Within minutes of playing the Steam Next Fest demo for Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, I'm having an anxiety attack while on the phone and having to choose a stat to permanently lower. As is true in real life. The difference between me and Cascade, the disgraced espionage agent who's come out of retirement to star in ZA/UM's RPG follow-up to the legendary Disco Elysium, is that it's a reasonable reaction to having your secret mission blow up in your face before it's even begun. Just two hours in, Zero Parades is feeling like a worthy successor, and I'm feeling a little foolish for ever doubting it could be.
Arriving in Portofiro for the first time in many years, your meeting with new operant partner Pseudopod goes awry when you find him catatonic in your so-called safehouse. Ordered to burn the mission and flee, doing so would scupper your chance to complete one more mission and earn glory, respect, redemption, or simply the feeling that the mission that went so wrong you were put on ice in the first place was worth something after all. Quite what you chase and why is up to you, but one thing is clear in this hefty two hour demo – you're not going to run away again (and you can check out our Steam Next Fest guide for more on how to play for yourself).
