It’s the age-old question that plagues the minds of any developer that defies the odds and produces a ‘best game of all Time’ contender. How do you even begin to try to top that?
This has been a question that we can only assume Za/Um has been internally asking for quite some time. A question that you can only assume became much harder to answer due to the internal conflict that the studio has been forced to navigate in recent years.
It’s a public ordeal that has garnered a range of opinions from onlookers, including but not limited to the view that Za/Um simply doesn’t have the same talent, passion, and well-suited mania on staff to pull it off again.
But, having sat down with the current iteration of the Disco devs in the heart of Gamescom, and finally got my hands on the first knockings of Zero Parades. I finally got to peek behind the curtain. Something that has convinced me that this game has a shot at being the first true spiritual successor to the CRPG masterclass we all know and love.
A More Solitary Affair
It’s all but impossible to avoid comparing and contrasting what we were shown with the elephant in the room: Disco Elysium. However, unlike those pushing unhelpful narratives that this game simply won’t be anywhere near as impactful, we mainly want to compare to show the complete new direction that Zero Parades is going.
What immediately strikes you about this project is that the tone has shifted when it comes to the protagonist you step into the shoes of. No longer are you a bumbling amnesiac drunk that dines out on excuses. Instead, you are a veteran spy, of much acclaim and equally much shame.
In the shoes of Hershel, or CASCADE, you’ve been scrambled to the far-flung region of Portofiro for an assignment that takes a left turn right out the gate, and allows you to get to know your operant in all her glory, or lackthereof.
What strikes you immediately, as a Disco fan, is that Hershel is a completely different proposition to Harrier Dubois entirely. She’s dry, she’s cold, she lacks any sort of deep-residing hubris and is governed by shame, anxiety, and borderline psychosis at times, presumably a learned coping mechanism.
What this means for the player is that it’s a real slow burn. There isn’t an immediate hook that lets you connect with your character. It takes a while for Hershel to blossom, and in some cases, depending on how you play, she may never do that. Mainly because everyone and everything around them feels so full of life by comparison.
There are certainly parallels between the Disco and Zero protagonists. Themes of nihilism run rampant. The long-term effects of trauma pull you in different directions, and intrusive thoughts often win in various scenarios, leading to rather slapstick results unfitting of a professional sleuth.
However, Hershel truly feels like her own entity, and as much of a puzzle to solve as the mysterious ‘assignment’ that you’ve been tasked with from the outset. I’m not sure if I like her, if I’m rooting for her, or if I think she’s merely a vehicle to deliver the story and little else. But thanks to the events of the demo, I am more than willing to lock in and find out.
I-Spy An Enthralling World
My feelings on the protagonist of this grand affair are hot and cold to put it kindly. But, if I’m going to heap praise on Zero Parades for anything, it’s going to be the setting you’re invited to explore.
Much like the immediate area beyond the Whirling In Rags in Disco Elysium was compact but densely packed, the Bootleg Bazaar and beyond feel exactly the same way. Offering a bounty of interactions, oddities, and potential trinkets to stow away in your pocket for later, all often offering text-based scripts that can be expanded upon to great lengths.
The setting itself is profound and peculiar. A city trapped in a state of captive capitalism due to the distant land of Luz, with its harmful, brain-rotting propaganda. A setting where history has ceased, yet the world continues on. A setting where society and culture are crumbling in real time. It’s truly fascinating.
You still have the socioeconomic factors and political agendas at play here, as each notable character spouts their particular beliefs and foibles. But unlike in Disco, your ideals on account of The Opera are pretty set in stone. Allowing you to exact spy-like neutrality and be who you need to be to gain the intel you need.
This allows the characters around you to shine, and shine they do. The sheer depth that can be found in mundane and trivial things is phenomenal. I found myself talking at length with rogue children in the Bazaar about the 66 variants of cartoon wolves that lived in the protagonist’s heart on screen. To the point that I thought to myself, there’s actually enough for a very watchable anime series here.
Beyond that, I went toe-to-toe with the fanged king of trade, negotiated a loan of a child’s toy sword, and did a few lines of coke to take the edge off, all while deducing how I had come to find myself in Portofiro in the first place, and why my Double was comatose in the safe house I arrived at.
In short, there’s a lot to unpack. So much so that this bite-sized demo could easily keep you occupied for upwards of ten hours, as you reload autosaves, dig into new lines of questioning, and mess around with three bespoke archetype builds. Revachol will always hold a special place in my heart, but this new world certainly has the makings of a new locale that could serve as a haunt I regularly return to for repeated playthroughs.
The Problems Are Systemic
One thing that was superb about Disco Elysium was the fact that every moment had stakes. You could game over in the opening room of the game simply by failing to get your tie off the ceiling fan. A fate I suffered and laughed at hysterically, endearing me and hooking me on the proposition laid out before me.
These systems of health and morale have been axed in this spiritual successor, in favor of status effects of Delirium, Anxiety, and Fatigue. Deeper, more nuanced systems, I have no doubt. But systems that take away that feeling that your next decision could be the one that sends you over the edge.
You see, while the demo isn’t quite long enough to really test the tensile strength of these new mechanics, what I did come to find out was that maxing out these status effects isn’t the end. It’s a penalty at most, as you must sacrifice skill points to zero out your maxed stat.
But the trade-off here is that with a higher state of either of these statuses comes the possibility of easier dice rolls. Meaning you can use careful conversational pathways and consumables to teeter on the edge. On tilt, but never full tilt.
A novel new approach, but one I don’t necessarily align with. Mainly because in a CRPG such as this, you set your character up a certain way to roleplay, and to lose these stats is to dilute your character. Potentially leading to a sanded-down Hershel, which forces players to approach all situations the same way to stand a chance of passing skill checks. It’s just not in keeping with the fully emergent format I have come to expect.
However, not all change is awkward and unsettling. Zero Parades employs new tech that really adds something to the established format, which I really vibe with. Time-critical segments.
These segments play out not dissimilar to the series of events in games like Citizen Sleeper, forcing you to examine your situation, consider your options, take your skills into account, and act accordingly.
I will admit that, much like Citizen Sleeper, these segments seem to flatter to deceive a little, as you’ll always play the numbers, and provided your luck is in, you’ll always come out squeaky clean in the end. But what I like about it is that, within a format that brings out the save-scummer in all of us, this new mechanic gives you real-time ownership of your actions and makes it more likely to accept the outcome, warts and all.
In short, I’m not entirely sold on the new engine that’s underneath the hood. Mainly due to the fact that I couldn’t take it out on the open road and really see what I could do. But it feels like a mixed bag from what I can see. A freshening up that will appeal to some, and a step away from the status quo that will aggravate others.
The Kitsuragi Shaped Hole
This may be a matter of preference, and perhaps the omission is a very intentional, narrative-appropriate thing on account of being a literal spy. But allow me to indulge the thought.
I’ve already mentioned that Hershel, as a character, falls a little flat, making it harder for Zero Parades to get its hooks into your text-based, obsessed little brain. But, to an extent, I don’t completely believe that it’s Hershel’s fault.
After all, her backstory, which we are privy to, is fascinating. There’s plenty of intrigue, lots of open-ended threads to follow, and enough freedom to put a stamp on her through the lens of your playstyle.
You can still make rash decisions, verbally assault the locals, and gather clues in whatever way you see fit. But, there’s a notable void here. The lack of a moral compass at your hip. A sounding board of sorts.
In Disco, Kim was that sounding board. The voice of reason that you could either push back against or lean into. He was also your guide of sorts, filling in the blanks that your amnesiac noggin wouldn’t fill for you. He helped you learn who your character was, so you could decide who they were going to be moving forward.
In Zero Parades, you’re flying solo. Which is perhaps because of the seeds that Hershel has sown, but equally, even if it does make narrative sense, it makes for a lesser experience overall.
Perhaps beyond the Tuc-Tuc ride that closes out the opening salvo of Zero Parades, this may right itself, and you may get that companion or Double that you were denied seconds into your playthrough. But based on what we have seen, the looming lack of immediate accountability takes the weight out of almost every decision you make.
Closing Comments:
“Employing a lot of familiarity, and a smattering of new ideas and systems, Zero Parades presents a new CRPG playground oozing with charm, intrigue, and surrealist humor. I would be lying if I said all the change was for the better, as the main character feels like a bar of soap, hard to grip onto. Not to mention, the game overall feels like a much slower burn than Disco in many ways. But Zero Parades undeniably has a world dripping in detail, an enviable art style realized to the fullest, and design chops that almost puts in in a CRPG class of its own by default. Zero Parades, even in the phenomenal state that it is in right now, still has a mountain to climb to be the spiritual successor that everyone is clamoring for. It perhaps lacks the bite and the unparalleled cohesion of Disco. But, but credit where it’s due. The trajectory is looking pretty promising.”
