Disco Elysium

If you're the type of person to crank your speech up to 100 right away on Fallout, this game is for you.

There are two very common misconceptions about Disco Elysium I keep hearing from different people
1) It is some sort of elitist literature and requires effort to get into.
No it is not! The main inspiration behind Disco Elysium are Twitter and Reddit threads where edge-crazy people are doing bizarre political arguments; reading those is more of a guilty pleasure and a timesink, and in no way it is like reading "Infinite Jest" or something.
But just to be clear, that still does not make the writing less exceptional than it is, it is just the clear goal of Disco Elysium's writing is to entertain you, not to make you feel like you achieved something by finishing a 900 pages novel. And the game 100% nails it.
2) Okay, but isn't it still more of a book or a visual novel than a video game?
Also absolutely not true, I feel sorry for the devs when I hear that. Well, even if it was a true claim, as a linear visual novel the game would still hold up amazingly due to its outstanding quality of writing, but luckily for us all this is is not the case.
Disco Elysium is a unique RPG that astounds you with a non-conventional approach in many regards. Even if you've played every single RPG on the planet, you would still be surprised and pleased seeing how Disco Elysium plays with genre tropes and subverts your expectations.
Trying to use your previous genre experience, like playing too carefully, going over every single dialog line, trying to treat NPCs like they are typical single function video game NPCs - it all results in Disco Elysium mocking and sometimes brutally punishing you in a clever and witty way which makes you laugh instead of making you upset. It really feels like it is the freshest entry in RPG genre made in a very long time - especially in the first 10-15 hours when you haven't figured it out yet (and after 10-15 hours you sort of start seeing behind the curtains, but it is still fun of course, just in a more familiar way).
Really one of the most clever and funny games ever made, can't get it out of my head.

This game has a story better than any book I've read in 5 years.
This game depicts alcoholism and mental illness in such a sad, poetic and interesting way. In many ways it made me reflect on my own battle with alcohol dependence, and work to better my mindset about it. Otherwise, I'll end up a bloated disco cop, obviously (In all seriousness, the writing is hauntingly good. I suspect one of the writers either has, had, or had extensive experiences around alcohol addiction).
This brain made me rethink of the way my brain works. It always felt like it was going haywire constantly, like there were voices yearning to give advice but weren't able to atop the chattering of others. Granted, could be mild schizophrenia, but thinking that my manifestations of my ancient lizard brain, limbic system, electrochemistry/drug disorder, and logic all talk to me in the same room like we're having a meeting at a table. All of them are you, all of you are them. Don't dismay, embrace and work with it.
The roleplaying possibilities in this game are frankly a bit staggering. Whether you want to continue to be a violent, aggressive and drug-fueled detective or one that ponders moralism at his leisure entirely up to you and only you. The game adapts fantastically to your choices as well.
Lastly, in almost every single game ever with a follower, they are despised. I absolutely ADORE AND LOVE the partner you have in this game. Usually I'm wishing that other characters will stop talking so much, with the partner in this game, he not only helps you with the logic of each puzzle you encounter, he is a genuinely interesting character that only opens up and develops as your time and gameplay goes on.
This is just a masterpiece. I bought this and left it in my library for a couple months. The first time I booted it up I played 9 hours straight before I looked up and realized it was dark. Let me repeat that, *the first time I played this game, I was so immediately absorbed and intrigued that the time of day completely switching from the window literally 4 inches above my seat after I was done was a literal shock*.
This is nothing short of an absolute fucking masterpiece. It is criminal not to buy it, enjoy it, and replay it. I haven't even made headway in the game past day 3 because I keep restarting to make a character that fully represents myself irl. I finally got it on the third or fourth try, and the gameplay got *even better*.
You owe it to yourself to add this to your library. Wait for a sale if you are short on cash, it does seem like a bit much for the game at first glance, but I have no doubt in my mind when I say this: I haven't had $40 so well-spent in at least a year if not more.
Bravo, creators, dev team, all of you. This game is beautiful. I will admit there are a minuscule amount of bugs, one of which I noticed was still not resolved after almost a year of updates, but that is my solitary negative input. Play this game.

I think about this game every once in a while, now a month after having completed it. It's a unique RPG, but it's also a deeply emotional experience.
On the outside, the game calls itself "A Detective RPG", but I feel like this is misleading. The story arc is that you do, indeed, play a detective, and you're solving a murder, but this isn't the true story of the game.
The game is actually about a burned-out, middle aged man who destroyed himself and the player has to piece together his identity again from scratch. As such, the RPG aspects of the game are not attributes to things such as "Guns" or "Lockpicking", but rather personality traits like "Savior Faire" or "Empathy" and "Authority." This isn't an RPG of action, but rather an RPG of character. You, the player, decide the fate of the main character of Harrier Du Bois, and the man he becomes in your playthrough. This is the heart and soul of Disco Elysium, and while it is incredibly funny and engaging, I think depending on the story you feel Harry deserves, you'll be astonished at just how beautiful it is.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Easily one of the best RPGs of all time, but also literary gold. This game is on par with some of the best games I’ve played, and also, some of the best books I've read. The game is currently hailed as the spiritual successor to the cult classic, Planescape: Torment, and for good reason, but I would go as far as to say Disco is superior. People tend to compare games like Disco and Planescape to books, and I agree, but Disco embraces it’s own literature much more than its precursor, and diverges in a big way from most RPGs, in deciding to cut the fat by omitting the presence of traditional RPG combat. This is an ambitious idea for a cRPG, and it might be a turn off for some players, but I think it pays off well, because the result of this decision is a breath of fresh air. It stands out as a completely unique and refreshing experience in a genre where the player mowing down thousands of their enemies and proceeding to take their loot is the norm (nothing wrong with those games). That’s not to say the game is devoid of confrontation or violence, because there is plenty of that, it’s just done through text and skill checks, and it’s done really well. If you’ve ever read a book and you get to an intense, heart-pounding moment, and you’re reading as fast as you can, frantically flipping the pages to reach the outcome of a high-stakes situation, you will understand that the lack of traditional “combat” in Disco doesn’t mean the game is a sit back and relax experience, the game is full of tension, and at many points the story will have you sitting on the edge of your seat, hoping that you pass your next skill check, scared, excited, happy or sad, angry or satisfied, but ultimately, engaged.
The effort that was put into the worldbuilding and authenticity of each individual character, but also the authenticity of the player character and his partner, Kim, is where the game is the strongest, and it leads to a sense of immersion I have never felt in a text driven game. Each character is incredibly unique and they all have their own perspective on the world around them. This is the best way to learn about the world of Disco, by listening to the varying opinions of the citizens of Revachol, and it mirrors real life in many ways, because most of the opinions we form are based on people, the opinions they hold, and the things they say, do, or write. You are rarely being hand fed information about the world, to learn about it requires you to ask questions. Every character you meet lies on a broad political spectrum, from far-left, far-right, to the moderate, middling, fence-sitter. What makes this even better is that you can mold your player character to lie anywhere on this spectrum as well. This is an example of choice that most modern RPGs lack, and the result gives complexity to the player character. The player’s skills are also more than meets the eye, and I would also go as far as to categorize the player’s skills as characters. Your skills will constantly talk to you, building lore, arguing with each other, and breaking down complex ideas. This makes it easier to determine who you want your character to be, and however wild the dialogue option might be, it will rarely feel out of place, due to the wild storm of thoughts that rages on inside the mind of the player character. In this way, Disco is different from other RPGs, not with the ludicrous and radical things you have the choice to say, but to think. I’ve seen plenty of crazy dialogue options, but never before have I seen in an RPG a first person perspective into the mind of the player character, while also allowing the freedom to choose what your character thinks. It’s an ambitious step that results in even more depth when it comes to building your character.
For a genre that has its roots in fantasy, Disco is extremely loyal to what makes an RPG an RPG, without submitting to the fantasy genre the way most RPG’s do. I love fantasy, but I think Disco’s world is so refreshing because of how similar it is to our world. Revachol has an incredibly rich and depressing history, and the people that live there are downtrodden and socioeconomically stunted, and it isn’t because a dragon burned their crops and ate their livestock, it's due to a long chain of historical events, paired with the fact that the people in charge of the city want it that way. RPGs rarely tend to hit this close to home, and that's what makes the game so refreshing. Sure, the game can be fantastical at times, but nothing far from the realm of reality. Most of the time, the game chooses to portray a gritty reality, with real life roots, historical and modern, and the game is better off for it.
The story puts you in the shoes of an amnesiac detective, with little knowledge of the world or his past. His story is profoundly interesting and heartbreaking, it will make you contemplate decisions you’ve made in real life, but at the same time, manages to be incredibly funny, uplifting and motivational. The main character’s story, the story of the case, and the story of Revachol are all intertwined into an impressive triple narrative. The case will leave you with your head spinning, it’s very unpredictable, and you will constantly be throwing your predictions out the window until you really enter the mindset of this fictional detective, and only then the case unfolds in an incredibly climactic way. The scale of the case, the twists, turns, and lies, is masterfully done, and attempting to solve it with your crime-bro Kim is one of the most gratifying experiences in gaming. Each side quest is amazing, and crafted with care, so I would recommend doing every single one.
The relationship between the player character and his partner is one of the most compelling relationships in any piece of entertainment that I’ve consumed. It rivals, and even exceeds some of the relationships between the player character and companions in BioWare’s old games (the good ones), which are considered to be the gold standard for companions. The game also gives you the choice of turning your relationship with Kim into a trainwreck, and it’s choices like those that define Disco, in a genre where player choice is being strangled to death by the current trend of RPGs. Don’t expect 100 different endings though, Disco aims to tell a story, and it delivers, it’s mainly the experiences you undergo throughout the journey where choice is the strongest.
The game is quite heavy on the reading side, but if you are intimidated by it you should understand that the way the text is fed to you is incredibly accommodating, and that’s due to the way your skills summarize complex ideas. Digesting a complex political, historical, socioeconomic, or philosophical concept is made easy by your skills, they will break down everything to the point where I believe anyone can play this game and enjoy it, you don’t need to be a part of a book club or own a library card to understand the concepts the game throws at you.
The soundtrack is phenomenal. The melodies you will hear range from melancholic and sorrowful that will immerse you in the world and story, to hardcore bass fueled “nightclub” music that will help you understand the taste in music some characters have, to showdown music pulled straight from a western.
All of these amazing aspects culminate in the best detective-fiction I have ever experienced, some of the best worldbuilding and characters I have ever witnessed, and one of my most memorable adventures in gaming. I think there are too many things this game does well for someone not to enjoy it, and the experience is also very streamlined for a cRPG. I previously said that it’s one of the best RPG’s of all time, but I honestly think the game transcends not only the RPG genre as a whole, but video games as well. Disco Elysium is art, in its purest, most genuine form, and stands as one of the most beautiful and defining experiences of my life.

Disco Elysium is a game about fucking up. You play as a fuck-up, and, naturally, you start fucking things up from your very first minute into the game. Actually, scratch that: you've begun fucking up *before* the game even started: you wake up in a trashed hotel room, with a massive hangover and absolutely no idea how you got there. Or who you are. Or what you do. Or even the most basic concepts of reality, like *money*, or *time*. Yeah, it's not looking pretty for you.
It doesn't take very long for you to remember (or, rather, relearn) that you are a police detective, and that you're working in a murder investigation. You are a drug addict and a drunk, but it turns out you're also a pretty good detective. Your partner, Lieutenant Kim Katsuragi, shows up and you two start detecting right away.
As if having severe retrograde amnesia isn't enough, there's *one more* unusual thing going on with you: you hear voices in your head. All the time. Each skill in this game (like 'Empathy' or 'Perception' or 'Logic') is personified by a voice in your brain, and they talk to you. They can tell you when someone is lying, or what's the model of a particular car, or if something is moving outside your field of vision. Sometimes they openly contradict each other ('Electrochemistry' tells you to drink that bottle of wine in your hand, while 'Volition' urges you not to), which is often pretty hilarious. Throughout the game, you also use these skills in various skill checks. Most of them can be retried if you fail, but some are permanent. And if you fail a skill check... well, you have to deal with the consequences. If you try to convince someone and fail, you say something truly embarrassing. If you try to kick open a door and fail, you hurt yourself. As I said, this is a game about fucking up, and sometimes failing a skill check is infinitely more interesting than passing it.
The amnesiac protagonist is a pretty tired trope, but this game plays it so hilariously that it works. It's a great way to introduce you to the world of Disco Elysium, and my god there's a *lot* to get introduced to. What the fuck is the RCM? Or the Union? Or the Coalition? You're likely to feel as confused as your protagonist in your first few hours into the game, but trust me, it goes away. With enough time you'll be living and breathing in Martinaise, traipsing around its alleys like a natural, looking for clues. This is in no small part thanks to how well the game is written. Seriously, I could gush on and on about the writing. It's funny, weird, poetic, and heartbreaking, but above all, so *unique*, so incredibly original, it looks more like the voice of a single, experienced novelist rather than a team of writers.
Be warned, though: this game is a slow burner. It feels more like reading a novel than anything else I've played in recent memory, which is great! But it can also bore you to tears. Don't be surprised if you don't get hooked immediately. When I first started, I would play it for an hour or two, drop it for like three days, pick it up for another couple of hours, rinse and repeat. I felt like I just couldn't get into it... until I did. Like in any good detective story, the more you learn about the case you're solving, the more you realize the stakes are higher than what they seemed at first. I can't stop thinking about the last few hours of Disco Elysium. It's not even just the ending: the whole last *third* or so of the game is a wild ride. Try your best to avoid spoilers!
If you ever felt like a fuck-up, this game will likely resonate a lot with you. Maybe the specifics are different; maybe, for you, instead of drugs and alcohol, it's eating too much, or spending too much time on social media. Or maybe it *is* drugs and alcohol, in which case the game will probably cut too close to the bone for you. Maybe your fuck-ups aren't as colossal. It doesn't matter: they all share the same self-loathing, self-pitying core, and Disco Elysium speaks to that. But it's not all doom and gloom. To be fair, more than about fucking-up, Disco Elysium is a game about what happens after. It's a game about pulling your shit so tightly-packed together it deforms space-time. Disco Elysium is about picking up the pieces and moving on, even if (especially if) you don't know how to.

Disco Elysium is one of the best games I've ever played. It's an RPG, but it's a very different one, with no combat and heavy focus on skill checks. It's also a detective story, that feels amazing to slowly unravel until you finally solve the case.
If you want to try it, I'll give you three advices:
- Don't look for spoilers, be a real detective.
- Don't metagame or reload if you fail a check, live with the consequences of your choices.
- Don't skip text. If you are tired of reading, stop and play again another day.
While Disco Elysium has some replay value, it's all about the first playthrough. Don't spoil it and enjoy the ride.