Hopetown, the newest spiritual successor to Disco Elysium, has exceeded its Kickstarter funding target within hours. Created by independent game developer Longdue, whose staff includes former ZA/UM developers, the game is a word-based RPG adventure in which words shape reality.
A New Successor to Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium in 2019 is the ever-ranked RPG because it is an amazing story and has open roleplaying freedom. Then, the internal conflict within ZA/UM had a few of its most important developers leave the firm. Nowadays, there are other teams developing their own respective spiritual successors, and Hopetown is becoming one of them that is anticipated eagerly.
Longdue kicked off its Kickstarter campaign in earnest, raising $32,338 (£25,000) to start with. The project had already received over $44,000 in pledges from 725 backers in a matter of hours, which suggests that the community is friendly.
What is Hopetown About?
In Hopetown, the player is the reporter, exploring a mining town in various modes of journalism—Conspiracy, Investigative, Gossip, and Gonzo—to build the world. Hopetown’s “psychogeography” system, which is unique, makes the player’s choices influence not just characters but the world as well.
Key Features:
- Rich RPG dialogue with rich player-created storytelling
- Several styles of journalism affecting gameplay
- ZA/UM Cultural Movement creator Martin Luiga and Disco Elysium narrator Lenval Brown are attached to development
Competitors to Disco Elysium
While Hopetown is scooping up most of the waves, it seems to be the sole direct continuation of Disco Elysium in development. Some of the others are:
- XXX Nightshift by Dark Math Games
- Red Info’s still-untitled game
- C4, a spy RPG by ZA/UM
All of these games are attempting to carry the spirit of Disco Elysium in one way or another, but Hopetown’s emphasis on storytelling and reality-bending dialogue distinguishes it.
With its debut funding, Hopetown will be one of the most eagerly awaited narrative RPGs to be released. Whether it will reach the level of Disco Elysium remains to be seen.
