As promised, on March 17th, London-based studio Longdue, founded by former ZA/UM, Bungie, Rockstar, and Brave At Night employees, launched its Disco Elysium-inspired psychogeographical RPG Hopetown on Kickstarter.
Image source: Longdue
The crowdfunding campaign’s initial goal was just £25,000 ($32,300), so it was reached in less than four hours. At the time of publication, it had raised over £34,000 ($44,400).
Additional goals include:
- £50 thousand. — extended soundtrack from The Witcher composer Paweł Błaszczak;
- £100 thousand – an original story in the game universe from the co-founder of the creative association ZA/UM, Martin Luiga;
- £150 thousand – expansion of the main psychogeographical elements of the game;
- £250 thousand – physical version of the artbook in addition to the digital one for eligible contributors.
Players will take on the role of a cynical and unbalanced journalist – the daughter of one of the richest people on the planet, voiced by Disco Elysium’s skills voice Lenval Brown.
Longdue also brought in Ben Babbitt, known as the co-founder of Cardboard Computer and the composer of its main game, Kentucky Route Zero, to work on the project.
£25k is a small percentage of Hopetown’s budget, which should show Longdue investors demand for the game.
«I will help Longdue expand the team with Estonian and international talent to create something bigger than Disco Elysium 2. We want to push boundaries, not just live up to expectations,” Luiga said.
They promise a journalism-based RPG; emotions, conversations, memories instead of the usual mechanics, a mix of the psychological depth of Disco Elysium with the narrative complexity of Planescape: Torment. The release is expected in December 2028.