The Next Role-Playing Game from Disco Elysium’s Developers Is a Tense Espionage Adventure

ZA/UM, the studio behind Disco Elysium, announced the first details of its next game, an espionage RPG called Project C4. The first teaser trailer set the tone, which–true to the studio’s pedigree–seems like a role-playing game with significant psychological elements.

You’re an Operant working for a global superpower, and your missions will be clandestine attempts to uncover secrets and gain influence, all while running the risk of death or exposure. ZA/UM emphasized the mental strain of spycraft in the announcement, saying that your character can use psychoactive substances to erase, change, or alter the violent events of the real world. To that end, the dialogue in the trailer seems to suggest heavy psychological elements and exploring what spycraft does to a person.

The studio said gameplay consists of tense dice rolls and weighty dialogue choices, and it wants players to feel “the stench of failure,” as shared in a presentation. The game is said to make failure a part of gameplay to honor player choice.

ZA/UM said that Project C4 is all about spy games, allegiances, and betrayals. But it emphasizes that this isn’t the glamorous world of James Bond movies. Instead it cited influences like John le Carré novels (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and movies in the style of Park Chan-wook (Old Boy).

ZA/UM didn’t reveal a release window for Project C4 at its presentation, but promised more details will be coming soon.