed this game for y'all, finding the time to sit down with a game that is being advertised to have around a 25 to 40-hour campaign is just a bit too much for me to tear off at the moment. But I didn't want to let the release go by without bringing some attention to the game. It helps that Kevin McClusky wrote a massive preview from PAX, so make sure to give that a read if you're even remotely interested in Disco Elysium. As for me? Well, I'll be digging int?o this t??he first chance I get once life settles down in a month or so.

Disco Elysium is available for PC on Steam and GOG.

The post Police procedural cRPG Disco Elysium is out today appeared first on Destructoid.

And I am the worst cop ever

Sometimes a game's title tells you everything you need to know. Shovel Knight, Battletoads, and even Super Mario Odyssey all give you a pretty good idea of what you're in for before you boot up the game. That isn't the case with Disco Elysium, and I had no idea what to expect wh??en I arrived for my appointment at PAX last week. But what I found was one of the deepest, most ??intriguing computer RPGs I've seen in a long time, and something I can't wait to play again.

Let's start with that title. Disco Elysium does contain some music from the 1970's, but the Disco part of the title has more to do with discovery than afros, leisure suits, and bell bottoms. The world of Elysium is the game's setting, and the developers told me they intend to create more games in this space. Disco Elysium is meant to b?e an introduction to this universe.

As for the game itself, it's heavily inspired by late '90s computer RPGs like Baldur's Gate. One of the developers told me his mind was blown when he saw a Friedrich Nietzsche quote during that game's introduction, and Disco Elysium borrows this idea. It's not exactly isometric like those older CRPGs, but the pers??pective is similar, and that's quite inten?tional. I got a strong feel of tabletop mechanics while playing as well, but we'll get into that a little later. The developers told me they wanted to allow more meaningful interactions with the world than just shooting everything in sight, and in my opinion they succeeded admirably.

The art style is something completely unlike any game I've ever played before, giving Disco Elysium a unique look that should help it stand out from the crowd. The developer I spoke with mentioned that some of the game's artists are oil painters, trained at Russian academies. The col?or palette is subdued in some areas and shockingly vibrant in others, using colors you wouldn't expect to add emphasis or suggest a character's state of mind.

Whe??n the game starts, you begin by reading an internal dialogue between your rational and animal impulses. It seems that sometime last night you consumed a truly heroic amount of alcohol in a successful attempt to kill some brai?n cells and forget... something. Ethanol isn't exactly a precision instrument however, and the player soon realizes that the character has gotten so blotto he doesn't even remember his own name.

You can choose to prolong the effects of the self-induced haze by choosing the appropriate dialogue options, but eventually you wake up ??and have to take stock of your surroundings. You're in your underwear, your tie is hanging from?? the ceiling fan, pants, shirt and coat are strewn around the room, and you can only find one shoe. If you choose to investigate further, you may discover that this is because you apparently threw it through the window onto an inaccessible balcony. (I never did figure out how to recover it, and spent the entire play session running around in one shoe and one sock.) 

After dressing, you can leave your hotel room and explore a little more. If you choose to talk to the woman standing just outside, you can try to talk normally, or might have the idea to try and seduce her. I tried this and failed miserably, and she laughed and let me know this was going to be difficult for me later when ?I had to question her about the murder. This is when you learn that your character is a police officer, sent to investigate a body that was lynched ab??out a week ago.

The writing in the demo I played was excellent. The?re's a certain dark humor infusing every interaction, and when I tried some of the sillier options I was not disappointed. At one point your character notices some spilled rum soaking into the?? carpet and the options are: Ignore it (requires a willpower check), Lick it from the carpet (no check required), or Lick it, but only a little (lesser willpower check). The main character gains quests based on his internal monologue, things like "Find and smoke an entire carton of cigarettes." when he notices another character lighting up.

You'll eventually meet your partner and investigate the body, which has been hanging for more than a week and is quite ripe at this point. A couple o?f kids standing nearby can be interrogated, but prefer to continue throwing rocks at the corpse and jeer mercilessly when you toss your cookies at the smell. Your character may try to steal the deceased man's boots, or might find that he threw his police notebook in the garbage during his drunken stupor.

There's a deep system of interrelated mechanics associated with every skill check in the game, from dialogue challenges to physical feats. Your stats play into these, and you earn skill points by exploring and talking to people. There are many places to spend your stat points, and the three main trees that define your character are Intellect, Psyche, and "Fysique," your s?tre?ngth and endurance. 

Your character may have poor impulse control based on the stats you choose, and one of the games' un??ique features is a certain amount of punishment for overspecialization. If your Adrenaline stat is too high for example, you may not be able to keep yourself from hauling o?ff and punching someone during a tense negotiation. If your Intellect is too high, you may awkwardly blurt out useless information and preemptively lower people's opinions of you before you realize it.

Skill checks take these stats into account, and also add or subtract modifiers based on actions you've taken before making the attempt. Trying to persuade someone to let you in the back room of their shop will be a little harder if you've dismissed their child-rearing capabilities in an earlier conversation. On the other hand, you can? try to break the door down, and might get a bonus if you brought along a crowbar. Each check lets you know your chances for success before you make the attempt, so you can back out to try and tweak your odds if you need to. When you commit, the game rolls 2D6 and adds your mo?difiers against the required skill threshold. It's a lot like playing D&D, and failures can be just as entertaining as successes.

There's a lot of thought and game mechanics given to psychology, and the main character has what's called a "thought cabinet," a separate inventory for non-tangible thoughts and ideas. You can equip some of these ?ideas, and holding on to one for a while can cause it to evolve into a belief, which can give your character extra dialogue options or may cause status effects.

Playing a different build in Disco Elysium will provide an entirely different gameplay experience, and the? prog?rammer told me they're basically writing three completely different games based on how the character is developed. A full run through the game should take somewhere around 20-25 hours to complete. No release date has been announced yet, and no systems other than PC have been confirmed.

Disco Elysium was one of the standouts for me during a PAX that was loaded wi??th great games. If you have any interest in a de?ep, mature game full of dark humor, put this one at the top of your list.

The post Disco Elysium is the deepest hangover simulator I’ve ever seen appeared first on Destructoid.

Dance to Disco

Back when Humble Bundle announced that they would be moving into game publishing, they announced a handful of games, one of which was under a working title of No Truce with the Furies. Now, because I'm a perpetual man-child with the power of Photoshop GIMP 2.8, I saw t??he title and made a quick edit for a gag and sent it to the devs as a joke.

So original right?

Then I started to actually look into the game and it seemed like it was a really cool idea. Billed as an "??isometric detective RPG", the game is being developed by ZA/UM, an Estonian development team who has stated that their main goal for their debut game is to foremost tell a good story. More specifically, a story about a detective in a futuristic shore town filled with corruption, drugs, and disco. The character customization is touted by ZA/UM to be one-of-a-kind and made so that you can create your own unique take on what you think a detective should be.

For a while though, all we had to go on was a working title and a teaser trailer. The game was originally slated to be released in 2017 but eventually delayed into 2018. While we still don't have a concrete release date a final title and gameplay trailer was released yesterday. The game will now release under the title Disco Elysium which sounds like two un?related words thrown together to me, but I'm sure it fits together in the context of ?the game. The gameplay portion of the trailer gave little snippets of what's to come and from what I can see and read it will be similar to the now resurgent CRPG games of old, with a rich dialogue and choice system. Sign me up!

The post No Truce With the Furies gets new name and g?ameplay traile?r appeared first on Destructoid.