The 47-second announcement trailer for Disco Elysium’s upcoming Android release has familiar scenes from the original game zoomed in to fit within a phone screen. Text that normally sits in a panel on the right side of the screen has been moved to the center, and skill checks look like they’ll involve actually rolling a pair of dice. All of this seems like the sort of thing anyone would do for a mobile port of a narrative-focused detective game, but developer ZA/UM says it’s actually for TikTok users.
“We intend to captivate the TikTok user with quick hits of compelling story, art, and audio, ultimately creating an all new, deeply engaging form of entertainment,” ZA/UM head Denis Havel said in a news release (via IGN).
This “re-imagination” of Disco Elysium will feature 360-degree scenes to pan around in, and voice acting that is new compared to what was already in The Final Cut. Narrative lead Chris Priestman called the mobile version “what audiobooks wish they were,” and said it’s designed to be played in short bursts.
These are bold comments for what seems like a well-made smartphone port, but not a port designed exclusively for TikTok users. Everyone can appreciate zoomed-in scenes and swipe-able dialogue, even if they haven’t grown up scrolling through vertical videos.
Balatro’s mobile port kept the original game pretty intact and doesn’t let you play it in portrait mode, but Disco Elysium’s port looks locked to portrait mode. That’s probably why so much of it had to be reworked. I’m just not sure that makes it uniquely appealing to you if you like using TikTok. But maybe there’s more to it that will only become clear when it releases this summer.
ZA/UM announced on Tuesday that it’s working on a new game currently titled C4 that promises to have a lot of the rich dialogue and characters you’d expect from the studio. According to a PC Gamer report, it’s not set in the Disco Elysium universe. It also won’t involve many of the names behind Disco Elysium, including game director Robert Kurvitz, art director Aleksander Rostov, and writer Helen Hindpere, who all confirmed that they left the studio in 2022.
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