Another day, another splinter from the Disco Elysium tree. Longdue's Hopetown just dropped its first gameplay teaser on the exact day ZA/UM launched Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, recruiting yet another ex-ZA/UM writer in the process. The psychogeographic RPG casts players as a journalist navigating a post-Flare mining town called Hopetown, where investigation and publishing mechanics promise to echo the original's narrative depth without the baggage.

The timing feels deliberate, like a quiet rebuttal to the original studio's latest effort. Martin Luiga, a founding ZA/UM member who wrote several characters for Disco Elysium, has scaled up his involvement as narrative lead after re-designing the skills system. Longdue's statement frames it as a natural evolution: the project now boasts more Disco talent than before, including voice work from narrator Lenval Brown. Meanwhile, Zero Parades arrives on PC today for $40 across Steam, Epic, and GOG, with PS5 to follow later.

This keeps the schism alive in the most Elysian way possible. One side clings to corporate continuity while the other builds outward from the same creative roots. Hopetown's teaser emphasizes choice-driven journalism in a surreal mining settlement, pulling in that signature blend of personal politics and environmental decay. Whether it delivers the same spark remains to be seen, but the recruitment cycle suggests the legacy refuses to stay buried.

The real story here isn't the trailer itself but how these fragments keep fracturing and reforming the same DNA.