Risk of Rain 2
Risk of Rain 2
Game
Game2026
ZERO PARADES: Director's Cut
Developer ZA/UM
Zero Parades: For Dead Spies is a 2026 role-playing video game by ZA/UM. It is the studio's second game following Disco Elysium. It was released in May 2026 for Windows. Much like Disco Elysium, it received an enhanced version, titled Zero Parades: Director's Cut, which launched as a free update for the PC version in October 2026, followed by PlayStation 5 version in November the same year. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
561 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
81
LovedLoved
329 positive · 76 negative
95% range 77–85%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 329 | 76 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 50 | 6 | 77 |
| Lemmy * | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 8 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,792 of 2,051 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
77% recommend · 220 yes, 67 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 287 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (2,811 of 3,344 positive).
Some reviewers criticize the narrative as uneven or hollow. [1][2][3]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
The reason why I don't recommend buying this game is because ZA/UM fired Disco Elysium devs, hired new devs to make Zero Parades, had the audacity to say that this game was developed by the developers of Disco Elysium, and then they fired Zero Parades devs. I still recommend playing this game though. This is a good game, and it actually does some things better than Disco Elysium, so I'll start with that. The health …
- [4]
Zero Parade occasionally struggles to step out from Disco Elysium's influence, but its exceptional writing, distinct yet familiar atmosphere, and striking visual direction prevent it from being a hollow copy. Lightning rarely strikes the same place twice, but Zero Parades still manages to capture some of that electricity, even if its spark burns within a slightly smaller vessel. It's a good game but if you're …
- [6]
It isn't Disco Elysium, though it's more than fair to compare the two. Many people who worked on Disco worked on this game, and the effort to improve gameplay systems is apparent; this is a better *game* than Disco Elysium, when it comes to the actual playing, because of the improvements to the dice rolls, the exertion system, the dynamic action sequences, the game's thought cabinet. and so on. Is it as well written …
- [5]
I really enjoyed my time with this game. If you're looking for more Disco Elysium, it's not exactly that, but it sure scratches that itch. -------------------------- The writing is stellar, and so is the voice acting. Whatever "corporate vs. creative" calamity happened in the aftermath of Disco Elysium, it's obvious that there are still talented writers working at ZA/UM. The dialogue and narration are sharp, …
- [8]
Review by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34633003-Gaming-Masterpieces/lists/] Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam. Is this game a masterpiece? Yes, probably, despite the drama around the development studio. Puzzle your way through a gripping spy thriller. Don't lose your mind, don't drink yourself to death, and don't get yourself shot—because after the disaster of your last …
Summarised from 34 of the 423 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
ZERO PARADES: Director's Cut sits at 81% positive across 405 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Zero Parades: For Dead Spies received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator website Metacritic. OpenCritic reported that 87% of critics recommended it. Ben Love of RPGFan writes that the game is engaging, while the world feels "less alive" than Disco Elysium and that the protagonist is underdeveloped. The review by GameSpot compliments the writing, while noting that it "tries too hard to imitate Disco Elysium", a theme shared by another review by SiliconEra. Aidan O'Brien of Destructoid calls the game "an excellent, narrative-focused RPG that embraces both self-awareness and the desire for more." In July 2026, ZA/UM announced a round of layoffs and redundancies…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 561 · most liked firstAlthough it is largely already well-known, it is worth emphasizing here that the creators of this work have almost no connection to the original Disco Elysium. Currently, the actual controllers of ZA/UM studio are the Estonian fraudster (a real fraudster who has been convicted) Tonis Havel, and the former executive producer of Disco Elysium, Kaur Kender. Kaur Kender has a complex personality; in the early days, he did sell a Ferrari to fund Kurwitz for development and was responsible for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The reason why I don't recommend buying this game is because ZA/UM fired Disco Elysium devs, hired new devs to make Zero Parades, had the audacity to say that this game was developed by the developers of Disco Elysium, and then they fired Zero Parades devs. I still recommend playing this game though. This is a good game, and it actually does some things better than Disco Elysium, so I'll start with that. The health system is more fleshed out than in Disco Elysium. There are 3 health bars - 1…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Let me start with what works: the detective gameplay is genuinely excellent. I'd argue it's mechanically stronger than Disco Elysium. The core loop of piecing things together is satisfying and the art direction is outstanding throughout. But the narrative side let me down in ways I want to talk about, because I don't think this game is bad I just think it's uneven in ways that matter. The world is weirdly hard to understand For how text-heavy this game is, I came away knowing…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I could attempt to write a long and dutiful review of why I don't like this game, for the reasons are numerous, but I think all you really need is the reason I'm not going to: I don't care. I made three full play throughs of Disco Elysium, I made it all the way to the end of this one too. But unlike Disco, this one is hollow. Every hour that passed the more my eyes started glazing as empty words scrolled past, and by the time I made it to the ending I was just frantically clicking through…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →genuinely an amazing game that couldn't outrun the controversies the publisher pulled. not sure what they expected after alienating their main fan base but they did try that being said, I cannot recommend legally purchasing the game after the publisher ZAUM fired the original DE creators, hired new people for ZP, had the gall to say it was from the original DE team, then fired the new ZP devs after the game flopped
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Zero Parades is about womanhood in a way I am not sure I've seen in a big game, certainly not an RPG. I wasn't sure at first whether it was setting it up as a cornerstone theme in the same way DE did with manhood, but several hours in, I'm realizing it's harder to recognize because this medium
positive · AI labelView post →This is from the studio that BROUGHT you disco elysium. the publishing ♥♥♥♥♥ over at za/um are really screwing over the devs of this team by constantly pushing a very false narrative/advertisement. Look, most of the original developers of Disco Elysium are gone, the few that are remaining are clearly trying to pick up the pieces and are now making something of their own. this is that. It is such a damn shame that people are not going to purchase this game, let alone try it out for the simple…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Zero Parade occasionally struggles to step out from Disco Elysium's influence, but its exceptional writing, distinct yet familiar atmosphere, and striking visual direction prevent it from being a hollow copy. Lightning rarely strikes the same place twice, but Zero Parades still manages to capture some of that electricity, even if its spark burns within a slightly smaller vessel. It's a good game but if you're someone deeply invested in the ZA/UM debacle, then it's no easy recommendation
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Starting with cons, as I really do enjoy this game, but there are definite flaws that prevent it from even conveying a basic narrative accurately. CONS: - Inconsistent voiceover to text that is written (Some words and sentences are either completely skipped over, said completely different from what they are shown as in text, or just aren't said at all). Pretty alarming that a narrative-focused RPG has issues this bad with narrative. Information is just conveyed entirely inaccurately in some…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A (i am assuming) great game tainted by one of the most forced, obnoxious voice acting casts for a narrator that has ever been made. Disco Elysium has the best narration in any game I've ever played. This is not a great way to follow that masterpiece. This game might be fantastic but I'm so put off by almost literally every line that comes out of the narrators mouth. They put on this really strange enunciation on certain words that makes them sound like they're grating across your ears.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Disco Elysium is not a detective story, it's a story that uses a detective plot as a vehicle to let the characters explore various deeper topics, most prominently loss in various forms. Esoteric Ebb is not a detective story, it's a story that uses a detective plot as as a vehicle to let the characters explore various deeper topics, most prominently (in my opinion after only a single playthrough) intent and consequences. Zero Parades is a spy story. EDIT: the above is the gist of it, but I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Whoever is looking to buy this because they loved Disco Elysium, let me give you a heads up: it is not that good. Zero Parades feels like it is missing many of the elements that made Disco Elysium a masterpiece. While it clearly aims for a similar experience, the writing, character work, and systems do not reach the same level. The biggest issue is the writing. The story never becomes truly engaging, and many characters feel shallow. A lot of them are extremely talkative, with endless…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ZA/UM sent me a wonderful portrait in the Zero Parades style done by Daria Kalashnikova, one of the senior artists for the game, and I am still freaking out about how cool this is!
positive · AI labelView post →SO to @remapradio.bsky.social for letting me go extremely long and self-indulgently about ZERO PARADES FOR DEAD SPIES, a game that knocked me fully on my ass again and again. 100/100 👉🏽🐬s Go read it!!! 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽 remapradio.com/articles/zer...
positive · AI labelView post →Whomever decided to fire the people in charge of Disco Elysium are horrible and should be fired themselves, but this game is really very good. It's very well written and very polished. It takes a lot from Disco Elysium, which is unfortunate given the circumstances but it was still made with love from a lot of people who weren't involved in that decision. Doesn't deserve to be review bombed. Worth playing if you're a fan of CRPGs.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It isn't Disco Elysium, though it's more than fair to compare the two. Many people who worked on Disco worked on this game, and the effort to improve gameplay systems is apparent; this is a better *game* than Disco Elysium, when it comes to the actual playing, because of the improvements to the dice rolls, the exertion system, the dynamic action sequences, the game's thought cabinet. and so on. Is it as well written as Disco Elysium? I think that's the wrong question. Disco Elysium is a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR Yeah, Zero Parades delivers for people willing to give it a fair chance. I am part of the crowd that thinks ZA/UM should not parade (he he) Disco Elysium's corpse around as a selling point for this game, but I also think people are doing the game a disservice by dismissing it because of that. The game has some issues. It throws a ton of exposition at you, quest and journal tracking can be buggy, achievement tracking is unreliable, and the OST never quite reached the same heights as the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hell yeah Zero Parades. It is an official GOOD GAME
positive · AI labelView post →'za/um shouldnt have done that to the developers of disco elysium' and 'zero parades is a good game' are both statements that can exist simultaneously
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll be refunding the game sadly. I might buy it at some point again but as it currently stands the game needs more time in the kitchen. Voice acting is missing a fair chunk, some lines just not being voice acted which is very immersion-ruining, and even worse, some lines are different from what the voice actor says (not just a word or two, but complete sentences) which throws me off whenever reading and listening at the same time. Also literally the 3rd person you "talk" to (it's a TV…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Prefacing this review by saying that my recommendation of not playing the game or having low expectations even if you decide to play are in no way related to the ZA/UM controversy. This is a SPOILER FREE Review. P.S. I understand that my biases come from expectation of a true Disco Elysium style narrative and mechanics but I tried my best to keep that bias aside when playing Zero Parades. GAMEPLAY AND WORLD BUILDING For a Disco-like game, the gameplay is somewhat similar. Isometric CRPG,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To be quite blunt with you, anyone saying that this game is a soulless cash grab and hasn’t even made it past the one-hour mark, is, to put it as nicely as possible, full of ♥♥♥♥. I am throwing all Disco Elysium comparisons out the window, because in my playtime of 34 hours and reaching the end, I was constantly proven right that one should not view this game as its shallower cousin of DE. Zero Parades simply did way too much right that I stopped thinking of this as a DE spiritual sequel,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is such a shame to hear. ZERO PARADES is a tremendous, beautiful game. Truly sad the team won't get to continue the phenomenal work they did together. As always, love and solidarity to everyone affected, and fuck the shareholders and executives into the sun.
positive · AI labelView post →Keep being floored by Zero Parades. Ranks among some of the best writing in any game I’ve ever played. Very different prose and tone than Disco. A feeling of constant drowning and self loathing. Really beautiful.
positive · AI labelView post →"Capital has the ability to subsume all critiques into itself. Even those who would critique capital end up reinforcing it instead." Was willing to try this game on its own merits, but it's just boring. Some of the dialogue choices (most of the self-depreciating ones) comes across like the MC is trying to LARP as Harry DuBois and if the MC has any actual personality I haven't found it after and hour or so or playing. Edit: For example, DE opens with Harry naked in a trashed hotel room,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It often feels like a sincere effort to recapture some of what made Disco Elysium special. Still, it has plenty of depth, is clearly well made, and proved well worth playing. Its biggest challenge is simply that Disco Elysium set an impossibly high bar.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm giving this a thumbs down because it's clear the turmoil from the controversy surrounding the developers has dramatically lowered the standards of quality at ZA/UM. Even if I knew nothing about it beforehand it would still be apparent in the game. The vocal recording is a mess. Many are aware of the missing lines, typos, or different text vs. what's spoken but there are other problems with it. They sometimes use other peoples voices for the same character during the same dialog. They record…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"The bourgeois are not human" The first thing I want to state is that this is not a review of the game. I do not want to discuss whether this game is good or bad. What I want to say is that this game is a parasite—a fungus growing on the dead body of a true gem of the gaming industry. It wouldn't be a problem if the creators of "Zero Parades" didn't position themselves as the heirs to "Disco Elysium." They are not. "Disco Elysium" was a book, a painting, a piece of digital art. But you…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The way Zero Parades exists culturally not as a video game but as a signifier of specific industry practices and drama and is engaged with exclusively through that lens is incredibly disheartening to me.
neutral · AI labelView post →Reviewing this game on it's own merits comes with a big asterisk because of the drama that went down after the release of the studio's last game, Disco Elysium. Following the release of that game, investors took control of Za/um and several of the game's leads were pushed out of the company. With lead writer Robert Kurvitz and lead artist Aleksander Rostov alleging that the acquisition was made illegally using money taken from the studio's own funds. Money which did not belong to it's majority…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll start by saying that, I have not completed the game. After near 16 hours, I honestly lost the will to play it. This is also just my opinion and my attempt to distill the taste this game has left in my mouth since I played the demo prior to release. If by some miracle I can one day sit myself down and force myself to finish it, then I will update this review accordingly. It is fundamentally impossible to not compare this game to the work of art that is Disco Elysium. If not due to the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do your sanity and ears a favor and go to settings>audio>voice over and set it to Characters only. The narrator can drive a monk to violence.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game had very little marketing and was boycotted immediately by anyone who knew what ZA/UM did to the original Disco Elysium creators. However, I hope the devs of Zero Parades find work elsewhere. The game industry is complete shit rn. Fuck ZA/UM's executives.
neutral · AI labelView post →I played this game for a couple hours and had to stop. As it stands it feels like a great game, but extremely unpolished. Unfinished voice acting, inconsistent lines between the text and dialogue, and a very odd choice for the narration made it not worth it for now. (The narrator did start to grow on me, but some of the intonation of the lines make it seem like she's trying to imitate the dead pan delivery of the narrator from Disco Elysium, and not very well.) I am really enjoying the story…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’m only going to say this once: Many of my close friends and colleagues are STILL at ZA/UM. They are people who deserve your support too, now of ALL times. Zero Parades is a great game, and I am incredibly proud of it. Frankly, if you care about me, the number one thing you can do is PLAY IT.
positive · AI labelView post →Whatever it might be eventually this game seems to be in worse condition then demo version was. You can not use numbers to trigger text responses, narration while voiced tend to somewhat snide and drawn out which tends to get on nerves because there is certain annoying tone to it (not sure if it was intentional) and there is no "quick save" option. I like to try out all text options when i play to see where it might lead. I sure as hell don't plan to play this game dozen times to see what it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The second game from Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM, this text-heavy, dice-driven RPG is an exquisitely constructed take on consumerism, empire, nostalgia and beyond. Our Zero Parades: For Dead Spies review: www.eurogamer.net/zero-parades...
neutral · AI labelView post →Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 655: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆☆☆☆ (5/10) I do not like this game. And I do not know why. I mean, there's the obvious ZA/UM drama, but I try to take games at face value because that's what a review should be: based on the game. (Plus, I paid like $36 for this.) But it's hard to separate Disco Elysium ("DE") from ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies ("ZERO PARADES or ZP"). I mean, the Steam description literally says "from the creators of Disco Elysium,"…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's out nowwwwwww. YOU can go PLAY the GAME I've spent the last two weeks fixated on now! Seriously, ZERO PARADES is great. And it will tide you over until the new season of Slow Horses arrives... My review: remapradio.com/articles/zer...
positive · AI labelView post →Zero Parades devs knew they didn't want to make another cop game after Disco Elysium: 'How people think of the police these days, it's a bit different'.
neutral · AI labelView post →The ZERO PARADES review is out now! (A short comment below👇) www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6xJ...
neutral · AI labelView post →I want to be able to truly like this, which I kinda do, mechanically same if not better than DE, Artistically it's there and everything else is pretty much there too in terms of world building etc. The main gripes I have is the threefold at the time of writing (having just finished minutes ago) 1) it just name drops all these political / philosophical theories / ideas and gets them pretty wildly wrong and then you don't get any option to actually rebut them or engage or anything just to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Despite my dislike of ZA/UM corporate I heavily enjoyed the game. While it's writing isn't as strong as Disco's, its story and plot points were interesting and kept me invested. I'd also consider it the prettiest / nicest looking crpg I've played to date. Every section of the game does the pre rendered backgrounds perfect, there isn't an area I couldn't gush about art style wise. Some systems do feel like an improvement over discos (i.e. the new thought cabinet) but my biggest complaint would…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Zero Parades good game
positive · AI labelView post →Just to be clear, I’m not marking this negative because I’m angry at the company or anything. I don’t particularly care about the scandals. And yes, as some other reviews mention, the voices and text don’t always line up, but I don’t particularly care about that either. Basically, this game follows the same pattern as Disco Elysium. Instead of a washed-up, screw-up drunkard cop who can’t seem to do anything right, you’re now a washed-up lesbian communist spy who can’t seem to do anything…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Went in totally blind beyond playing DE, and not liking it so far. The narrator really does not work for me, with strange speech patterns that just make her sound inebriated and try-hard. Then, my character maxes their anxiety score within the first five minutes before I even know what the hell is going on, and I have to go on with a handicap. Not exactly pulling me in. Perhaps I'll play with cheats later and have more fun. Polar opposite to my initial impression of the last game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gamer psychosis is so weird. This was posted under a stream where I was checking out Zero Parades, a game made by some of the Disco Elysium people. He seems to think I was being paid to do so, or that this is hurting Kurvitz and. Rostov. It's not a war, man. It's video games.
neutral · AI labelView post →Tbh the game is awesome, I really like the writing and the world and gameplay so far. What happened to ZAUM is and always will be a travesty but is also a lot more nuanced and gray than we probably imagine it being, regardless of that there is a whole team of artists and developers that created this with a lot of care which have nothing to do with the entire situation, and they deserve the support in my opinion as they are the ones responsible for creating a (subjectively) enjoyable piece of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →They're seriously calling the game "Zero Parades for Fake Radicals"??
neutral · AI labelView post →This is the first game where I thought I made all the right choices and ended up with the worst possible ending. ZA/UM, I love what you've made and will definitely replay the game, but I hate your management.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →hello it’s me with a mildly sprained ankle screaming from the rooftops, ZERO PARADES IS THE TITS!!! THIS GAME HAS THE JUICE!
positive · AI labelView post →Is it as good as Disco Elysium? No. But Zero Parades proves that ZA/UM still has the sauce, despite everything. That is a miracle in and of itself. My video review here: https://youtu.be/Tnv2DzXXl_E
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I finished Zero Parades a few days ago and I’m still buzzing from it, really fantastic game
positive · AI labelView post →Rather a shame that the game is overshadowed by exec fuckery because Zero Parades so far has been the fever dream of a half-feral lesbian spy smash-and-grabbing her way through the story bedecked in stimulants and Christmas lights and it's pretty great.
positive · AI labelView post →The largest problem I have with ZERO PARADES is something that is ultimately revealed to be the main pillar of the game. Where there are seemingly a lot of choices to make in ZP, between your character builds, your choices, your passed and failed skill checks, I actually found that ZP seems to respect your choices slightly less than its predecessor. For a game with a lot of "choices", that kind of hurts. It's difficult to explain this without spoilers, but I'll try to keep it nonspecific: Many…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I won’t talk about the drama, but honestly, the game is incredibly wonderful in a way I couldn't have imagined. thought it would be nothing more than a cheap copy of DE [Disco Elysium], but it completely surprised me. -------------------------- Absolutely obsessed with the 'Dramatic Encounter' mechanic. The tension it builds is unreal, and I really hope other devs start doing stuff like this. One of the downsides is that the character's voice acting isn't quite as strong as in DE. However,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have a theory Operant... My theory is that ZA/UM was hurting for money and released this game before it was completely finished. It reads like a first draft in terms of characters, concepts, voice lines and even gameplay. Something that maybe should've released as an Early Access title but was forced out the door instead where if the game sold really well it could eventually receive a sort of Final Cut type treatment. Not so far fetched given how ZA/UM laid off a bunch of people after the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoyed my time with this game. If you're looking for more Disco Elysium, it's not exactly that, but it sure scratches that itch. -------------------------- The writing is stellar, and so is the voice acting. Whatever "corporate vs. creative" calamity happened in the aftermath of Disco Elysium, it's obvious that there are still talented writers working at ZA/UM. The dialogue and narration are sharp, gripping, compelling, touching and funny. Like DE, it's not afraid to tackle…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For the people that worked on the game(not the suits). All is forgiven. And if you can be moved... why not be?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't really write reviews and I know about the ZA/UM situation, but I felt I had to say something out of respect for all the artists and developers involved in this game. Well done. Disco is very dear to me, and I can safelly say Zero already has a place in my heart as well. Despite any controversies big figures of the studio might have had, I feel the people who gave their all to make this game deserve this recognition. I only see a considerate amount of voice lines to be inserted and/or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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