As deputy editor Tyler Kolp said the other day, the fate of "Disco Elysium 2" is uncertain, but other games may fill the void. One such game that may fill the disco hole is Sovereign Syndicate, a CRPG set in Victorian-era London. You can tell it's an alternate reality because the menu screen shows a zeppelin. The Minotaur is also a bit of a marker.

The final version of Sovereign Syndicate offers a choice of three player characters, Clara the Corsair, Otto the Automaton, and Atticus the Minotaur, but the current demo is limited to the Minotaur. Atticus Daley, an alcoholic with a naked upper body, is a small-time illusionist and a big-time loser.

The similarities extend to the interface, with dialogue scrolling in the lower right corner of the screen, and abilities like Wit and Spryness each expressing their opinions, each with a stark portrait. One difference is the addition of an external voice called "Crone," which other chat partners will find cohabiting in your skull and resent. My first quest in my journal is to find out who she is and what she is up to.

More pressing matters emerge in the form of a masked stranger waking me up, claiming to have an errand to run, and waiting for me to regain my composure. In this opening scene, I wander the filthy London streets and examine discarded junk. One is a search for a missing orphan; the other is a mysterious "flower killer." From the other trash, he picks up a handy sword cane and some gears and cogs that he might sell later.

The exit from this street is blocked by an electric fence; I can't remember the last time three words fired my imagination so hot, but unfortunately the werewolf containment zone is outside the scope of this demonstration. Instead, we move on to the opium den "Red Lotus," where I am a regular customer.

Here, things could go in a couple of different directions, depending on whether I use illusions to make myself look a little more human or stay in bull form and force a showdown with the bigoted centaur behind the front bar. Attempting to make a skill check, like applying illusions, consumes "nerve". This is not done with dice, but by drawing tarot cards face down and flipping one of them; each of the four suits relates to one of the four abilities, and although the rules are not clearly explained, I was able to work through them just fine.

Choosing a dialogue response or making a decision flagged by an ability earns points for the physical humor (opens in a new tab) linked to each ability. For example, "animal instinct" is yellow bile and "self-discipline" is phlegm. These are equivalent to experience points, and for every 10 you can either increase that ability by 1 point, increase one of the skills associated with it by 3 points, or take a card of the Major Arcana with some special bonus.

One Major Arcana card highlights the lowest numbered face-down card drawn during the skill check, while another adds three points of nerves back for each face-down card turned. This is a tasteful idea, as is a character sheet made to resemble a phrenology test.

The next exchange becomes easier when the corners are well concealed, but replays will try to deal with this bouncer the hard way. The confrontation is shown as comic panels, with each panel showing a separate step, whether it is an attempt at bribery to get out of trouble or striking the opponent in the jaw with the hilt of a cane sword. The black-and-white drawings are another tasteful touch, like old newspaper illustrations or Kevin O'Neill's drawings in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. These blow-by-blow comics are less distracting to the story than other combat systems filled with range penalties and movement modifiers.

The demo of Sovereign Syndicate ends after covering a bit more of the interactions within Red Lilies. The release is supposed to be "Holiday 2024 (open in new tab)". So far there is no way to move the camera, and the ending is rather abrupt. I'm not doing this out of any particular interest in steampunk, and unfortunately I'm not a big fan of "Arcanum," but because I'd like to see more wordy, disco-style CRPGs that focus on story and incorporate unique oddities like "Werewolf Containment Zone". You can try the demo on Steam (opens in a new tab).