ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies

Если любите шпионские триллеры, то эта игра для вас. Тут конечно тоже проступает шиза, но хуже от этого не становится.

Solid game. Only play if you enjoy a game that is basically a book. There are other visual novel esque games that are better but if you enjoy the spy espionage conspiracy theory story then you will enjoy this.

fantastic game overshadowed by its predecessor

Wonderful game, great story telling, same vibes as Disco Elysium. I highly recommend!

IT IS ABOUT *CULTURE*

A spy thriller that honestly grinds deeper and deeper against your soul the longer it goes on. Plenty of amazing ideas and quality of life improvements to the narrative CRPG genre. Whether you want to be personal with people or be an ice-cold spy, the many personality traits let you play however you like. There are skill checks for every stat, so it never feels like you wasted an investment. Balancing the debuff meters with use of alcohol, cigs and illicit coffee also keeps you invested in scounging through the city and enhances your immersion on how Hershel reacts to the scenarios she is put in. If she really doesn't want to have a conversation her anxiety will spike. If she has to run a marathon to get something her Fatigue will rise. It's great. Hershel Wilk is a fully realized protagonist, yet her role as a spy with many masks enables the player to play her in many different ways, whatever the mission asks of her, she will do. Potofilo is a great setting, a rundown ex-communist city that is besieged by three completely different cultures and ways of life, torn apart in the middle. The game starts slow, letting you really take in this new world and get to know its citizens too. It will take a while just to find out your ACTUAL assignment and I think that is one of the best reveals in any narrative game I played. One of the things that moved me the most is the pining relationship between Cascade and her controller, Melita. Now that is the most heartwrenching part of the game to me. Hope they can eventually meet and finally admit how they feel about each other. And remember: The Opera Never Tires.

It is difficult to ignore everything that has happened around ZA/UM, and the controversies inevitably cast a shadow over Zero Parades: For Dead Spies as well. That is especially unfortunate because the game itself is excellent and deserves to be judged on more than just what happened behind the scenes at the studio. After Disco Elysium, it is obviously impossible to sit down with this game without comparing the two. The similarities are clear, but Zero Parades quickly proves that it is not simply trying to repeat the same formula. In fact, there are a few areas where it gave me even more. What impressed me most was probably how detailed the world is. This was already one of Disco Elysium’s greatest strengths, but here everything somehow feels more organic. Even the most insignificant side character has enough of a backstory that you could easily build an entire game around them, yet it never feels like the writers are desperately trying to show off how much work they put into the setting. It simply feels natural that every character has their own history, opinions and completely unique problems. There were times when I found myself more invested in a “conversation” about the advantages and disadvantages of technofascism or the finer details of L-pop than in moving the main story forward. Every new detail made me want to know more, so I read through almost every possible dialogue option. I constantly felt that I might miss something important, or simply something entertaining, if I moved on too quickly. The side quests were especially memorable. I did not expect to say this, but I enjoyed them even more than the side content in Disco Elysium. None of them felt like pointless detours or obvious attempts to pad the playtime. There was always a character, an idea or some completely absurd situation that made it worth putting the main story aside. Quite often, I would have rather stayed with these storylines than returned to it. As strange as it may sound, the dice system also makes the entire game incredibly exciting. This already worked in Disco Elysium: even if you have a 97 percent chance of succeeding, there is always the possibility that the remaining 3 percent will happen and you will fail the check. The opposite is also true, and sometimes you manage to pull something off in an almost hopeless situation. Because of this, nothing ever feels completely guaranteed, but no attempt feels entirely pointless either. The way CASCADE’s personality develops also works remarkably well, because the traits you choose actually matter, especially when it comes to how you behave afterwards. If you decide to follow a more pacifist path, for example, the game may punish you for choosing an excessively violent solution. The problem is that some of those options are extremely tempting, so you have to decide whether you are willing to take the penalty or whether it is time to replace that particular personality trait. This works because the game does not allow you to simply choose whatever is most convenient in every situation. You either stay consistent with the version of CASCADE you have created, or accept that you may sometimes need to change them. Character development is incredibly varied as a result, and it involves much more than simply adding another point to a stat. I also spent far more time on CASCADE’s clothes than was strictly necessary. Different outfits improve different attributes, but the designs are so good that I sometimes stopped caring about the stats altogether. Instead, I dressed CASCADE as if they were preparing for fashion week and then simply hoped the outfit would not cause too much trouble during the next check. The game also has enormous replay value, mainly because of the choices and skill checks. What happens if I give that item to a certain character after all? What if I never speak to them in the first place? How differently does a quest play out if I choose a completely different solution? I often felt tempted to save before every major decision and immediately reload afterwards just to see the other outcome. Doing that, however, would take away from the experience. Part of the point is that each playthrough develops its own style and that you have to live with the things you chose or failed to do. I will definitely play it again because I genuinely want to see how far the story can be pushed in another direction. I felt this much less strongly with Disco Elysium. I honestly cannot point to any major flaw. I could probably find a few minor issues if I tried, but nothing bothered me enough while playing to meaningfully diminish the experience. Overall, Zero Parades completely won me over. Anyone who enjoyed the dialogue, dice rolls and the ability to spend hours in Disco Elysium without making any real progress in the main story will find this very easy to recommend as well. Despite the obvious similarities, it never felt like a simple Disco replacement. In fact, when it comes to side quests, character development and replayability, it gave me even more. The Opera never tries.