My favorite game of 2026 so far just got a major free expansion — and you don’t even need to own the actual game to play it | Tech Radar

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My favorite game of 2026 so far just got a major free expansion — and you don’t even need to own the actual game to play it

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It adapts the game's setting and mechanics for pen and paper

It also comes with a free premade one shot to help you learn the game

Let’s face it, 2026 — with its component price hikes, sweeping layoffs, cancellations, expensive AAA titles, and Sony’s promise to stop making physical games — has been something of a year of Ls. But one of the few lights in this darkness, and game of the year contender, Zero Parades for Dead Spies just announced brand new content is dropping: it’s a tabletop version of its gameplay, and it’s totally free.

The One Shot comes with everything you need to play your first session including location maps, premade characters, GM materials (to help whoever is running things) and adapted rules that bring the game’s mechanics to life in TTRPG form.

Anyone who has played Zero Parades for Dead Spies or its spiritual predecessor Disco Elysium will have already felt the TTRPG inspired elements — all challenges in the games are already presented as dice rolls.

Just like in Zero Parades the pen and paper game has the same stats and Faculties — Action, Relation, Intellect — which determine how capable your character should be at certain actions, as well as details on how you can exert yourself to increase your odds of success — at the cost of raising your Fatigue, Anxiety, or Delirium respectively.

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You also find items of clothing you can equip to make your stats better (and sometimes also worse), or tools which unlock actions like a camera allowing you to snap photos to use later — or to remember a sick spy moment you just pulled off, the decision is all yours.

As a major fan of both TTRPGs like Dungeons and Dragons and of Zero Parades I had been thinking of adapting the digital gameplay into something pen and paper for my regular playgroup. With this free release I don’t need to do any work at all — though I love there are the resources to create your own adventure and stories if you want to move away form the premade One Shot.

Zero Parades for Dead Spies is everything you’d want from a follow-up to Disco Elysium. It keeps the post-Soviet vibes and aesthetics with a whole new story and setting. The gameplay is very similar too, with a few updates that fine-tune mechanics in a way that feels better and yet utterly familiar.

There’s also that general and gradually growing weirdness that made Disco Elysium so much of a joy to play through.

So many people I know who loved Disco Elysium had no clue Zero Parades is a thing they can play, and the perfect game to scratch the itch Disco Elysium leaves you with.

Plus if you’re reading this article the day it comes out the full Zero Parades for Dead Spies game is 10%-off for everyone, and 20% off for owners of Disco Elysium in the Steam Summer Sale. What are you waiting for? Go and play it!

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Hamish is a Senior Staff Writer for Tech Radar and you’ll see his name appearing on articles across nearly every topic on the site from smart home deals to speaker reviews to graphics card news and everything in between. He uses his broad range of knowledge to help explain the latest gadgets and if they’re a must-buy or a fad fueled by hype. Though his specialty is writing about everything going on in the world of virtual reality and augmented reality.

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News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets
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Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards
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Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards