As the inimitable V.I. Lenin once said, “There are decades where nothing happens, and days when way too many Disco Elysium spiritual successors get announced.” Well, we’ve got one more studio of former Disco devs laying their cards on the table, but Summer Eternal is actually telling us who’s involved: Heavy hitters from the development of the original game setting up an ambitious, crowd-funded artist’s collective. The members announced so far include:
Argo Tuulik, writer on Disco Elysium as well as its canceled sequel and expansionOlga Moskvina, writer on Disco ElysiumLenval Brown, narrator on The Final CutDora Klindžić, writer on Disco’s canceled expansionAnastasia Ivanova, former ZA/UM concept artistMichael Oswell, former ZA/UM graphic designer
That makes for a contrast with today’s other announced Disco successor studios, Longdue and Dark Math, which largely have not disclosed which former developers from ZA/UM are part of the team. Summer Eternal is also distinguishing itself via messaging and structure: This is a self described artist collective with a manifesto.
“Our art has been dressed down into an industry,” reads Summer Eternal’s home page. “And this industry has been pilfered by corrupt executives, by the vulgar profiteering of corporate bodies moving like leviathans in the dark, burning human fuel in their insatiable lust for money.”
Summer Eternal continues: “All art is communication—dialogue across time, space, and thought. In its rawest, it is one’s mind’s ability to provoke emotion in another. Large language models—simulacra, cold comfort, real-doll pocket pussy, cyberspace freezer of an abandoned im-chat—which are today passed off for ‘Artificial Intelligence,’ will never be able to offer a dialogue with the vision of another human being.”
In other words, this is that real shit, and in order to “push back against big tech encroachment on the territory of our art,” Summer Eternal is seeking to build “a cultural megaproject, a role-playing game with complexity and ambition worthy to rival our wretched and wonderful world.”
If today’s other announcements of studio Longdue and Dark Brain’s XXX Nightshift felt like business as usual, Summer Eternal feels like falling through an open manhole into near-freezing water on a sweltering day. This declaration is bracing, unexpected, but not entirely new—it gives me the same feeling of excitement I had when I first played Disco and learned about ZA/UM’s lofty ambitions. That lightning strike, mad soul inspiration and the demonstrated talent of its named developers make Summer Eternal a studio to watch.
To that end, you can follow Summer Eternal on Twitter or Instagram, and also subscribe to its newsletter—the studio quips that “We’ll try to only send you content written by BAFTA-winning writers.” Summer Eternal has indicated that it will be beginning a crowdfunding campaign soon.
