In a grim twist of fate, the philosophical RPG Disco Elysium is now aimed at TikTok users.
Disco Elysium, an RPG that garnered mass acclaim for its narrative depth and veritable novel’s worth of dialogue, is now being reimagined for TikTok users. Developer ZA/UM unveiled a trailer for a mobile port of Disco Elysium this week, which the studio claims is aimed to “captivate the TikTok user."
Here's the trailer:
Disco Elysium mobile port announced, aimed at TikTok users
Game developer ZA/UM has announced a mobile port of Disco Elysium, featuring redone UI and a vertical gameplay format more akin to a visual novel. If the trailer is anything to go by, the main beats of the critically-acclaimed RPG will still exist in this mobile port, albeit severely watered down for on-the-go gameplay.
The game developer provided a statement to Eurogamer, from “original member of the Disco Elysium development team” Denis Havel:
“We intend to captivate the TikTok user with quick hits of compelling story, art, and audio, ultimately creating an all new, deeply engaging form of entertainment.”
It should be noted that Denis Havel is specified to be an “original member” of ZA/UM, because a massive legal blowup led to many of Disco Elysium’s makers leaving the studio years ago. An expansion and sequel was originally planned for Disco Elysium, but both projects were cancelled after a series of layoffs and firings happened at the studio, on top of legal battles, with former employees alleging ZA/UM “no longer represents the ethos it was founded on.”
Today, the makers of Disco Elysium are largely split into five studios: Red Info, Longdue, Summer Eternal, Dark Math Games, and ZA/UM itself. All four of the former studios are now working on spiritual successors to Disco Elysium, but PCGamer reports that ZA/UM is now working on an entirely separate RPG of its own.
Disco Elysium will launch on Google Android devices in Summer 2025, with pre-registrations for the game now open.
