Disco Elysium and Dead Cells collide in a gorgeous new CRPG that's my quickest wishlist yet

You're a hungover detective trying to solve a particularly stubborn case. Sound familiar? I'm not talking about Disco Elysium, this is Witchmarsh Tea Party of the Damned. While the game doesn't ape Disco Elysium in every sense, its branching dialogue and headache-suffering protagonist certainly tick some Harry du Bois' drug-addled boxes. Now confirmed to be releasing in early access next year, I'm looking forward to trying out this unique, lost Dead Cells-esque spin on the detective genre.

Disco Elysium is a personal favorite game of mine and a constant presence on our list of the best RPGs, so if Witchmarsh Tea Party of the Damned comes anywhere close to capturing that ZA/UM magic, I'll be impressed. However, I may have misattributed that hangover I mentioned earlier. Witchmarsh's detective hasn't spent the night drinking, singing karaoke, and trashing his room; instead he's been cursed by a band of warlocks in 1920s Boston. Because of course he has.

This is where Witchmarsh diverges from those Disco Elysium influences. There's magic in this world, proper DnD style spellcasters. And it's not presented in Alexander Rostov's iconic painterly style that so many self-professed Disco spiritual successors have tried and failed to recreate. Instead, there's Dead Cells-type pixel art, which is compounded by the side-scrolling nature of this RPG.

Combat is played out in real-time, but you can pause to give orders to your party a lá Dragon Age: Origins. Sorry if there are more recent examples, I just love Dragon Age: Origins. The two-dimensional nature of Witchmarsh present interesting combat challenges, however, and the pixel art environments range from scenes straight out of a gangster movie to walking under the huge spines of long-dead gargants.

Then, of course, you have the music. Witchmarsh promises a jazz soundtrack befitting its '20s setting, so expect wild saxophone solos and the occasional improvised melody as you attempt to crack the case.

With playtests for Kickstarter backers going well so far, the three developers at Inglenook feel confident to announce a 2026 release date. Whether that's January or December is as yet unclear, but I wouldn't anticipate it too soon, or they'd have probably announced something more specific. The devs have made it clear there's a fifth playtest on the way before early access anyway, so keep your eyes peeled for more news after that.

Witchmarsh Tea Party of the Damned will release in 2026. You can wishlist it on Steam here.

I've compared Witchmarsh to countless games over the course of this article, but I hope it's like none of them. For those of us who missed the Kickstarter, we can only guess at how it plays at present. There's a Disco Elysium rhythm and a Dead Cells bassline, but if Witchmarsh is to become a truly great CRPG, it needs to dance to the syncopated beat of its own snare and improvise a dazzling trumpet solo over the top.