Pick up the pieces of your broken network, untangle a bloody web of intrigue at the End of History, and prove yourself on the big stage or blow it all up – again.

Brilliant, burnt-out, possibly cursed – you play as operant Hershel Wilk, alias CASCADE. Five years ago you led your team into the abyss and have been haunted by your failures ever since. Now you've been recalled for a mysterious assignment that may give you a chance to prove yourself again.

Find yourself thrown into a three-way struggle for cultural and ideological power, played out across an unforgettable new city. In ZERO PARADES, the world itself is a character with its own secrets, traumas, and miracles for you to discover.

To get anywhere in this world, you'll need friends. Unfortunately, you don't have any. Instead, you'll go up against international bankers, foreign techno-fascists, psychic doppelgängers, a paranoid TV presenter, a man with a box for a heart, and dozens more. Everyone you meet has their own agendas, beliefs, and secrets for you to uncover and turn to your own ends.

In this line of work you're going to fail *way* more often than you succeed. That much is expected of you. What matters is how you pick yourself back up. As an operant, your dice are in the hand of fate. If they don't go your way (and they won't), you'll have to improvise and hope the consequences are ones you can live with.

Disco Elysium creators ZA/UM Studio pulled back the curtain on the ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies Showcase - a 25 minute spotlight packed full of new trailers, a gameplay deep dive, a brand-new Ultra Violeta music video, a fashion collection from ZA/UM Atelier and a pen & paper one-shot adventure immersing you in the lore of Portofiro’s history.

Developer Gameplay Deep-Dive

The crown jewel of the ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies Showcase is a 11 minute long  gameplay deep-dive. Hosted by VO Director Jim Ashilevi and narrated by Lead Producer Ruudu Ulas, Tech Art Lead Nicolas Pirot, and Principal Writer Siim “Kosmos” Sinamäe, the deep-dive tells you everything there is to know about ZERO PARADES and Portofiro.

The team walks you through what it means to be an operant and introduces the characters and factions of ZERO PARADES. They demonstrate how a single assignment can unfold in wildly different directions based on your preferred methods of spying.

“Each spy archetype opens up very different approaches to playing. The same assignment can unfold in completely unexpected, unique ways,” explains Nicolas Pirot, Tech Art Lead at ZA/UM. “ZERO PARADES is an evolution to the mechanics of Disco Elysium and offers you a lot more possibilities to handle any given situation.”

Ultra Violeta’s Music Video ‘Cover the Moon’

The showcase opened with a psychedelic music video from the in-game hyperstar Ultra Violeta. ‘Cover the Moon’ was written and recorded entirely by ZA/UM’s own in-house creatives: Composed by Fernando Cabrera and performed by Ella Norte.

“In the game, Luzian pop music is weaponized to take over the world. This music video is our way of letting Ultra Violeta shine in full spy-pop colours. The genre was always there, waiting to exist – it just needed the right voice.” explains Audio Director Rubén Rincón.

ZERO PARADES Exclusive Fashion Drop by ZA/UM Atelier

Shift identities with unique apparel inspired by the playful aesthetics of ZERO PARADES, launching May 21, 2026. Every single piece is made with love and handcrafted for a high-grade finish. Adorn your new flair to attract watchful eyes or blend in with a fashionable crowd. This is your chance.

Pen & Paper One-Shot Adventure

To close things out, the voice cast teased a special 2.5+ hour pen & paper one-shot adventure written by ZA/UM’s narrative team. The campaign is played by the game’s voice actors and you can watch the recording here on Steam:

Game Master: Boo Miller (narrator of ZERO PARADES)

Player Characters:

• Lenval Brown (voice of Slava, the Ex-Pilot and famously the narrator of Disco Elysium)
• Aavy Suárez (voice of Ultra Violeta)
• Jonathan West (voice of HOLOCENE with multiple roles in Disco Elysium)
• Isabel Salazar (voice of Melita)

Set in Portofiro’s past, the pen & paper adventure is a self-contained story fans can play at home when the adventure is released on zeroparades.com soon.

Play Together With Your Twitch Audience

Last but not least, ZA/UM announced the return of a beloved fan feature on Twitch: ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies will launch on day 1 with a Twitch Extension. Once players have activated the ZERO PARADES Companion and connected their Twitch account from the game settings, their Twitch audience can overlay all the current stats and character information through an overlay that shows the Dossier, Inventory, Journal, Conditioning and the Map.

The Twitch Extension also activates a button to poll viewers on which dialogue options to choose or which journal entries to follow next. The vote happens in the overlay and results are shown directly in the dialogue window with live updates. It’s democracy at play!

“We give streamers a game about making careful, deliberate decisions in the world of espionage. Then we hand the control over to the internet. What could go wrong?,” says Principal Writer Siim “Kosmos” Sinamäe. “And of course, just like in a real democracy, the person holding the power can choose if they act upon the popular vote or not.”

Fans can try the ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies Twitch Extension during a live stream weekend on May 15/16/17 when the first streamers start playing the game on Twitch.

Key Features:

• Become an Anti-Icon: Play as Hershel - brilliant, relentless, magnetic… and cursed. A former top operant whose touch turns everything to ash. She is as dangerous to her enemies as she is to her friends. 
• Espionage Reinvented: Descend into a world of bootleg mind-erasure, failed space programmes, and state-sponsored pop stars. This is espionage stripped of glamour - no parades, no happy endings - at least probably not for you.
• Failing Forward: In the life of an operant, failure is inevitable. Here, it’s another way forward - every misstep opens doors that success would run swiftly by.  
• A Story-Rich Espionage RPG: From the studio which brought you Disco Elysium. Blending the psychological depth of a spy novel with surrealist undertones and richly drawn characters. 
• A Question of Identity: Who are you when no one is watching? Or, at least, when you *think* no one is? In ZERO PARADES, the answer will define much more than just the assignment. Cope with the terror of reality by giving up parts of yourself and try not to lose your mind in the process.

Zero Parades: For Dead Spies is coming to PC (Steam/Epic Games Store/GOG) on May 21, 2026 at $39.99, followed by PS5 later in 2026.