ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies is an upcoming spy game, created by ZA/UM an independent team. The game will release May 21st, ahead of its release, the team has dropped a new “The Friends You Left to Die” trailer to expand on game characters.
ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies follows the perspective of “Hershel Wilk,” a spy undertaking a “mysterious assignment,” per its Steam about page. The game’s Steam description notes “From the creators of Disco Elysium comes ZERO PARADES – an espionage RPG. You’re a brilliant but tormented operant on one final desperate assignment. Gather your broken network, untangle a web of lies, and prove yourself on the world stage – or blow it all up again.”
The Trailer today expands more on Hershel’s Lore as it explores “the faces Hershel left behind five years ago” who got “blown to pieces,” and potential new characters for Hershel’s team, in Steam’s latest news announcement. The trailer starts almost poetically with Hershel being led by gunpoint, him pulling a gun out, Hershel strapped to a chair being electrocuted in water, and him backing away. The ZA/UM’ logo pops up and the trailer continues. A picture of presumably his old crew sits on a table, next to a cigarette, a close up view of the picture fills the trailer as it burns into a black page. Through “OPERANT DOSSIER’s” the six characters Hershel knew or were a part of his old “SICK CREW” are explored, those are Eszti Newitz, Ramses Molloy, Karolina Hayato, HOLOCENE, Vespar Sondo and Tempo del Sur.
Each character has a different “CRYPTONYM”, “AGE”, “SPECIALTY” and “REMARKS.” With varying affection and dislike to Hershel, as well as different motives and some unknown names, his colleagues bring up a lot of questions. Especially as some scenes with Karolina and HOLOCENE allude to hidden torture. The last few minutes show some of the game play, as through clicking choices, the story unveils, and notes on what’s happening appears. The trailer even showcases glimpses of a “TASKS” menu, each card seems to contain a single task and multiple “SUBTASKS” for players to undertake. The trailer ends with a bright red target on Hershel’s body, and an ending pictorial that notes that ZERO PARADES: For Dead Spies is available to Wishlist and will be on Steam, Epic Games Store and GOG.com.