Amidst challenges, the original creators of Disco Elysium unveil their latest project, C4, a game brimming with espionage.

With several Disco Elysium spiritual successors in the works from former staff, controversy regarding the exits of key team members behind the beloved RPG, and an in-development expansion cancelled, you might have been wondering what Studio ZA/UM will do next. Well, that answer is here. In a recent presentation held for the press, ZA/UM revealed a first look at their next game. It’s called C4 and it’s about espionage.

The presentation was led by Jim Ashilevi, the lead voice over director on Disco Elysium, and Siim “Kosmos” Sinamäe, a producer and writer for the RPG, who are both serving as writers on this new game. Right off the bat, Sinamäe made one thing quite clear: “This is not Disco Elysium 2, this is C4.” The writer went on to explain that ZA/UM has “spent the last three years developing this brand new, gripping, completely original world, exploring a theme that each and every member of the ZA/UM collective is inherently obsessed with: espionage.”

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While the presentation didn’t offer a look at anything in-game, a short teaser trailer for C4 was shown which mostly consisted of a woman with a London accent talking in a very Disco Elysium-y kind of way, set to some very cool looking art. Story details were pretty slim too, but Ashilevi did explain that “C4 is all about spy games, allegiances, and betrayals. It is not 007, with his hero complex, the Bond girls, the gadgets. It is more like Slow Horses, doing the work you love even if it does not get you any fame or parades. No heroes, only the stench of failure.” Failing forward will also apparently be a big part of what sets the game apart, with Ashilevi saying the team is making “failure a joy in itself”.

This presentation is just part one of two, as ZA/UM is also apparently making an appearance at GDC later this month, where it will presumably talk more about the game.

C4 is obviously the first project following the departure of Disco Elysium designer Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere and artist Aleksander Rostov in 2021. What followed has been a series of messy legal battles, a documentary that alleged toxicity from Kurvitz and more, and several different games claiming to be spiritual successors. I’m looking forward to finding out if the OG ZA/UM can cut through all of that noise.