Disco Elysium

DO NOT PAY FOR THIS GAME! It has been STOLEN from its original creators by the evil corporate owner ZA/UM, who is the publisher here on Steam!
While I highly recommend this game, obtain it from anywhere else except official means. I bought it while it was on sale, but even then, I now regret giving even a cent to this disgusting company who has screwed over the creatives who worked so hard on Disco Elysium.
Disco Elysium is a genuine work of art, one which you can tell was lovingly and thoughtfully developed. It is one of the very few video games out there that has made me cry multiple times mid-playthrough. It is profound, somber, and wickedly funny all at once. I cannot recall another game, other than a few moments from the original Metal Gear Solid trilogy, that has managed to make me belly-laugh after crying, and vice versa.
A sense of melancholy permeates through every moment, soaking into your bones like the early spring shivers this game is so fond of describing. Disco Elysium is a spiritual experience as well as an intellectual and emotional one. I cannot praise the original developers, writers, artists, and musicians highly enough. The prose is gorgeous, and the artwork is breathtaking. And needless to say, the experience of this game wouldn't be complete without Sea Power's incredible soundtrack.
Which is why the fact that this masterpiece was stolen from its original creators is all the more harrowing. A tragic irony that such an anti-capitalist game ended up becoming yet another victim of an evil capitalist scheme. The age of disco is no more, but I still hope they can win their legal battle.

I have 2 reasons why you should not buy this game:
One, it was stolen from the original creators. The only people receiving credit through the purchase of this game are corporate gluttons. Pirate it or experience it through play-throughs. If you must buy it through steam, do not pay full price for it.
Two, this game will grab you by the ribs you and rattle you down to your very core. I have yet to escape the clutches of this story, this world, this SOUNDTRACK, and Mr Kim Pinball Kitsuragi. I have yet to find another game that breaks down and alters my soul the way Disco Elysium has. If you are currently satisfied with your life aspirations and your mental landscape, do not get within 12 feet of that 'Add to Cart' button. This is not an exaggeration by any means. My love for Disco Elysium extends into my very bones.

Right, I need to warn you about Disco Elysium because honestly, playing it is like losing your virginity - afterwards, everything else is just a bit... disappointing. And I'm not being dramatic here. Well, I am, but I'm also right.
You're a detective. You've got a murder to solve. Simple enough, yeah? Except you wake up in a trashed hotel room with no memory, no trousers, and a horrifying realization that you've clearly been on a bender so legendary that scientists should study it. Your first interaction is with your own necktie. Your necktie gives you life advice. And the advice is terrible. This is the energy we're working with.
And I don't mean in a "oh, my character is conflicted" way. I mean your Ancient Reptilian Brain is literally having arguments with your Electrochemistry about whether you should do more drugs while your Inland Empire is off having fever dreams about a hole in reality. It's like being trapped in a pub with 24 versions of yourself, and they're all either philosophical geniuses or absolute idiots. Sometimes both.
The dialogue options are insane. At one point, I tried to convince a kid I was a superstar cop from the future. Another time, I told someone I wanted to be a hobo-communist. The game let me do both. With consequences. Beautiful, hilarious consequences. You can literally die from checking your mailbox if your stats are bad enough. You can die from sitting in an uncomfortable chair. The game does not care about your feelings.
And the skill checks! Oh mate, the skill checks. Most games: "Roll to pick the lock." Disco Elysium: "Your 'Shivers', which is apparently the city talking to you because you're basically a psychic now, wants you to know that 200 years ago, a woman stood in this exact spot and felt really sad. Also, you've just had a panic attack. Roll for emotional damage."
But here's the absolute stroke of genius - when you fail these checks, the game doesn't just reload. No, no. Failure is content. Some of the funniest, most memorable moments come from completely ballsing things up. I tried to kick down a door and had a heart attack. Best moment in gaming. Genuinely.
Every skill is fully voiced. Every. Single. One. Your necktie talks to you. Your physical instrument has opinions about fitness. It's completely mental, and yet it all makes perfect sense within the game's logic.
And just when you think it's all absurdist comedy, the game gut-punches you with this genuinely profound stuff about failure, masculinity, political ideology, and what it means to keep going when you've lost everything. It's like if Monty Python wrote Crime and Punishment after a three-day ketamine binge, but somehow it's the most emotionally intelligent thing you've ever played.
Now, here's where it gets messy. The actual creators, the people who made this extraordinary thing, got shafted by corporate suits at ZA/UM. Proper shafted. Now some of the lawsuits got dropped or settled, yeah, but don't let that fool you into thinking everyone's having champagne and hugs. The core creative team? Still not back. The rift between them and current management? Deep as the Mariana Trench. So while I'm sitting here telling you this is one of the best games ever made, I also can't in good conscience tell you to buy it, because that money's going to the people who nicked it from the artists who actually created it.
So... you know. Use your imagination about how you might experience it.
Bottom line: 10/10. Disco Elysium is a proper work of art. It's funny, it's heartbreaking, it's weird, and it understands that life isn't about fixing everything - it's about figuring out what you can live with.

First off: The corpos running ZA/UM, the studio that made this game, have basically gotten rid of half the driving creative forces behind this game and our now just holding the rights hostage. So if there was ever a reason to sail the seven seas or check out dubious keysellers, this is it. No money you spend on this game will reach the people who actually deserve it. Do with this information what you want.

On the positive side the devs that left are starting new studios that you might want to check out if you enjoyed this game and want more like it.
Those studios are named Longdue, Dark Math Games and Summer Eternal


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10/10

This game is an absolute masterpiece, the worldbuilding and the characters are just so good. 95% of what you do in this game is dialogue and i was never bored by it. Every character in this game is addicting to talk to, be they good or evil.

I find myself coming back here sometimes when I feel like sh!t, so I strongly advise you to try it if you're going through a difficult period, the game has power to make it easier. Without exception, I would recommend it to everyone. It's written with remarkable depth, thoughtfulness, and beauty. If you haven't played this before, you absolutely must try it.
This is one of the best video games ever made.
FYI, if you buy it on Steam, your money ends up with the people who ripped off the devs.

this game is amazing it sucks that its always these damn corpos za/um have to ruin games by firing the original writers of the game or through shady stuff johnny silverhand was right to hate on them corpos.

Best written game I have ever played, and more subjectively, probably the best written piece of fiction I ever encountered. That being said;
Play this, but don't buy it. The original devs have been pushed out of the studio by greedy investors, barring the original team from continuing dignified work on the IP they poured blood, sweat & tears into.