Disco Elysium Spin-Off Studio Dark Math Games Renames Their Upcoming Title, Changes Gameplay Elements

By | September 18, 2025 | 11:15am

Games News Tangerine Antarctic

Disco Elysium Spin-Off Studio Dark Math Games Renames Their Upcoming Title, Changes Gameplay Elements

Today, one of the studios born from the complicated reckoning at Studio ZA/UM, Dark Math Games, has renamed its spiritual follow-up to Disco Elysium and pivoted the direction of its gameplay.

Formerly titled XXX NIGHTSHIFT, the London-based studios’ upcoming true detective RPG will now be called Tangerine Antarctic. This announcement comes with a new trailer that presents its dialogue in a way that’s quite reminiscent of Disco Elysium. Similar to how Harry’s thoughts were split between several different personas, like Volition and Encyclopedia, the gameplay trailer for Tangerine Antarctic seems to feature entities called Space, Drive, and Curiosity who chat to the player, and represent different dialogue options. Notably, different entities in the trailer also had full voice acting, something that wasn’t added in Disco Elysium until its Final Cut.

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VGC reports that the founder of Dark Math Games, Timo Albert, explained the game’s name change as follows: “Set at the World’s End ski village at Mount Hope, British Antarctica, Tangerine Antarctic is the name of the in-game hotel, designed by renowned Estonian architect Kaur Stőőr, where most of the game’s action takes place. This is where you are stuck because of the blizzard and must solve the mysterious murders. And Tangerine Antarctic is one of the important characters of this true detective RPG.”

In addition to the new title, the game has pivoted from its previously announced isometric gameplay to a third-person style. Outside of the change in story and setting, this change in perspective seems to be one of the biggest divergences from the team’s former work thus far. No reasons have been shared for this decision.

Dark Math Games is one of several studios that have come from the explosion of Studio ZA/UM following the release of Disco Elysium: The Final Cut. In addition to the 20-person Dark Math Games, about half of which worked on Disco Elysium, another studio called Longdue Games was announced on the same day. Longdue Games, which also contains several ex-Disco Elysium devs, has also said their new game will be a spiritual successor to the critically acclaimed title.

There is also the worker-owned studio Summer Eternal, which is notable both for its explicit anti-capitalist rhetoric and for featuring Studio ZA/UM alumni Argo Tuulik, Olga Moskvina, and Dora Klindžić. And let’s not forget Red Info Ltd., which was created by Disco Elysium game director Robert Kurvitz and art director Aleksander Rostov, both of whom were at the center of Studio ZA/UM’s implosion. This is all on top of Studio ZA/UM itself revealing a teaser trailer for its next game, Zero Parades, at this year’s Gamescom. In other words, the future will likely contain a whole lot more discussion about Disco Elysium and its many successors.