Yes, you read the title for this article correctly; not one, not two, but three new studios have been founded by ex-developers of game studio ZA/UM. Two studios in one day would make for a wacky coincidence, but a third in the space of 24 hours has me thinking that this may have been planned, and given that these are the people behind the mind-melting 2019 hit Disco Elysium, I wouldn’t put it passed them.
This all comes after reports earlier this year of several project cancellations at ZA/UM, including an expansion and rumoured sequel to Disco Elysium, as well as one quarter of the team being laid off.
Longdue is the first of these three successor studios, with some of the Disco Elysium devs teaming up with other experienced developers from studios like Rockstar Games, Brave by Night, and Bungie. As well as their studio, they announced that their first title would be a "psychogeographic RPG with narrative depth" that introduces a new mechanic where every decision reshapes the characters and the world they inhabit.
The team looks to build on their pedigree in CRPGs, emphasised in a statement put out by Longdue’s narrative director Grant Roberts who said, "We're excited to continue that legacy with another narrative-first, psychological RPG, where the interplay between inner worlds and external landscapes is the beating heart of the experience. We're building a world-class team for a world-class game that will tell a world-class story, and we can't wait to show you more."
At near enough the same time Dark Math Games shared their statement on social media. Including at least 20 members of the original Disco Elysium team, they also announced their first game and, not to be outdone, dropped a trailer for it alongside it’s name, XXX Nightshift.
Described as "a deep single-player role-playing experience with many tools and layers of gameplay", with a "unique companion dynamic”, it seems that Dark Math Games are carving their own path in the CRPG scene whilst remembering their roots. They finished describing their premier title as having an “innovative and powerful role-playing system respects your time and trusts your intelligence with seismic choices, It's up to you to decide how your story unfolds"”and how it ends."
Summer Eternal are the third and final (we think) studio to announce themselves today, although they make it clear that they see themselves as an artist collective, with a manifesto to boot! The only studio to name some of the team who worked on Disco Elysium, among them two of the writers Argo Tuulik and Olga Moskvina, concept artist Anastasia Ivanova and graphic designer Michael Oswell.
Continuing to contrast with its peers the studio did not announce their first project, and their manifesto presents a very different attitude towards their craft and the video games industry. On their homepage it reads: “Our art has been dressed down into an industry, and this industry has been pilfered by corrupt executives, by the vulgar profiteering of corporate bodies moving like leviathans in the dark, burning human fuel in their insatiable lust for money.” With regards to their first project, Summer Eternal described it as “a cultural megaproject, a role-playing game with complexity and ambition worthy to rival our wretched and wonderful world.”
So, if you were ever at all worried that we may never see another game like Disco Elysium, I think our chances just tripled. It will be exciting to see what Longdue, Dark Math Games and the Summer Eternal bring to the genre, but I do want to finish off with a piece of advice for the three teams: try to launch your games on separate days!
