Disco Elysium Alumni Join Longdue Games for Upcoming Title Hopetown

Developed by Longdue Games, Hopetown is a psychological RPG where the player’s choices supposedly “reshape reality itself.” Shown in their latest trailer, the studio revealed a number of Disco Elysium alumni who are now a part of the team. The trailer ends with a promotion of their Kickstarter campaign. 

Among the alumni was Lenval Brown, the narrator of Disco Elysium who has become an icon for the title.

“It feels good to be back, to step into something new. There’s nothing like giving life to a world, to give shape to a story to be spoken into existence,” he said in the trailer. 

Many members of ZA/UM, the development studio responsible for Disco Elysium, provided direct feedback for the game. Martin Luiga, founding member of ZA/UM Cultural Association and writer of seven characters in Disco Elysium, shared her experiences with Longdue to “help them craft the narrative and systems for Hopetown.”

Piotr Sobolweski, previously team leader of 15 on Disco Elysium, also weighed in his thoughts. 

“I’ve worked in games for years. And every so often one comes along that changes things. It was ambitious, messy, unpredictable, but it worked and we learned a lot,” Sobolweski said in reference to Disco Elysium. 

“Now I’m excited to take everything we learned and push it further in Hopetown.”  

Hopetown will be a game where “words are weapons, and every choice leaves its mark.” The setting takes place in a mining town on the brink of collapse and reinvention – the player plays as a rogue journalist who enjoys uncovering buried truths while exposing fragile system, thereby “unraveling a world shaped by ambition and decay.”

As for its spiritual predecessor, Disco Elysium is a single player RPG that released in 2019. It won Best Independent Game, Fresh Indie Game, Best Narrative, and Best Role-Playing Game during 2019’s Game Awards. The title sold 2.6 million units on Steam.