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Award-winning game developer ZA/UM today announced its latest video game, the first entirely new title from the studio since the critically acclaimed Disco Elysium which launched in 2019.
ZA/UM
Project C4 is described as a “new mind-warping espionage RPG that blends player introspection, deep character-driven dialogue, and high-stakes encounters steered by dice rolls.”
In the game you play as an Operant. You’re supposed to serve a global power, but your decisions will drastically alter the path you take. The game promises to be psychedelic and abstract, as “it is the mind that takes centre stage in Project C4.
ZA/UM
“More vulnerable and more powerful than the physical world, it can be erased, changed, reordered, and of course significantly altered through regular use of psychoactive substances amongst other means. Players must steel themselves with whatever comfort they can in order to survive the violent canvas of the real.”
The released teaser trailer for Project C4 doesn’t give too much away. While it displays some powerful art direction, we don’t get to see any gameplay, and the abstract imagery could translate into absolutely anything – or nothing – that we might see in-game.
This isn’t the first time the public has become aware of C4, as the project was mentioned to be in development – alongside Project M0 – when it was reported that ZA/UM laid off staff and cancelled a Disco Elysium expansion in 2024. Tellingly, the teaser trailer neglects to name drop any ZA/UM staff working on the game, simply stating “We are ZA/UM. We brought you Disco Elysium.”
ZA/UM
Project C4 has incredibly big shoes to fill. Disco Elysium won all four Game Awards it was nominated for in 2019, and was listed in the top 10 games of the 2010s by Time. The Metacritic score for Disco Elysium: The Final Cut on PC is an incredibly high 97, while the PS5 version – which is the most reviewed platform – sits at an admirable 89. Regardless of the staff that worked on Disco Elysium and Project C4, the two titles will inevitably be compared to one another.