ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies

Повествование очень обрывочно, не реалистично и размазано. Все общаются метафорами, иносказаниями и редко говорят конкретно и по делу. Такое чувство что ты в городе политиков и философов. В общем игра пытается делать вид что "она не для всех" этакий "нетакусик" Так же за 12 часов игры мне не понятен лор игры. Какие технологии есть, что реально, а что нет. Какова политика, какие страны и так далее.

Absolutly amazing game! Story and narrative are great, simple mechanics and very many choices that alters the story. Whoever voiced Cascade's inner voice shoudl get an award. The final mission is awesome, Highly recommed!

Excellent game, the writing was great, the voice acting was lovely, and there were some really brilliant moments, just like in Disco Elysium. I really liked the spy theme and the atmosphere of the world. Couldn't really notice a decline in quality in any of those areas. But there were also some things. that could benefit from further improvements: - Many important difficult tests had no "fail forward" scenario so you just had to re-try them over multiple days to proceed with the game. - The clothing system pretty much worked against the philosophy of the game making you do lame frequent min/maxing to be able to avoid re-taking the tests mentioned above even more. - The ending was a little bit chaotic, it wasn't clear from a gameplay perspective what you can still do, what is already blocked and how you can use what you have prepared (your character would know, but the game structured it strangely). - There should be more "waiting" possibilities enabled in the beginning. I know it would make the stress system a little bit easier, but otherwise you had to cheese it with fake time-consuming activities. All in all, I think most of the things could be corrected with some patches or a definitive edition or something, there was nothing inherently wrong with the game itself, just some more adjusting to be done for a perfect experience.

Traded a pack of cigarettes to a talking monkey for a technologically advanced fleshlight. 10/10

Zero Parades surpasses Disco Elysium in some areas while falling short in others. Still, it would be disingenuous to say this isn't a very good game. Playing Disco Elysium felt like experiencing a work of art set in a unique world filled with political and philosophical depth. Zero Parades, on the other hand, feels more like reading a great spy novel. The game truly shines when it stops trying to imitate Disco Elysium's political discussions and instead focuses on telling a compelling espionage thriller. I really enjoyed the many twists and turns throughout the story, especially the ending, which changes depending on the choices you make. The remaining artists at ZA/UM, including Anton Vill, have done an excellent job creating beautiful environments, UI, portraits, and visual effects. From a gameplay perspective, Zero Parades improves on nearly every aspect of Disco Elysium's formula. The new Pressure and Exertion systems add meaningful risk-reward decisions to every skill check. I also appreciated the many scenes, similar to the Tribunal sequence in Disco Elysium, that force split-second decisions. Throughout the game you meet plenty of memorable and eccentric characters, but a few overstay their welcome by yapping a LOT without adding much to the story or worldbuilding (Un & Deux and Cardio Grampa being the biggest offenders.) I wish the game had spent less time on quirky side characters and more time developing its most compelling ones, such as Melita, Duchess, Goat Eye, Silhouette, and several others. The soundtrack does a solid job establishing the game's atmosphere, but it lacks tracks that are as memorable as Disco Elysium's Whirling-in-Rags themes. That said, "Superbloc, Baby" and "Luck and Skill" are standout tracks that stayed with me long after I finished the game. Overall, while Zero Parades doesn't quite reach the artistic highs of Disco Elysium, it succeeds in being a gripping spy thriller with stronger gameplay systems than its predecessor.

It's really good. Don't expect the story to hit nearly as close and personal as Disco Elysium, since the game is not about that. The soundtrack is also pretty mediocre, while Disco had probably one of the best soundtracks in gaming (I'd say soundtrack carried that the game in many respects). Other than that ZP is an improvement over Disco in every way imaginable. Firstly, Hershel doesn't come off nearly as solipsistic as Harry. A lot more attention is given to things that exist outside of Hershel's head compared to Disco and Harry: namely the world and other characters within it. Secondly, the story is good. It's both more interesting and much more focused than Disco. Most quests you do and most characters you interact with tie into the main plot somehow, there is almost no pointless filler and it also makes the story feel a lot less contrived. Characters and their relationships tie into the events and their consequences, which is not easy to do well with a large cast, but ZP is good at it. Thirdly, the game is humorous, but it can take itself seriously and it doesn't force you into being a lunatic unless that's what you want. You can play Hershel as a consummate professional, but you can also have fun, and make jokes that don't come off as you being mentally ill or attention-seeking. You can also play Hershel like a maniac manic if that's more up your alley. The fact that the game actually allows you to act normal and doesn't make fun of you for it is extremely welcome. When it comes to politics, even if you do not have the slightest interest in politics, have no interest in what some artsy commies have to say about them or hold views that are diametrically opposed to communism, you can still easily enjoy this game. The politics don't insist upon themselves and don't disrupt the pacing on the game (which is crazy because this is a game about spies and international shadowy plots that heavily alludes to the Cold War and the post-Soviet life in Eastern Europe immediately after the fall of USSR manages to come off less politics obsessed than something like Esoteric Ebb). Anyway, great game. I liked it more than Disco in almost every way (except the soundtrack). There are some rough edges for the devs to patch, but I suggest you buy it and play it, you will have fun.

Zero Parades is another one of those games I can say is "unfortunately really good"; though unlike any other game I've used that phrase for, it is a unique case of the reason not being immediately apparent as the game on it's own would likely be easy to declare a masterpiece in the CRPG genre had it existed under drastically different circumstances. It is ultimately bittersweet that the writers and devs pulled off creating something so damn great despite living in the shadow of Disco Elysium and the horrible business practices of their higher ups, because no matter how great it is, it is doomed to never be judged on its own merits and forced to exist under the thumb of a company that cannot be trusted to keep the souls of it's IPs alive. I didn't go into Zero Parades expecting to like it all that much, I felt it was sure to be a very poor attempt to create Disco without any of the charm, but while certain reused and referencial aspects can certainly make it feel that way, I feel that the team behind the game (sadly whatever is left of them now) proved that they could create something compelling enough that it honestly stopped being all that distracting the more I lived in the world and got to know the people in it. I did not expect this game to exceed my expectations in any way, I went in thinking that, given a miracle, it could end up being a pretty solid game marred by the company's reputation and then when it ended I felt like it was a phenomenal game marred by the company's reputation. There are elements unique to this game that I even slightly enjoy more than how Disco handled them. The Fatigue, Anxiety, Delusion system makes the protagonist feel all the more human, and Hershel as a whole feels a little more freeing to truly roleplay as. I also feel like the world building and character writing almost reaches something near the heights I felt when I first played Disco, though maybe taking a bit longer to really wrap my head around and live with. Of course it's too bad I cannot trust Za/Um to properly allow this setting to expand and live up to it's true potential. Many of the aspects I'd consider flaws here I feel boil down to it presumably being rushed out. It seems they wanted to ship the game fully voiced like Disco's rerelease, so the text to dialogue mismatches and vocal deliveries with incorrect tones and misreads feel a lot more numerous than they did in Disco. There's also just a lot of random unvoiced lines and sentences that cut off too short. In a similar vein is how buggy it can be. My only real complaint is that the game feels like it only really needed a stupidly short time left to cook and they just threw it out there for a quick buck. Really wracking my brain for anything else to complain about, I guess I don't really love the map screen, it could have been a bit more clear and interactive. Maybe the inventory system could have been more sortable but neither of these really felt like a big deal. Zero Parades compelled me in ways I never thought a game with Za/Um in front of it would ever be capable of doing again, I fell deeply in love with it's characters and the twists and turns of their mission, I deeply resonated with many of its themes that manage to feel familiar while standing on their own, and ultimately it left me wanting to play it again and do everything I screwed up as "correctly" as possible. It's only sad that I have to keep reminding myself that not even something I love as much as this game could ever make me trust the company that made it. In the end, I got another fantastic game, but it'd be nice to have something to look forward to

It's a shame that so many people will give this an automatic pass because of the legal drama around Disco Elysium. I know that Za/Um were the bad guys in that and everything, but the fact of the matter is that I love Disco Elysium and want more games like it, and so I was happy to give this a try. Anyhow, so this is a game about being a Communist Spy during a fictional Cold War. You are in a sort of middle territory playing a game against both Capitalist and Fascist spy agencies. There's a lot of world building in here, but honestly... it felt like a story that was supposed to take place in the Disco Elysium universe and the fact that it isn't... well, again, let's not dwell on that. My favourite thing about the setting would have to be how it talks about music. The fascist nation in the world is called Luzen and they are spreading their fascist influence throughout the world by promoting 'L-Pop' and, while this was a great general critique of mass media and the prolefeed that sustains our dying culture, it was also the funniest take down of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ K-Pop I can conceive of. "He heard music designed to fine-tune the estrogen-production centers of prepubescent girls, and it destroyed him." lololol Anyhow, let's talk about three aspects of it without spoilers. 1) Story. The way the story unfolds is sort of like Disco, but at the same time isn't. I once heard Disco Elysium described as the most complicated personality test in history, given the vast array of political and personal stances you could take in it, whereas this more has you playing a set character that you can tweak along the edges. That's not bad in itself (it let the game focus more on the ensemble cast), but it did mean that this didn't have that amazing immersion that Disco Elysium had from start to finish. But the big problem with the story was honestly time. Disco Elysium had the three day limit that pressured you to move things forward and the game's content matches that pace. In this, there is no real time limit and you reach a certain point in the story where you have a dude say 'okay talk to me when you're ready to finish the game', which for me is shorthand for 'go do all the subquests now'. This really robbed the game of urgency and turned the latter part into a bit of a box ticking exercise. There were also a lot of points where I would go have my international super spy go tend bar or mop some apartments because I needed some time to tick by so I could continue one of the plots. That's never great. 2) Gameplay. The dumbest part of Disco Elysium were the clothes. Having to change your outfit to optimize yourself for a skill check is not a good time for anyone. Can we please just remove that part of these games? Because that's really dumb. I did like the intense spy battles, but the fact that you never know what skill these are going to rely on before they happen is irritating (due to the clothes thing). I didn't save scum very much in the game, but generally when I did it would be because I got into one of these encounters without my birthday suit on. That sucks. Stop it with the clothes stuff already. 3) The Ending At the end of the game, you are given a Spy Rating by your handler to assess your performance. This is based on how well you did on your final mission and I actually got an 'X' rank (where the highest is 'Z'). I looked it up after and apparently the only way to get a 'Z' is to pick the most blatantly evil option at the end of one of the big side quests. And you know, that feels like cheating. Giving me a low rank because I wasn't able to deduce something or didn't find a hidden secret, sure. But give me a low rank because I didn't toss a metaphorical puppy into a woodchipper? Screw that. There's probably an argument to be made that the rank at the end doesn't matter because it's coming from your spymasters and who gives a ♥♥♥♥ what they think. And that's fair enough, but I would have still like to have been able to solve that problem without the woodchipper. Anyhow, in spite of all this, this is a great read and worthy of your support. The other fragments of the Zaum-that-was will make their iterations of the Disco subgenre eventually and I look forward to playing those ones too. Final Score: 8.21345468765767409/11

The game is really good; it keeps you wandering and exploring around. It is important to feel these emotions in an RPG. The game also surprises you with some of the encounters throughout the journey. I can't really say there are a lot of things missing. Also, don't expect to play Disco Elysium type of thing because Disco feels so much different. Disco is more emotional and impacts you on a more personal level, dealing with existential problems. On the other hand, Zero Parades is more about redemption. The character makes up for old mistakes and reconciles with her friends. The game hits you with great plot twists, and it honestly feels really good. That's why I finished it. In addition, it has a lot of world-building, mostly centered around politics and art. I especially like how they handle the art aspect. However, the soundtrack is a huge letdown and doesn't even come close to Disco Elysium. It's really disappointing that there isn't a single memorable or impactful track, especially since the game talks about music so much. Still, if you like Disco, you should definitely give this game a chance.

Очень интересная игра. В разы более проработана чем нудный диско. Диско не плохая игра, просто эта часть закрывает её слабые аспекты. Жаль что комьюнити засрало