Studio ZA/UM, the creator of Disco Elysium, has launched a Collage Mode that allows players to set up custom scenes with characters from the game. The diorama tool weighs 300 MB and features filters, stickers, magnification and more. It enables players to drag and drop characters, choose locations from the game, adjust weather conditions and even add text. The update also includes “Bonus Secrets to Find” relating to the game’s history and a new voiceover from the narrator Lenval Brown, along with five new Steam achievements. The Collage Mode is available for PC and Mac players, with console players getting access soon. The images created can be saved locally on PCs or in the game for editing later.
However, the ongoing legal dispute between the creators of Disco Elysium and Studio ZA/UM has led to mixed reactions to the update. Last year, a Medium post by Martin Luiga, co-founder and secretary of the “ZA/UM cultural association,” confirmed that disco Elysium’s designers haven’t been working with the company since late 2021. Studio ZA/UM responded by claiming that Disco Elysium “was and still is a collective effort” and that it had “no further comment to make” besides promising a new project from the team. This was followed by an open letter to fans, in which the designers claimed that the new owners of the studio took control through fraud and reiterated that they were ousted from the company. Amidst this, former executive producer Kaur Kender launched his own legal battle, claiming that he too was fired after the new management took over.
Recently, Studio ZA/UM stated that the ongoing legal battle with Kender was resolved, but in a new statement, creatives Robert Kurvitz and Sander Taal dispute a lot of the claims. In the statement, they claim that the new owners of the studio illegally gained a majority stake by misusing ZA/UM’s funds, although the new owners had returned the money. Paying back stolen money, however, does not undo the crime; here, it does not undo the majority that the new owners have gained in ZA/UM.
