In my four hours with Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, I’ve used my entire weight to pull a vending machine over and crush myself, had phone sex with someone known only as “the Duchess” in the middle of the street, and accidentally creeped on two teenage girls because I failed a skill check, much to my dismay. I’ve also had a hallucinogenic episode while listening to a seemingly blank record, worked as a bar-back at an old haunt, and threatened to pry a teenager’s tooth out to stop a back-alley doctor — who had threatened to hang himself while masturbating — from following through.
That’s the sort of game Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, the latest game from ZA/UM and spiritual successor to Disco Elysium, is. It isn’t afraid to be completely balls-to-the-wall ridiculous, over the top, and at times, a little concerning. In a good way, though — in a way that feels refreshing, because even though there is plenty of creativity in the video game industry, Zero Parades takes it to such extremes that it makes everything else in my overflowing Steam library feel stale.
You are Hershel Wilk, aka Cascade, a spy who has been running away from a terrible mistake for the last five years. In your first mission back in the game, you’re in the city of Portofiro, where, from the very get-go, things have gone to shit. Your double — an operant known only as Pseudopod — is in a catatonic state in your shared apartment. Your handler wants to pull you from the job, lest you succumb to the same fate. And to make matters worse, you don’t even know what your assignment actually is.
Zero Parades doesn’t require quick reflexes, though, as combat, at least in the typical sense, is non-existent. This is a game about reading, listening, and understanding the eccentric characters you’ll meet, and exploring every nook and cranny of the meticulously crafted world. It’s an evolution of the point-and-click genre, with fewer literal puzzles and more dialogical conundrums.
Disco Elysium was quite abstract in its presentation, and while it’s rightfully considered to be one of the all-time RPG greats, it’s also quite intellectually demanding. It wasn’t afraid to present its themes and ideas in a way that really made you think, and at times, left you confused. Zero Parades has moments like this, but so far, it’s been less highly intellectual philosophical debate, more bloke you’ve just met at a house party at 4 a.m. talking your ear off about the state of existence while offering some of his shrooms.
That isn’t to say ZA/UM’s second game is worse off for this slightly less intellectual approach, though; far from it. There’s enough of that if you hunt for it, especially when it comes to Cascade’s internally narrated monologue and her conditioned thoughts. That’s a specific mechanic that offers stat boosts while also shaping the ideologies you want Cascade to follow. However, the fact Zero Parades is slightly less intellectual across the board means it’s also much more approachable.
It’s also a little more gamified. Disco Elysium felt like a gripping, albeit dense, choose-your-own adventure novel portrayed as a video game. This time, the video game elements feel more natural. Skill checks, whether active or passive, happen more frequently. If you’re opting to roll the dice, you can also choose the option to “exert.” This increases your chances of success, at the cost of increasing one of three negative stat bars: fatigue, anxiety, or delirium. Early on, while still learning how these work, I made Cascade so anxious that she took a permanent debuff to one of her other stats. Relatable, in a way.
Upon finishing Disco Elysium, I was rocked. It sat with me for weeks. Other games felt empty. But at the start, it took a while for me to fully embrace it, because it felt so unlike games I’d played before. This time, Zero Parades has me hook, line, and sinker from the get-go. I cannot wait to see what the city of Portofiro and all its wild, wacky, and wonderful characters have to show me. The sense of mystery has me intrigued, because, so far, this has all the makings of a storytelling masterpiece.
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