Red Rooster, the studio behind Disco Elysium, will be "a blazing, physics-based RPG" in which you play a prisoner, an opioid-addled mathematician, and a bus driver.

Setting the World on Fire

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"Red Rooster is an incendiary, physics-based RPG that combines the best of cerebral, rich world-building RPGs with the genetics of immersive, physics-based sims. You star as Redrick Rooster, a white-collar inmate who plays an arson investigator, working with an associate investigator of mine. A fire that seems to all connect to his brother, the town's fire chief." Via Red Rooster website.

After ZA/UM's Disco Elysium studio split, many of its developers – who essentially put together one of the best RPGs of all time – split off into different studios, a move that's both a huge shame and to the passionate whims of ZA/UM's passionate team.

You can check out a full write-up on who these studios are and what they're making, courtesy of our resident rift expert Ted Litchfield, but today we're going to focus on Summer Eternal. This particular studio features Argo Tuulik, one of the writers of Disco Elysium, as well as Lenval Brown, who did most of the game's narration.

It also seems to be the one branch that has kept its revolutionary spirit the most intact - and you can feel the energy being held like an exciting Promethean fire on the site floor for Red Rooster, the first video game that was finally announced.

As mentioned above, Red Rooster seems to be moving away from the predominantly visual novel stylings of Disco Elysium and into the realm of immersive physics-based sims, which by convention has me, PC Gamer writer, shaking in my seat like an overexcited puppy.

Especially given the esoteric nature of its design: while clearly trying to differentiate itself from disco, it has many distinct characteristics. "Political alternate history setting with a strong sci-fi undercurrent" would describe both games.

However, surrealist elements appear. You'll play Redrick Rust, a prisoner turned arson investigator, and instead of Kim Kitsuragi, you'll have "an opiate-addicted mathematician, Dr. Astrid Albers, and a nunchaku truth activist, regional bus driver, Rico." God, we are so damned back

The main point of divergence—aside from the emphasis on 3D physics, which was inspired by "Larian's Divinity Engine and Dark Messiah of Power and Magic"—is in its tone and subject matter. The site clearly states that "This is not the end of history, but the 'beginning of the future' in the tripartite city of Artha-Tantor."

This "end of history" line is like an indirect reference to Disco Elysium and its philosophical underpinnings. Based on - the nihilistic representation of the end point of social evolution, which (as people versed in this sort of thing have suggested) is presented in Disco Elysium by the pale and oppressive pressure of Moralintern. To quote directly from the game:

"Centrism is not change—not even gradual change. It is control. Over yourself and the world. Practice it. Look up at the sky, at the dark shapes of coalition airships hanging there. Ask yourself: Is there anything sinister about moralism? And then answer: No. God is in his heaven. All is normal on earth."

Essentially, in drawing this line, Summer Eternal seems to be making it clear that its new setting will be decidedly more alive. More optimistic? maybe not The protagonist has a dark collection of alter-egos in a psychological "chicken piece" and the game takes place in the hottest summer ever. But even looking at the artwork, there's less emphasis on the slow, heartbreaking decay and more emphasis on the conflagrations of psychedelic revolution. Needless to say, I am very, very excited.

Experiential RPG maker Summer Eternal: "We're giving you players 5% of our studio" to "fix the trust broken in this industry a thousand times over"

"If you're designing an RPG, you have to go back to the source," notes post-apocalyptic RPG Entropy from Fallout and an old abandoned Warhammer spin-off.

No Law may not have been the open world Deus Ex in Cyberpunk 2077

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Harvey's gaming history began when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription at the age of 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a strong interest in G'raha Tia. He started his career as a freelancer and wrote for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine and of course PC Gamer. He sinks his teeth into anything that sounds interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, ghosts, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and the odd indie title. He also plays a TTRPG rack in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favorite system is, he has too many.

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