Disco Elysium was a groundbreaking game, so remarkable that it sparked the emergence of several studios eager to capture its aura of prestige. One such newcomer, Longdue Games, has recently teased its latest project, Hopetown, with just a single screenshot and a catchy bit of advertising on March 6. Surprisingly—or perhaps not—Hopetown bears an uncanny resemblance to Disco Elysium in both appearance and concept.
The game, according to its Kickstarter page, promises a captivating experience: “In Hopetown, words are your weapons, and every decision carves its path,” it states. Players find themselves in a mining town on the brink of transformation, stepping into the shoes of a renegade journalist. This protagonist is a chaotic figure, driven by chaos and curiosity, seeking hidden truths and exposing the fragile systems around them. The game invites players to explore these dynamics—will they disrupt as a daring journalist, weave mysteries as a conspiracist, or unveil harsh realities as a meticulous investigator?
Longdue, however, remains tight-lipped about which members of the original Disco Elysium team are part of this new venture. So far, the spotlight is on Piotr Sobolewski, an engineer who, on his LinkedIn profile, proudly claims to be the “co-creator of the highest-rated PC game of all time according to Metacritic,” referring to Disco Elysium, of course.
Interestingly, the credits for Disco Elysium mention Sobolewski as contributing to “additional development” within a 15-member outsourced team, The Knights of U. Labeling himself a “co-creator” might be stretching it a bit, especially when juxtaposed with the efforts of notable contributors like writers Robert Kurvitz, Helen Hindpere, and designer Aleksander Rostov, who are widely credited with the game’s brilliance.
Sobolewski also holds a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence and contracts with OpenAI. Yet, there’s no clear indication from the Kickstarter how, or even if, Longdue plans to integrate AI technology into the creation of Hopetown, given its recent controversies.
In observing Hopetown, it appears that while the game borrows heavily from Disco Elysium’s essence, it lacks the involvement of the key creative minds that initially brought the game to life. It also seems to exaggerate some team members’ contributions to the original title. Meanwhile, a different game in the works, XXX Nightshift from Dark Math Games—headed by Disco Elysium producer Kaur Kender—seems to be carving its own path forward. With what’s currently unveiled about Hopetown, it’s hard not to be a bit skeptical and curious about what’s truly in store.
