A breath of fresh air – “Disco Elysium” – game review

Detective with a hangover

Have you ever had a huge hangover, after which you started to question the meaning of existence, and each activity gave the impression of the toughest challenge in your life so far? If the answer is “yes”, then you will find yourself perfectly in the skin of the main character, who – in order not to reveal too much – I will call the Detective. We find him in a dilapidated hotel room. But his problems did not end there, as a huge hangover caused him to retrograde amnesia. With such images, he greets the Disco Elysium player. We slowly collect new information about the world and learn about the Detective’s past. The game offers two main plot threads that closely overlap. One of them is the murder case, in the other one we are trying to reconstruct the hero’s past. This is the most interesting element of the game, because it only depends on us what kind of person we will be during our journey.

RPG without a fight?

When starting your adventure in the world of Disco Elysium,  you need to be aware that we will mainly talk during the game. The companions of the conversation, however, will be not only the NPCs, but also the characters from dreams, drunken delusions and … ourselves. The game contains huge tracts of text that you have to wade through. The exchanges of views themselves often raise unpleasant and difficult topics, which is why they can be mentally exhausting. If you don’t like reading much while gaming, Disco Elysium it is not a game for you. Additionally, every aspect of a Detective’s personality has its own voice and opinions. Therefore, they are constantly able to interfere in ongoing conversations, telling us how to behave. Despite the fact that logic suggests otherwise, the solutions suggested by the voices in the hero’s head are a tempting alternative. There is a clash between the beliefs of the character and the player trying to direct the conversation so that it achieves the intended result. Every sentence you say matters, and in extreme cases, the options you choose can lead to the hero’s death.

Retrofuturyzm

The presentation of history in Disco Elysium it is based on the arduous process of finding out the truth. The plot offers a few surprises and side plots that allow you to break away from the investigation. We move around the retro-futuristic world, getting to know its socio-political structures, its culture and technologies, trying to find out why this is what it looks like. Skills that help the Detective navigate the world fall into four categories, each with six aspects for more specific actions and abilities. I think it includes all possible actions that a player might want to take during the game. Additionally, during conversation and exploration, we unlock the so-called reflections, which are the hero’s thoughts on various topics that can be assigned to special slots. Occasionally a confrontation may occur in the game. The fight is shown in a narrative manner with several options to choose from, and its end depends on our skills.

Pictures and sounds 

The graphics in Disco Elysium  also deserve the greatest praise. We will see beautiful, painted backgrounds that give the impression of moving inside pictures full of various details. Music perfectly builds the mood, while evoking a feeling of nostalgia. It is also incredible that in such a large and complex game I did not come across even a single error.

Summary 

Disco Elysium  turned out to be the best RPG game I have had contact with in many years. The gameplay mechanics based on conversations and the slow discovery of the truth about the investigation and the character of the Detective are the best element of the game. The world we will present is very detailed, it is hard to find any shortcomings in it. However, not everyone will be able to get to the end, because the game has a huge amount of text, in addition written in a difficult language. Despite this, I think that every fan of good stories and expanded worlds should experience Disco Elysium . It is a complete title, and it takes a long time to discover all its secrets. In today’s reality, this is a truly unique item that exceeded all my expectations.