Zero Parades: For Dead Spies reviews arrive
Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, ZA/UM's new spy RPG released May 21, 2026, has drawn early reviews praising its sharp writing, memorable characters, and intricate spy-thriller plotting. Critics repeatedly compare the game to Disco Elysium, calling Zero Parades a worthy spiritual successor that captures ZA/UM's expressive dialogue but does not displace Disco Elysium as the studio's signature work. Reviewers highlight protagonist Cascade's moral dilemmas, the game's layered interrogation sequences, and meaningful choice-driven consequences as standout strengths. This matters because Zero Parades tests whether ZA/UM can expand beyond its landmark title into a distinct, narrative-rich direction for RPGs.
Hey, uh... if you're writing a review about a game by a studio that fucked its dev team over and has a LOT of core fans upset about it, maybe don't handwave that and snark about said fans. You're gonna get people angry at you, instead of, you know... the studio that overtly fucked over the OG devs.
Matt Caulder (They/He)30what an incredible way to be a shit to literally every person involved, regardless of their opinion
Patricia Baxter21It’s one thing to be snarky, but to be dismissive of the workplace abuse and overall mistreatment of the people who actually made the game, some of who are financially struggling, is extremely unprofessional and borderline cruel.
Angel14yeah do not know why i am supposed to give any grace for a stuido that fucked over its original team and destroyed a leftist art collective where i had to see a key member ask for donations so they dont freeze to death in the winter and can eat food and have a roof over their head
Jess Matthews (Personal Account)12what the FUCK, how did an editor approve that
consultthebones.bsky.social7I mean they seem pretty proud of what they wrote and they seem to be getting a lot of praise from their peers. Maybe its just shit all the way down and they all suck.
George J. Horvath4Also, what's with the jab at chihuahuas? What did that type of dog do the writer to justify catching strays like that?
Ankle Megami Tensei2This is less important but I think they might not know what "single-celled" means
I count Disco Elysium and Mechanicus amongst my favourite games of all time, and it is astonishing to me that in 2 days time, on the 21st of May, we're getting followups to both with Mechanicus 2 and Zero Parades For Dead Spies, the latter I'm rather apprehensive about, but I am hoping for the best.
Casey Explosion95By the way, if anyone's in the understandable position of not wanting to play the new Zaum, might I suggest giving Esoteric Ebb a look? It's fantasy Disco Elysium, and very damn good so far.
Arraxis Denacia - VTuber16I don't think I can touch the latter given how the DE creators got fucked over.
Adam Makey11Shame I won't buy another game from Za/Um unless something drastic happens. Same with Brigador 2.
Erik The GameDev2Which one of the games is actually made by the people who made the original DE, I can't keep track of what's happening
Felgraf2Wait MECHANICUS 2 COMES OUT IN TWO DAYS? WHAT?
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...
Moonlight Breeze272Grotesque headline and studio blurb in the article. Come on, yall. In an industry plagued by industry job losses that impact real people, you should be more professional.
Jefferson!210I genuinely have no idea what the comment about leftists is supposed to mean. Like... What are they claiming Disco Elysium did to leftists?
Katana Squirrel - Martinville Prologue AVAILABLE NOW!!!!140I'm not surprised that a writer who felt Alan Wake had "overbearing writing," would also say something like this. I'm far more surprised that this quote ever made it past an editor.
Kris Wolfheart122gaming publications are truly incapable of even pretending to have principles lmao
piruca do fucsi. 🧙🏾♂️116"The second game from Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM" "a new incarnation of the ZA/UM creative team after the extremely normal and uncontroversial Disco Elysium" didnt expect much of a Eurogamer review, but this goes beyond a shallow, superficial analysis, its simple misleading, untrue
VƎX Werewolf86Hey Alexis I get that leftist-baiting is the flavour du jour for washed-up hacks with no writing talent but what is this even supposed to mean
Astral-Enby74Genuinely embarrassing thing to write and stinks of such elitism to write off how much staff were fucked over by management!
Punchy59hey maybe get the thundering dipshit who wrote this to give that first paragraph another try so it sounds less like something that would be posted on 4chan?
Nick53I'm not an editor, but it seems like if you're gonna make mention of the hostile ousting of the previous game's creative leads and the transfer of control of ZA/UM to a London based venture capital firm, saying that anyone who cared about that is an unreasonable loser is a bad look. Just a thought.
🐦⬛®AV☰N🏴☠️🌌48Earned a mute for whatever the hell that first paragraph is.
Michel Temer's Bizarre Adventures47Interesting how the ZA/UM-shaped elephant in the room is a mass hallucination that turns "leftists into rabid chihuahuas" but when it's about Microsoft and BDS the reviewer has a license to act like a troglodyte and publicly call out reviewers (for doing more than you bothered to do):
Gim46"From Disco Elysium studio", along with that passage in the review, gives an immensely rancid vibe Shame on you
🦬 AudeS 🏳️🌈🔞 Bonus Bonasus36Okay, so will ZA/UM fuck the developing team over here too?
Lexical Lushes27there's a typo in your post, i'm pretty sure you meant to say "the hollowed-out husk of the studio ZA/UM, which was stolen from its founders"
Adrian Dogpenis23what the fuck is a single-celled chihuahua?
Rekka💫 [Lv. 2500 Item World NPC]22Me: we need to defend human creators in this age of soulless AI sloppa Game journalists: im gonna make that position really hard to stick to somehow, watch this;
Jimmy's Hell Cousin18Hey dawg who wrote this and why does the first paragraph read like something from /pol/
redstormpopcorn18this is actually the *first* game from the corporate parasite wearing ZA/UM's skin and the notably talented artists it has hired.
Karmic Grace Θ∆ 🔞16Absolutely horrendous reporting and disgusting commentary. Complete lack of awareness about the actual circumstances of ZA/UM Go f*ck yourselves
Emmy16Man fuck you for this
Socks the Plushy ✡️16I would also like to request an expanding for what the fuck that sentence about leftists is even supposed to mean I'm not offended or insulted, I'm confused lmao
Kaw! 🍉15Shit article. DE was good because it was unapologetically leftist and the creators got fucked over for it. If you liked it but feel a snide sense of superiority over leftists, one wonders if you understood the game (and what happened to ZA/UM since, and why it matters) at all.
the unraveling of pupthegirl14this review sucks shit big dog
Skirting The Issues (He/Him)14this sucks, you suck, and you should take a step back and literally fuck your own face.
revolverdivider.bsky.social13This is one of the most pathetic limp dicked coward posts I’ve ever seen.
Bill Paxton in Twister12Oh cool you let Brexiters review games now, ass-in-the-wind and all!
Gim12That social media intern is working overtime spamming "Hide reply for everyone" under any valid criticism of your dogshit opening statement Why write inflammatory statements if you can't take the heat?
sumprunkaren.bsky.social12Was Eurogamer ever good or was I just young and dumb?
Oh god, oh fuck. My skeets are public!?11> The second game from Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM No, the fuck, it isn't. ZA/UM died after Disco Elysium. This is some puppet studio by the Estonian Investor that fucked over Robert Kurvitz and won't give him his baby of 40 years/IP back and
THE ULTIMATE GAMING WIZARD OF GAMELANDIA 🧙♂️🪄 (half-hiatus)11didn't the guy who made Disco Elysium literally go homeless after having the project taken from him
Death Before Detransition11go back to 4chan you fucking weirdos
bird > /dev/null 🌱11i know liberal "journalists" are nothing more than stenographers for capital but at least they normally know how to write a coherent sentence, what exactly is "turning into rabid, single-celled chihuahuas" supposed to mean?
IcyRose 🏳️⚧️10I had genuinely forgotten about what happened with ZAUM, so I feel well equipped to say that you come off as a resentful weirdo who gets genuinely very angry at people for reminding you about things that happen in the industry you write for.
Takel, Twelve Birds in a Trenchcoat9just so you're aware, the problem with trying to suck up to the Gamergate chuds by aiming your bad journalistic writing at their preferred target is that it's still bad writing
Ryukage8A review with rage bait isn't a review. It's just rage bait.
Skrunko8Hey you got a fucking problem?
Krysta, New Rock Nuker 👢7Utter drivel honestly, not mentioning the malpractice on Za/Um's part wrt Disco Elysium
Daemon (but lowpoly)72025 Eurogamer gave 4/10 to Arc Raiders for AI assets. 2026 Eurogamer wrote this. Im not sure what changed here lol
Snerpman7"This fractured world is my oyster, to grip and smash open on my belly like a problematic communist otter." What a stupid analogy and shot at Communism. The otter uses a rock. A tool. It doesn't just beat its tummy with the oyster till it opens. At least include the rock and call it Communism.
Saturn🪐- Kit's Canon Husband7Wanna try that one again?
Dulce Caffè ΘΔ7Way to incinerate bridges in a single sentence lmao
shadg6Disgusting. Alexis Ong should be ashamed, along with whoever else was responsible for this article going live.
work from home bodyguard6issuing a correction on a previous review of mine, regarding the litigious, anti-worker game developer ZA/UM. you do not, under any circumstances "gotta hand it to em"
Broke B. Eccentric, NZ/NVTG6I hope this gets you all the hate clicks you wanted. Your CEO should be afraid to go outside.
Corgi Hammersmith5Whomever wrote that article, here’s some sign language for you.
Dandy G🍌4I found the one graf that wasn't written by AI
JoshTheGY4sell outs with no beliefs to the core. You people are the enemy of the medium you act like you care about
zealot4it has to be about consumerism u really have to have the deep dark spirit of spending if ur still buying it after za/um murdered its founders for an estonian moneyman
Lesbian Vulcan4Same reviewer that only gave Alan Wake 2 a 3 btw
Sasha3Yeah, this "article" is cringe. It doesn't approach the subject in good faith, and can not be given constructive criticism.
Rer3Nah I don't need to click the shitty ragebait article about a game from a now shitty ragebait owner.
Lyrica3Imagine posting this to social media thinking it's something to be proud of. Dude, we want articles about games not political rage baiting
quinn3I think they should fire the person that wrote this, it's that bad
0megabyte.bsky.social2We need a movement that’s actually about enforcing ethics in game journalism.
big fat iGor2you are an embarrassment to any self respecting writer cause what the actual fuck is even this
Cryptic in QA2I see the repurposed ashes of this studio's brand has found their target audience. Oyoyoy. Speaking of consumerism though, skip!
Here is my review of Zero Parades: For Dead Spies. In this case, I'll let the words do the talking.
Hana no Maude6Definitely on my radar & already wishlisted thanks to recent experiences with Esoteric Ebb and revisiting Disco. Another reviewer I trust cited even more technical issues though so will be waiting and watching to see how it goes with updates, especially on Deck 🫡
Zack Burrows2Great review! I still haven’t played Disco Elysium (I know it’s not required for this) but damn, these games sound like something I would get a lot out of.
Something I've thought about more and more with reviews - especially considering all the RPGs I do (Zero Parades is in this), is how I wish I could sit with games longer. So often the review writing is done directly after cramming a game to hit embargo - and I don't want it that way.
Hayes Madsen5I've been more willing to push back writing a review, when I can, because you simply need time to sit with things. Crimson Desert for example, I beat and didn't start writing until five days later, and luckily I had the time to do that
Josh Broadwell31,000% correct. I had a couple of days to sit with Expedition 33 and it made such a huge difference in how I approached the review (for the better, I think)
Alex Donaldson2The thing I always emphasize to PRs is because of how I write/score I always err low, and giving me more time to let your game settle in this aspect can only increase its score. Whereas sometimes I have heard it said that the pressure of short timelines can be a score positive, heh
James Tocchio2There’s strong data to support that publishing a review a week or two after the game comes out is good for everyone, but what do I know.
