Ex-ZA/UM developers reveal Red Rooster, an "incendiary RPG" that is very intentionally not trying to be a "Disco Elysium successor" or "Disco-like"
The new studio Summer Eternal, composed of veteran ZA/UM staff including Disco Elysium writer Argo Tuulik, has officially unveiled its first project: Red Rooster. The team is making a conscious effort to move away from being labeled a "Disco Elysium successor" or a "Disco-like," instead pitching an "incendiary RPG" that prioritizes physical interactivity and emergent storytelling.
Set in the tripartite city of Arta-Tantor—a fractalised archipelago steeped in political alternate history and science fiction—Red Rooster follows Redrick Roost, a white-collar inmate turned arson investigator. Partnered with an opiate-dependent mathematician, Roost must investigate a series of fires that appear linked to his brother, the city's fire chief. The game's tagline, "Fight fires to get to the truth of your world. Start fires to get to the truth about yourself," sets a heavy, introspective tone.
Technically, the game aims to bridge the gap between cerebral, worldbuilding-rich RPGs and physics-driven immersive sims. Built on Unreal Engine, Red Rooster will break away from traditional isometric constraints, offering a three-dimensional world with dynamic camera movements. The developers emphasize a "fully physics-driven" environment where players can manipulate and burn objects, aiming to create a reactive playground of physical interactivity and evolving human stories through both scripted and emergent events.
Despite the studio's efforts to distance itself from its predecessor, certain parallels to Disco Elysium remain. The game features a mental space called The Coop, where different versions of Redrick—representing various motivations and personalities—reside, reminiscent of the Thought Cabinet. The team cites inspirations ranging from games like Exanima, Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, and Planescape: Torment to the works of Ted Chiang and John Steinbeck.
Red Rooster is currently nearing the end of pre-production, with an internal playable tech demo already in existence. Summer Eternal is targeting a "double-A production budget," similar to the compact teams behind recent breakout RPGs. Additionally, the studio is promoting a unique membership model: purchasing the Summer Eternal Anthology book allows players to join the Summer Eternal Players non-profit organization, granting them a vote in studio governance and a say in how 5% of the game's future profits are utilized.
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