The Leaked Disco Elysium 2 Trailer Is A Bittersweet Reminder Of What Could Have Been

When the trailer for a Disco Elysium sequel called Locust City leaked yesterday, April 1, I thought it was a joke. Amid the constant deluge of fake dating sims, I believed Disco Elysium YouTuber Jamrock Hobo was playing an elaborate April Fool’s prank by releasing an internal presentation of Locust City – An Elysium Story.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case. If it is an April Fool’s prank, a lot of effort has gone into it. There are new character portraits, accurate recreations of developers’ voices, and so much depth to the 14-minute presentation. Jamrock Hobo wrote that the presentation was sent to him anonymously with a request to upload it to his channel, and after ZA/UM’s acknowledgement of the leak, it seems legit.

Locust City: An Elysium Story

The player finds Wirral in Disco Elysium.

The video has now been removed, which adds further legitimacy to the leak. And it’s got me all hot and bothered. Disco Elysium is one of my favourite games ever and I’d love to dive back into its universe all over again. Besides, I got a lot of positive comments on my last Disco Elysium article telling me to write about the game more, so here we go.

In that very article, I waxed lyrical about Cuno, the foul-mouthed youth you meet in the early stages of the game. Yes, he’s a bit of a wet wipe, but as you play on you find out more about his situation, his relationship with Cunoesse, and how he’s just trying to survive in the messed-up city of Revachol. It’s a heartbreaking tale that recontextualises your earlier encounter, and being nice to him is one decision that I can never change no matter how many playthroughs I start.

Punching Cuno out and he's knocked out on the ground - Disco Elysium

Locust City focuses on Cuno and Cunoesse. He has kept his box of locusts, and projects an entire universe within it so that it acts as Harry’s Thought Cabinet. It’s not what I would have expected from a Disco Elysium sequel, but since when would ZA/UM do anything expected?

The art looks great – everything from the portraits to the trains embody Disco Elysium’s retrofantasy aesthetic – and the early build looks familiar. There’s very little dialogue in the presentation, but I believe that ZA/UM would have nailed the writing, seeing as it was the main draw of the original game. The small snippets we hear in the audio section of the presentation are every bit as evocative and esoteric as Harry’s inner monologue in Disco.

But we’ll never get to see it.

A Shattered Studio

Screenshot of a head exploding from the C4 trailer. — via ZA/UM

The tale of Disco Elysium is a tragic one. The studio practically disbanded after the release of Disco Elysium. Founder Robert Kurvitz was accused of creating a hostile work environment and ousted from the company he created. Others left in his wake. There are countless lawsuits, and no fewer than four studios vying for the title of spiritual successor.

Amid all this chaos, ZA/UM cancelled Project X7, which we now know to be called Locust City. We don’t even know who has the rights to create games in Elysium now. Maybe it’s Kurvitz’s NetEase-backed studio Red Info. Maybe ZA/UM still holds the rights. Whatever the case, the fallout of the past couple of years means that it’s unlikely we see a Disco Elysium sequel any time soon.

Harry and his partner, Kim, are trapped in Ruby's pale latitude compressor, rendered physically incapacitated and vulnerable in Disco Elysium.

It was fascinating to get a look inside ZA/UM’s pitch for a Disco Elysium sequel. It was exciting to see it focus on one of my favourite characters in the original game. It’s excruciating to know that this game was cancelled because of office politics and ownership arguments. It’s devastating to know that all this work was thrown away.

This leak is bittersweet. It’s so rare that we get such an in-depth look at the development process of a cult classic game. But it’s nothing short of heartbreaking to know that we’ll never get to play this game.