ZA/UM Attempts to Move Past Disco Elysium Drama With New Release

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Zero Parades For Dead Spies Release Date Set But Can ZA UM Overcome the Disco Elysium Trauma

Published Mar 31, 2026, 1:43 PM EDT

Covering the video games industry since 2017, with experience in news, articles, lists, and reviews (and I blame The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask for that).

If you are a fan of RPGs and want a third-person version: Tayná Garcia is a Brazilian journalist (but you can call her Tay) who ended up working with video games after finishing Zelda: Majora's Mask when she was a kid. With more than eight years of experience in the segment, she has been an assistant editor at Jovem Nerd in the past and is currently a contributor at DualShockers and a writer for gaming magazines for Editora Europa. Oh, and she may like Hideo Kojima a bit too much.

Developer and publisher ZA/UM, best known for the highly acclaimed Disco Elysium, has just revealed more details about its next project: Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, an espionage RPG that promises a heavy focus on narrative and complex systems.

The game received a brand-new trailer offering a glimpse into the gameplay and an art style that strongly evokes the studio’s previous work. However, the biggest surprise was the release date announcement for May 21 – way sooner than anyone expected!

You can watch the full trailer here:

Bringing another deep character study to life within complex RPG systems, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies puts players in control of Hershel Wilk, an agent known by the codename “CASCADE.” Following a massive mission failure that tore her team apart, she is tasked with investigating a new mystery in a city plunged into ideological and cultural disputes.

Unlike the studio's previous projects, Zero Parades focuses on rebuilding a network of contacts amidst international intrigue. However, like the studio’s previous projects, the game utilizes dice rolls to determine the success of your actions, with failure being integrated into the progression, requiring players to improvise and deal with the consequences of their choices. That way, you basically mold the protagonist’s identity and skills as you progress.

The story also involves interacting with three distinct factions – the communist Superbloc, a fascist superpower, and a shadowy international development bank, each directly shaping the plot in some way.

Initially, the game will launch only for PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG, but a PlayStation 5 version is scheduled to arrive later this year. Players on other consoles, however, may have to wait a bit longer.

ZA/UM’s Elephant in the Room

Zero Parades For Dead Spies Release Date Set But Can ZA UM Overcome the Disco Elysium Trauma 2

Despite everything sounding pretty ambitious and promising, it is impossible to ignore that, even with the obvious similarities to Disco Elysium, most of the developers responsible for that masterpiece are no longer at the studio following high-profile legal disputes and leadership conflicts.

Following a massive mission failure that tore her team apart, [CASCADE] is tasked with investigating a new mystery in a city plunged into ideological and cultural disputes.

In case you don’t remember, some key members of the original team, including artist Aleksander Rostov and writers Robert Kurvitz and Helen Hindpere, were involuntarily forced out around 2021. In the fallout, several other veteran developers also left the company and are already working on other projects.

While the trailers show that there is clearly still immense talent at ZA/UM, we will have to wait until May to see how Zero Parades truly measures up to the legacy of Disco Elysium – and whether the studio can finally leave the ghosts haunting its halls behind.