Disco Elysium is a top-down RPG that leans heavily on dialogue and story-driven sequences. The world of Revachol is full of secrets, and it’s your duty to find out what’s behind them.
The writing is stellar, with a great deal of effort put into ensuring that your actions and decisions will have long-lasting repercussions throughout the game’s storyline. It’s also incredibly thoughtful and provocative, taking issues of ideology, privilege, racism, and class in an incisive and thought-provoking manner that will make you think about the world in new ways after you’ve played through the experience once or twice.
It’s not an easy game to get into, but it’s definitely worth the time and effort if you want to experience a game that will have you thinking for hours on end. It’s a great example of how a game can be a deeply personal experience, and its vastly rich narrative will leave you with plenty to chew on for days, weeks, or even months after you’ve completed the final boss.
A twisted tale of political revolution, Disco Elysium isn’t a game for everyone, but it’s one that will have you questioning the world around you and your place within it. The game’s political depth is complemented by its dark and brutal visual style, which gives the game its unique identity as an immersive detective adventure.
Set in a fictional post-communist era, the story takes place in an impoverished urban district that is designed to “resolve history” after a failed political revolution. It’s a grim place, but it also has plenty of life and character in it, making the game feel very much like an exploration of a bleak, dystopian reality that you can’t help but feel empathy for.
The dialogue in the game is a major point of difference and sets it apart from other games. Unlike many other CRPGs, Disco Elysium uses dice to determine how successful you will be in your quest, with each conversation affecting you in a number of ways depending on the outcome of your roll.
For instance, a high roll could reveal vital information about the murder that will allow you to gain more authority over an NPC (non-player character), or a low roll may damage your morale and cause your main protagonist, Kim, to lose his cool. This system is surprisingly effective, and it allows the characters to interact in a genuinely human way that’s both fascinating and spine-chilling at the same time.
In some instances, multiple personality traits will talk to each other at once as they try to work out what they can do to stop the violence that is unfolding on their watch. It’s a very human thing, and I can’t wait to see what happens next in the story.
As you continue to play, the game will introduce you to a range of other fascinating characters. You’ll encounter people from different backgrounds and walks of life, all of whom will have their own idiosyncratic stories that will affect your own path through the game.
