The post-Disco Elysium world we live in is… complicated. Following the release of one of the biggest and most acclaimed RPGs to come along in years, developer ZA/UM imploded, and left its wake are splinters of the shell, each claiming they’re making a Disco Elysium “spiritual successor” and putting in some real effort to discredit everyone else.
It’s a mess alright, but one person who’s having none of it is Samantha Béart, best known for their portrayal of Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3. That performance has apparently attracted the attention of at least some of the people working on Disco Elysium follow-up projects, but sadly for them Béart said they’re not interested unless the project meets one very specific requirement.
“To the next studio that tries this: if your ‘spiritual successor’ to Disco Elysium does not involve creator Robert Kurvitz, then save both of us some time and miss me with that casting call,” Béart wrote on X (via GamesRadar).
Béart didn’t share specifics on which of the known Disco Elysium successor projects made overtures, but it seems clear that at least one of them did. And with good reason: Karlach is one of Baldur’s Gate 3’s most beloved characters (and number one in our hearts), and Béart earned a BAFTA nomination for the role in the Best Performer in a Leading Role category. The name recognition alone would be a real boost for any ZA/UM wannabe looking to break through the noise.
The good news for people who’d like to see a Béart/Kurvitz crossover happen (which is to say, pretty much every RPG fan everywhere) is that it could. Kurvitz, the lead writer and designer of Disco Elysium, has launched a new studio called Red Info along with artist Aleksander Rostov and writer Helen Hindpere. It’s not clear what they’re working on just yet, though: As of October 2024, Red Info had filed a copyright claim for something called Corinthians, but was also still battling with what’s left of ZA/UM over the rights to Disco Elysium.