ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies

Жалкая копия ДЭ. Графика на месте (хотя и более цветастая), механики на месте, но в-целом это все не работает. Персонажи пустые, диалоги тупорылые и неинтересные. Постоянное упоминания в диалогах половых органов. Ноль юмора и воук-намеки (цветастость, женские босс-персонажи). Кроме прочего, сюжет запутанные и банально сложно понять, что происходит, хотя ты вроде как отыгрываешь трезвую шпионку, а не человека с похмельем. Постоянно ловил себя на мысли, что вот-вот станет интересно, вот-вот. Но не стало. Дропнул после 10 часов. Лучше перепройдите ДЭ.

In the point and click RPG/Adventure genre, this is another top tier addition from ZA/UM. I can't help but feel that many of the themes and ideas within the game are somewhat of an allegory for the studio and development of the game. The backbone and foundation that Disco Elysium created is there, with pros and cons compared to DE. Updates to Zero Parades have brought a more streamlined system for optimizing skills with clothing and a still excellent thought and skill system. And the inclusion of the new status system with Fatigue, Anxiety and Delirium have brought about a really nice gameplay element. One that encourages the use of substances to manage and a more rewarding reason for sleep. Along with the removal of the day limit that Disco implemented. The game is familiar but different. Where Disco shines over Zero are in its soundtrack, and for me, the writing. Compared to Disco's soundtrack, Zero feels a bit hollow. While there are a number of great songs that pop up, they don't fill the game space as completely as Disco did. Disco decidedly had much much more time to flesh out and perfect the story. 10+ years of writing went into Disco and it's apparent. The depth that Disco's writing had I don't think has ever been matched in a game since, or before Disco. And, while Zero touches on some very critical ideas, it's apparent that the writing does not reach the same level that Disco achieved. But how could it? It's still a decidedly great game, with lots of replayability to explore different choices and results. It just does not have the same impact that Disco did for me. I spent a long time after playing Disco thinking about what Disco had to say, and feel that it had an impact on my own thinking. I don't think Zero will have that same level of impact. More likely, I'll just be thinking about some interesting characters and themes that have some unanswered questions. I'm not quite done with the game, but even here I can absolutely recommend picking up Zero Parades if you enjoyed DE or other games within the genre. Luck and skill, operant.

it only took 30 minutes for the narrator/main characters voice to get on my nerves. a heavy cockney accent with a california vocal fry sounding like a true crime youtuber trying to be spooky. I know these games are somewhat political and talk a lot about social economics and such but in the first 30 minutes they're throwing lesbians, communism, monotheism, anti-capitalism, and patriarchal misogyny at you left right and centre.

У игры явно есть то самое

This is not *it*

Your stats permanently decrease if you get too anxious, fatigued or delirious - and there's no way of telling which dialogue option increases said meters. It's a guessing game. The intro sequence makes this very clear. "Oh, you put points in your social skills? Well, here's a truckload unavoidable anxiety, say goodbye to your stats!" If you want the player to start with a disadvantage, why not just have a hard cap on your initial stats instead of this "Haha, gotcha!" crap? I suppose the idea is that failing is part of the fun, like in Disco Elysium, but here it just feels annoying; I don't want to take any dice rolls because I don't know if the game's going to ruin my character if the roll fails. "In our game, the protagonist is *flawed*, our game isn't a conventional role-playing game where stats matter! We're really clever and original!" Yeah, no. Just skip character creation and make an adventure game if you want to force a preset like this. Also, the narrator is *terrible*. She's a cringeworthy imitation of the reptilian brain voice from Disco Elysium. At least you can shut her up in the settings. It's like they took the general aesthetic from Disco Elysium without realizing what made it work. To top that off, the game mostly offers you chances to be mysterious in a wacky way, a bumbling moron or a sad sack.

Despite the controversies surrounding the developers at ZA/UM, this game is another brilliant gem. It is an absolute must-play for anyone who enjoyed Disco Elysium. Zero Parades definitely has "IT" — and not a single parade in sight.