Zero Parades, the spy game from Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM, is coming in May
Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, ZA/UM's Disco Elysium-like game of espionage and human frailty, is set to launch on PC on May 21, on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG. It's not yet reflected on the Steam page but ZA/UM said Zero Parades will be Steam Deck verified at launch, and a PS5 version is set to follow later in the year.
Zero Parades will launch with full English voice acting and text localization in English, German, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Latin America). Eight additional languages—French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Traditional Chinese, and Turkish—are set to follow in free updates through 2026 and 2027.
"It took nearly five years to deliver the full slate of localizations for Disco Elysium, and our players deserved better than that," ZA/UM studio head Allen Murray said. "This time, we're launching with five languages on day one and committing to a faster cadence. Additional language support begins rolling out at the end of 2026 and continues through 2027. We want every player to experience Zero Parades in their language—and we don't want them waiting half a decade for it."
That's a nice touch, but more important is that Zero Parades shows signs of the narrative brilliance that made Disco Elysium such a surprise hit. ZA/UM has said it doesn't want to "invite too many comparisons" with its groundbreaking debut game, and that's especially understandable given the messy breakup that saw the departure of numerous Disco creatives. It's also very optimistic: PC Gamer's resident Marx scholar Joshua Wolens said the Steam Next Fest demo released in February "felt very Disco-Elysium-shaped indeed," although that's certainly not a bad thing.
But while Zero Parades bears more than a passing similarity to its predecessor, it also appears set to do its own thing: Senior editor Wes Fenlon said a bigger build he played at GDC in March "delivered some fantastical spycraft situations that I think embody the ideal of Disco-with-a-twist."
"The writing is consistently fun," Wes wrote, "and suggests ZA/UM has plenty of ideas for how to turn the act of spycraft into a handful of text choices that rocket off in surprising directions."
If you're not sure what it's all about, you can still sample that Next Fest demo on Steam, with two full quests, "side activities," and open exploration of the game world: ZA/UM is leaving it up until April 13.
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