Reviewing this game on it's own merits comes with a big asterisk because of the drama that went down after the release of the studio's last game, Disco Elysium. Following the release of that game, investors took control of Za/um and several of the game's leads were pushed out of the company. With lead writer Robert Kurvitz and lead artist Aleksander Rostov alleging that the acquisition was made illegally using money taken from the studio's own funds. Money which did not belong to it's majority shareholders. A lot of things happened after this. Some people left, a lot of other people got fired.

A game development and publishing company being bought out by investors is quite common in this industry. That does not mean the creators deserve to lose control of their company or especially the Disco Elysium IP, but there's been a lot of misunderstanding and hyberbole around this topic and a lot of hate directed towards the developers still at Za/um whose major crime was working somewhere and then their boss got fired. I wish Rostov Kurvitz and the other creators hadn't been fired and I hope Kurvitz is someday able to regain control of the Disco Elysium IP if nothing else.

That said, Za/um remains and many of the people who worked on Disco Elysium remain at Za/um. They made a new game and it's very good. While it could be debated if Zero Parades manages to reach the heights of its predecessor or not, it's ability to exist as a companion piece to Disco Elysium makes it more interesting to me. That's probably why I spent over 60 hrs in this game. I played this game on my desk, in my bed, even during commutes and while waiting on friends at diners. And I thought about it all the time I didn't.

Zero Parades : For Dead Spies is a compelling story with interesting mechanical evolution for the genre and a fresh outlook on things. A positively bleak outlook but an outlook nonetheless. The premise of Zero Parades is what sold me most on this game. On surface, it looks like a grand spy adventure with weird technologies, different ideological factions and wacky characters. Except the game exhibits this depressive nihilism and more the numb kind than the fun kind. The world of Zero Parades is very interesting and mysterious and kind of surrealist. But overall it's mostly just broken and full of broken people. A lot of these characters aren't huge personalities as the game is more interested in concepts than people. As is Cascade, the game's protagonist. Cascade is the chief broken character in a way that feels a little silly and obvious to begin with, but then just keeps on pushing the world's buttons and absorbing people on a journey. The world is layered with a lot of things that are and aren't real, really delving into letting conspiratorial thoughts stew until you're not actually sure what's a real thing someone can do in this universe and what's just obvious mental illness.

Zero Parades is NOT a vapid surface level attempt to recreate what worked in Disco Elysium.
There's a broken little soul to Zero Parades and I love it! It's a Disco like inactive dissociation where the political talk watches over everything and honestly matters less than just the oppression of reality. It makes this fun dichotomy of spy action and just real moral abhorrence.

Cascade, the game's protagonist is not a good person. The game really makes you have to fight for any brief light in this world. I think that's what I found to be most compelling thing about this game. Zero Parades is great at making things feel like an uphill struggle without being insurmountable. There are plenty of roadblocks and mysteries that surround you, and people just want to keep answers from you. But you can push through anyway, just a cost. While the game is mostly paced very well, the actual end of the game does sort itself out rather abruptly. I think this fits into the feeling of Zero Parades rather nicely though. Do what you can with what you have, and then deal with the facts that sometimes there aren't any satisfying answers. After all, it's there in the game's title :- There are ZERO PARADES FOR DEAD SPIES.

Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.

Is this game a masterpiece? Yes, probably, despite the drama around the development studio. Puzzle your way through a gripping spy thriller. Don't lose your mind, don't drink yourself to death, and don't get yourself shot—because after the disaster of your last mission, you won't get another chance in your career as a spy. It uses the same game engine, but most of the creative minds behind Disco Elysium are no longer working at ZA/UM. Following the release of Disco Elysium, a major dispute erupted between investors and the studio's creative leadership, resulting in many of the key developers moving on to other projects. At first glance, however, you would never notice. The visual style and especially the bleak, depressive atmosphere strongly evoke Disco Elysium. While I didn't accidentally get so drunk in the opening minutes that I hanged myself from a ceiling fan with my tie, alcohol can still become a serious problem in the game if you're not careful.

The game begins with character creation. You play as the spy Hershel, codenamed Cascade, and can initially shape her attributes. These statistics have a significant impact on how the story unfolds. You must first decide whether Hershel is physically powerful but intellectually limited, or highly intelligent but physically weak. You can then further refine the build by distributing three additional points as you see fit. These choices do not alter Hershel's appearance, but the game offers a wide variety of clothing items that influence how your character looks.

The world is entirely fictional. The story takes place in the city-state of Portofiro, a dystopian society filled with authoritarian politics, conspiracy theories, disappearances, and banned products. It feels somewhat reminiscent of a Cold War-era communist state where wealthier foreign nations are portrayed as enemies. At first glance, it looks like a traditional point-and-click adventure, but it is very much an RPG. Using the same engine as Disco Elysium, the game presents an isometric world that you explore by clicking on hotspots. Whether you're speaking to people or examining objects, interactions generally lead to dialogue options and choices presented in a multiple-choice format.

There is an important difference from traditional adventure games, however. You cannot simply exhaust every dialogue option one by one. Your decisions have consequences, and those consequences may vary from playthrough to playthrough. Success is sometimes determined by skill checks and dice rolls, while your character's current condition and previous actions heavily influence the outcomes. This is not a classic adventure game with a single predetermined solution. It is a role-playing game where multiple outcomes are possible and where the route to your objective can take many different forms. As a result, the complexity is significantly greater than in a traditional point-and-click adventure.

You won't find combat systems like those seen in AD&D-inspired RPGs or Japanese RPGs. The game frequently performs passive skill checks automatically. When these checks succeed, you often gain extra information or unlock new options. You may notice subtle details during a conversation, pick up clues that others overlook, or benefit from specialized knowledge that reveals information otherwise hidden from view. The game also tracks money, the passage of time, experience points, and three particularly important character statistics: Fatigue, Fear, Delusions. Did I mention that this might not be the ideal game for people struggling with depression? The atmosphere is relentlessly bleak, and Hershel's internal commentary can be extremely dark. Depending on your choices and mental state, the experience can become emotionally intense. Almost every action affects one or more of these three core attributes. In turn, they influence both the actions available to you and your chances of success. Like a traditional RPG, you have: an inventory, an automatically generated city map, a journal that records important information and discoveries

The story is complex and deeply layered. You play Hershel, a burned-out intelligence operative who has been reactivated after a lengthy absence. Her previous mission ended in disaster, and her new assignment in Portofiro immediately goes wrong as well. When she meets her local contact, she finds him severely traumatized. Sitting in nothing but his underwear, staring blankly into space, he is incapable of holding a coherent conversation. After hearing this report, Hershel's handler back home immediately orders the mission aborted and recalls her. She refuses. Instead, she begins investigating what happened to her partner. Who did he meet? What was he working on? What went wrong? As Hershel explores the city and retraces her colleague's final days, she encounters a cast of strange and memorable characters. One man has been waiting for a tram for an entire week because he believes it is the only way out of the city. A merchant's father vanished after speaking the wrong words into a public payphone. Former colleagues reappear. And gradually, Hershel uncovers a conspiracy with consequences that extend far beyond Portofiro itself.

Conclusion:
Portofiro is a large city packed with hidden locations, inaccessible corners, and mysterious inhabitants. To truly enjoy the game, you need to be willing to explore it thoroughly. The game contains enormous amounts of text, intricate branching conversations, and a lengthy, well-written narrative. In fact, it contains many stories, as every corner of the city seems to reveal a new mystery. Many of the game's numerous conversations are fully voiced, while others remain text-only. The RPG systems are deep and highly reactive, ensuring that no two playthroughs unfold exactly the same way. Can it live up to the brilliance of Disco Elysium? I believe it can. Even though different writers were responsible for the story, the game captures so much of what made Disco Elysium special that fans of that masterpiece will immediately feel at home.

I had a good time with this game overall the first few hours really hooked me with the spy atmosphere and I just wanted to see where the story was going, It definitely has flaws but I still enjoyed it

What I Liked
The spy atmosphere is great and pulls you in right away and the UI music world and characters are all pretty fantastic and the character writing is easily the best part of the game. I ended up caring about most of the cast and the side quests were actually really fun instead of feeling like filler. I also liked exploring the different locations because each area had its own vibe and the game does a good job building mystery which always gave me a reason to keep playing

What I Didn't Like
The gameplay is just okay and there isn't much variety. The dialogue can go on for way too long sometimes and the time system gets really annoying when you have to wait for a mission at night but can't just skip the time. The map and quests are also way too vague so its really easy to get lost because the game doesn't always tell you enough. I also got tired of constantly changing clothes just to pass skill checks there are so many outfits that it starts taking forever to find the one you need and after a while it just became tedious

overall I'm glad I played it. It's not perfect but it does a lot of things really well and I don't regret the time I spent with it 7.7/10