The long-awaited sequel to Disco Elysium has finally been unveiled through a major leak, and it’s a tough one to swallow. While the game is officially cancelled, the thought of what could have been stings.
The Project X7 internally, or more officially known as Locust City – An Elysium Story, was quietly canceled months ago.
But thanks to a YouTuber by the name of Jamrock Hobo, an internal presentation from the team at ZA/UM has surfaced online. It reveals just how far along the project was and how ambitious it could have been.
Even with the game's world filled with philosophy, grime, and emotional depth, Locust City raised the stakes even more.
The sequel makes a bold change by putting players in control of Cuno and Cunoesse, the troubled kids who left a lasting impact in the first game.
Following the tragic murder of Cuno's father, the story would have shown the two attempting to leave their environment by catching a train south out of Jamrock.
The setup stands out because the game plans to explore childhood trauma, survival, and fractured relationships from the inside, not the outside.
The leaked presentation outlined how the story would have changed based on the player's decisions, with the potential for a rift between the two protagonists. One could even end up killing the other.
That’s the level of narrative risk the developers were playing with. The mechanics were designed to reflect the tension and cooperation between the two leads.
During exploration, dialogue, and inventory use, players could swap between Cuno and Cunoesse at will. Both had unique builds, perspectives, and interpretations of the world around them.
There were also situations with cooperative skill checks where both characters could combine abilities to overcome a challenge.
It was an evolution of Disco Elysium’s core systems that gave the player more agency without sacrificing narrative cohesion.
One especially creative feature was Cuno’s “Box of Locusts”—a physical item he carried that acted as a kind of metaphorical mirror of his thoughts.
He could picture a civilization of locusts inside, with their behavior changing as the story's emotions and psychology developed.
The most shocking part of the leak is just how developed the project had become before it was scrapped.
The internal video presentation goes through a complete vertical slice of Act 2, showing early animations, character art, sound design, and UI systems for skills, character switching, and inventory management.
ZA/UM also added sound cues that changed depending on the character you controlled, with slight differences in how the environment felt.
Each protagonist had their own narration voice for their thoughts and skills, kind of like Disco Elysium, but way more complex.
Custom rigging tools and animation pipelines were even built from scratch using Blender, pointing to a studio that wasn’t cutting corners. Even with Project X7's creative momentum, the studio was falling apart behind the scenes.
The Disco Elysium team splintered after years of legal struggles, staff departures, and disputes over creative direction. By the time the project wrapped up, most of the team members had either moved on or were forced out.
This leak is a blow because it's not just the sequel fans lost; it’s the world they were looking forward to returning to, built by artists who still had more stories in mind.
Many in the community have expressed heartbreak, especially those who found depth in how the original game handled pain, politics, and identity.
The leak came out in April, and people thought it might be a prank. But with fully narrated sections, concept art, game systems, and dozens of internal notes, this was far too elaborate to be anything but real.
It's rare to see this kind of raw insight into a canceled game, particularly one so tied to an established universe.
But now that it’s out there, it’s hard not to imagine the possibilities. Locust City wasn’t going to be a repeat of Disco Elysium.
It was something stranger, more intimate, and arguably more daring. This sequel’s version had so much potential.