A World in a Box of Locusts and Single-Player Co-op: Details on Disco Elysium’s Cancelled Kuno and Kunu Spin-Off

An internal presentation of Project X7, a cancelled ZA/UM spin-off of Disco Elysium led by writer Argo Tuulik and narrative designer Dora Klindžić, has been leaked to the public.

Image source: ZA / UM

The nearly 15-minute-long video uploaded by blogger Jamrock Hobo on April 1 does not sound like a joke — for example, you can hear Klindžić’s voice in it. As one user summed it up: “It’s not fake, but it will never become reality either.”

According to the presentation, X7 was to be called Locust City – An Elysium Story and would be a “single-player co-op game” starring foul-mouthed troublemakers Kuno and Kuna from Disco Elysium.

The presentation took place nine months before the game’s cancellation, which occurred in February 2024.

Kuno and Kuna would look at the world and perceive it differently. Switching between the characters would be allowed at any time, including dialogues. The protagonists could both act together and conflict (up to killing each other).

They also promised the return of the “thought locker” (ideas arose, among other things, after the interactions between Kuno and Kuna), new and old skills, the ability to combine the heroes’ stats during skill checks, and several (four or five) endings.

As for the title, it is a reference to the box of locusts that Kuno carries around with him. The boy sees it as an imaginary world – it is the hero’s way of coping with reality and the emotions that overwhelm him.

After Locust City – An Elysium Story was cancelled and Tuulik and Klindzic were fired from the studio, they formed the Summer Eternal team. ZA/UM is currently working on the spy RPG Project [C4] and the mobile version of Disco Elysium.