Earlier this month , Disco ElysiumdeveloperZA / UM teased a new RPGknown asProject C4.It described the game as “ the next genre - define RPG from ZA / UM , the studio behindDisco Elysium ” and “ a nous - warping story of espionage and squad - construction in an original yet achingly familiar setting . ” The announcement was get together with sundry feelings considering everything the studio has been through since the outlet ofDisco Elysium .
Several of import staff appendage decisive toDisco Elysium’sdevelopment werereportedly press out of ZA / UM , and multiple projects were call off . Now , the studio is reemerging and draw direct connexion toDisco Elysiumto raise its next championship — although it ’s not a sequel — as former ZA / UM developersspin up Disco Elysium successors elsewhere . It ’s an odd situation fence in what should be a surefire indie RPG smash , so I was concerned in picture the game for myself at GDC 2025 .
I capture an overview ofProject C4from some ZA / UM developers and realize footage of the game in action . It looks like an expected evolution of theDisco Elysiumformula with some originative theme in how it plays with the objective lens versus immanent head , and the realties of spy war and espionage . This is n’t the ZA / UM that land usDisco Elysium , but the developers I spoke to seemed confident thatProject C4could give birth something similarly fresh .
Digging up the past
LikeDisco Elysium , Project C4is another RPG that mostly play from an isometric perspective and emphasise player choice and the usage of virtual die rolls to mold dialog outcomes . While musician hold in an amnesiac bull in an easterly European country inDisco Elysium , Project C4‘s assumption involves spies , espionage , and the aim and subjective .
Players assure an “ operant , ” who is a undercover agent called upon to do one last job with their crew in a Brobdingnagian fancied city with ethnical influence from Portugal and South America . While franchises likeJames BondorMetal Gearimmediately come in to thinker when you hear about a game embracing a spy fantasy , Principal Writer Siim Kosmos Sinamäe says Studio ZA / UM want to take a more grounded approach to what spies do .
“ We take off looking at a variety of matter , and espionage caught our center . Once we got further into it , we break that the truth of espionage is so much stranger than the fiction of it , ” Sinamäe says . “ The fabrication of it is almost like a politically right version of what spies in reality do . But the realities of spies , how often they f*ck up , and how few of them are really successful was something really interesting to us … The secret world of spy is very much like our own : dark , greedy , and it really does n’t make a muckle of gumption . ”
We ’re able to mouth about some other expression of the human nous that we ca n’t speak about if you ’re being an alcoholic police ship’s officer .
Project C4lets players fail forward through their choice . They might not get the expected outcome , but the game will respond to role player winner or unsuccessful person accordingly . Artistically and narratively , Project C4also want to play around with the object glass and subjective . The city where players search , utter to others , and execute most of their actions is weigh “ accusative ” and features a more realistic , painterly nontextual matter expressive style to reflect that .
But the Conditioning Menu — task C4’sversion ofDisco Elysium’sThought locker — squeeze what ZA / UM calls a “ subjective ” fine art style as it ’s also where player will grapple with their conditioning as an operant and embrace more subjective worldviews . That ’s where the trippy prowess in the reveal trailer amount from . This division between the objective and subjective is one area in whichProject C4looks like it will be quite distinct fromDisco Elysium .
Being distinguishable is inevitable , as only a few creatives who go onDisco ElysiumandDisco Elysium : The Final Cutremain at ZA / UM now . Sinamäe is one such individual , and he ’s prefer to attend atProject C4as an chance for ZA / UM to do things it just was n’t able to withDisco Elysium .
“ We ’re able to talk about some other aspects of the human psyche that we ca n’t utter about if you ’re being an alcoholic law ship’s officer . We ’re able to tell the news report in more meaningful way because we have a more experienced squad thanDisco Elysium … We are much more cognizant of what are capabilities are , where we can innovate , and where we retrieve it ’s good enough for us . ”
Ruudu Ulas , a Lead Producer who has been with the studio since its work onThe Final Cut , chose to take an affirmative feeling at how ZA / UM has greatly evolved and changed throughout the three yearsProject C4has been in development .
“ As you know , our studio apartment has proceed through some challenging , difficult times over the last three years and our squad has very much grown with us , ” Ulas pronounce . “ We have some multitude who have been with us since we madeDisco . There are masses who bring together us forFinal Cut . There are hoi polloi who joined us because they lovedDisco Elysium . We have this squad that has really grown together through these three years , and as I ’ve see the project evolve and the squad evolve , it ’s really exciting to see how we ’re able to ramp up on individual contributors ’ forcefulness and admit them in the building of the earth , write up , and how closely the world is linked together with the narration . ”
Just as the operants inProject C4can’t escape their past , neither can ZA / UM . With many of the creatives who worked onDisco Elysiumgone , Project C4is shaping up to be a unlike take on the formula that made ZA / UM a known quantity in the indie space in the first position . Project C4will likely never escape the shadow of people ’s judgement on that , so it ’s fitting that this RPG is so eager to mark objective against subjective .
