First look at Disco Elysium "spiritual successor" Hopetown shows a painterly, gorgeous, and utterly unconvincing RPG

Longdue Games person shared the archetypal gameplay representation from Hopetown, their RPG "spiritual successor" to Disco Elysium, coming soon to Kickstarter.

First namelessly teased past October arsenic portion of The Great Disco Thrupening, past revealed past month, Hopetown was described arsenic "merging the earthy affectional extent and intelligence intricacy of Disco Elysium with the philosophical richness and communicative complexity of Planescape: Torment."

At the time, I hoped this code and tenor of trying excessively hard was conscionable property merchandise guff. No specified luck, if the penning shown disconnected beneath is immoderate indication.

Image credit: Longdue

But let's archetypal backmost up a moment, due to the fact that it does look great. So large I'm having immoderate trouble believing this is what the crippled looks like, alternatively than conscionable being conception art. It's stunning. The purple and yellowish palette. The painterly style, brushed but crisp with detail.

Then you commencement reading. "Let maine present myself," says your quality to a saccharine aged woman feeding pigeons. "I don't crap successful my ain drinking h2o - though I spot that's not a deal-breaker".

In Disco Elysium, your quality could find a leather overgarment with "Fuck The World" written connected the back. If you tried hard enough, you could adjacent person your spouse Kim to deterioration a complimentary overgarment that work "Pissf****t". Someone astatine Longdue evidently thought those jackets were a bully baseline for quality development.

Admittedly, I'm viewing this dialog done eyes pre-exhausted by Longdue's statement of your quality arsenic "a chaotic, self-destructive provocateur who sees humanity arsenic inherently selfish and cruel" and "unapologetically cynical and dangerously unhinged". Disco Elysium was often self-satisfied, show-offish, and overly slick. But it wasn't ever, you know, Nathan Barley connected the bus.

The pigeon woman offers your quality a loaf of bread. You've got 3 responses to that, 1 of which is categorised "Noblesse N'oblige". I similar that name. The dialog itself is "I'd alternatively lick the bin [knock the breadstuff from her hands]" - a jejune and obliviously mean-spirited mentation of wherefore the chaotic cringe drama options successful Disco were truthful overmuch fun.

Your "Gonzo" enactment is: "Yeah, provender the masses! So fto it beryllium done. EAT UP, SKY RATS! (Take the bread)". You ever spot a condemnation that reads similar idiosyncratic wrote the exclamation points archetypal and worked backwards from there? The attempts astatine understated doctrine consciousness conscionable arsenic unconvincing: "They springiness the filth connected the crushed a warring accidental to interaction the sky. That's admirable".

I don't expect oregon adjacent particularly privation a c transcript of Disco Elysium from Hopetown, but if you're going to piggyback disconnected the imaginativeness of radical that person allegedly had their enactment stolen from them, seemingly justified by the sole publication of a lone systems decorator from an outsourced workplace (who I'm definite is fantabulous astatine their occupation and apt had nary accidental successful the "spiritual successor" selling angle), I deliberation you should astir apt marque a much convincing effort to amended recognize the tone you're succeeding.

Still, bloody gorgeous art. And, look, I'm evidently cherrypicking lines retired of discourse from a azygous screenshot. I'd beryllium precise blessed to beryllium devour crow for doubting pigeons here. If not, there's ever 2 others anyway.