Former Disco Elysium devs are making the game's spiritual successor at a new studio

Disco Elysium is widely hailed as one of the greatest RPGs of all time, but the future of the series has been up in the air. A planned sequel and expansion were canceled and developer ZA/UM laid off some workers as a result. There's also been an infamously messy battle over ownership of the intellectual property. Still, the essence of the original game is very much alive, not least because a new studio is working on a spiritual successor. The project is slated to continue "the thoughtful, narrative-first approach that defined its predecessor."

Some developers who worked on Disco Elysium and its scuttled sequel — along with folks who used to work at Bungie, Rockstar Games, Brave at Night and elsewhere — comprise the 12-strong team at London-based Longdue. According to The Guardian, the studio's first game is billed as “a psychogeographic RPG” that “explores the delicate interplay between the conscious and subconscious, the seen and unseen. Set in a world where choices ripple between the character’s psyche and environment, players will navigate a constantly shifting landscape, shaped by both internal and external forces.” 

If you know anything about Disco Elysium, that should sound fairly familiar. Not many other details have been revealed about the game so far, but Longdue did release a piece of concept art (above).

“At Longdue, we’re inspired by decades of classic RPGs, from Ultiima and Wizardry, through Fallout and Planescape, to the justifiably adored Disco Elysium,” narrative director Grant Roberts, formerly of Bungie and Rocksteady, said in a press release. “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.” 

Longdue hasn't revealed all of the former ZA/UM developers that are involved, but Disco Elysium lead designer and writer Robert Kurvitz and lead artist Aleksander Rostov are not among them. In late 2022, ZA/UM's new majority shareholders fired that pair along with writer Helen Hindpere, accusing them of misconduct and trying to steal intellectual property (among other things). That's despite Kurvitz writing the novel on which the world of the 2019 game was based. Lawsuits were filed and ZA/UM claimed those were resolved last year. Kurvitz and Rostov have set up their own company, Red Info.