Tahseen ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies Review

Zero Parades for dead spies is a game that I have almost 50 hours in but no record of me ever owning it. How odd. Despite what most people say, it is the spiritual sequel to Disco Elysium and will be compared to it. In my opinion, Zero Parades was a slightly better game than Disco, despite Disco having much better art, music and writing. Zero Parades, in my opinion, nails the story aspect and the consequences of player choice. To put it into context; everyone remembers the Disco tribunal, that tense and climactic stand-off, the stress and the pressure you felt and how the choices you made prior affected the situation. Yea, just imagine that being the conclusion of the game and not some commie dementia riddled sniper jacking off into a scope. Despite my love for Disco, it is punctuated with one of my most hated ending to a masterpiece of a game. Zero Parade’s ending had me nostalgic for the tribunal, That exact same tense feeling, high blood pressure moment was an amazing capstone to an enjoyable spy thriller. Zero parades doesn't take as much of a leap as Disco, but by jove does it land firmly on both feet. Zero Parades main protagonist, Hershel Wilk codename “Cascade”, is an amazing and well written character. She is an operant for the communist Operant Bureau and has been sent to the city state of Portofiro on an assignment. The start of the game mirrors Disco, in that you have to stumble your way through the intro, trying to figure out what your mission is. I’m happy to see that its not another case of amnesia, but a spy not given any info and has to piece her objective together without letting anyone find out who she’s working for. The games writing emulates Disco’s, with all the over the top and verbose dialogue, and in some places it does it a bit too much. What Zero Parades does better than Disco is the characters and world building. Portofiro is a living, breathing place, in the middle of a three pronged attack of ideologies, filled with people who encapsulate those ideals. I absolutely love the story of La Luz, how its an allegory for modern day America, how they are peddling their wares into other nation, trying to achieve a cultural victory. They are flooding the Bootleg Bazaar with cheap tat, music and shows to try and influence the portofirans. Then you have the bank, “EMTERR”, who have set up a culture blockade to try and stop the influence of La Luz by blocking the import of goods. Finally. The “Superbloc”, our communist home turf, who are sending spies in to try and destabilise the whole thing. The characters were also another highlight for me, as Cascade, you have to go around and recruit a crew for this mission. I found myself falling in love with these characters and how they interact with us. Some of them have been wronged by us in the past, and we have to make it up to them and learn of our history together, and some are new to us and we get to see a relationship develop. There is no singular “Kim Kitsuragi” that I can bounce off and work with, but these characters that I met, pulled me in and I would put myself in the line of fire to protect them all. Especially K. Would I say this is a better Disco? No, not by a long shot. However, for me it was a much more enjoyable experience. I like the buddy cop story, but I prefer the spy thriller. Zero Parades isn’t miles ahead of disco, but for me, it inches out ahead because of my love for the story, character and world building. I feel for those shafted by ZA/UM, but I also feel for those amazing and talented people still at ZA/UM. I love both games, and will continue to do so, but gun to my head, you told me to choose one, I’m putting Zero Parades on top. "One more stop on the World Apology Tour." 8/10