I haven't been this excited about an RPG in a long time. It's one of those games that puts most of the rest of the genre to shame IMO. The dialogue, writing and storytelling throughout is top shelf. Every interaction with every NPC has depth, the NPCs feel complex and alive, the worldbuilding is absolutely phenomenal and the weird voices-in-your-head / talent tree system compliments the narrative and artistic style delightfully well.
I love gaming and RPGs as much as the next guy, but the writing in Disco made the writing in some of my all time favorite RPGs seem amateurish by comparison. The way the NPCs deliver dialogue and the content of all their backstories is a cut above what I'm used to in games. It really pulls you in.
It then blends this inspired storytelling with an equally inspired set of gameplay mechanics. Sure, at it's core it's like a d20 style tabletop scifi / neo noir RPG campaign being run by an enthusiastic and erudite DM, but its also got a few great twists on that formula as well.
For instance: your "stats" are represented in the form of personality traits (of sorts) that are accompanied by a corresponding "voice in your head" that will inject itself into conversations with NPCs, urge you to make one decision over another, and just generally be present in the narrative.
They also affect skill checks in the environment and in conversation. The higher that stat becomes (either through leveling them or with bonuses from your clothes that you collect throughout the game) - the more prominent that particular "voice in your head" becomes in the game and in your PC's internal dialogue. What's especially great is that these voices/stats (IE facets of your PC's personality and identity) often disagree with one another and have conflicting agendas. Sometimes they'll argue with each other about how to proceed or what to make of a particular NPC's testimony.
There's also a lot of compelling decisions for the player to make as you interact with the world and move the plot along.
Whether it's a clever illusion or an impressively built-out branching narratives system, the result is that you feel like your choices have a huge impact on how the story plays out. It gives the impression that subsequent playthroughs might be radically different and that there's always more to discover.
The worldbuilding of the game wrestles with politics and culture in a really imaginative way IMO. It's smart but not pretentious or heavy handed at all. It treats the player like a thinking adult capable of coming to their own conclusions about what the story is giving to them - if that makes sense. It's too much of a rare thing in entertainment these days.
I don't mean to give the impression that this game is selling itself as some sort of philosophical masterpiece or biting social commentary - it's not and the game doesn't take itself seriously enough to be so lofty. But it is refreshingly clever and at least in my case prompted some reflection on big ideas and principles. It's still pop entertainment, but at least to an uneducated plebian like myself the story was intellectually stimulating.
The other HUGE pro this game has going for it is what they added with the Final Cut update - namely the voice acting.
There is an astonishing amount of dialogue in this game (weighty, compelling and entertaining dialogue - not the sort of filler you see in lots of games) and somehow they added voice acting for every bit of it. The voice actors did a great job.
I played it on xbox and the controls were wonky, the maps were difficult to navigate and there were a couple of frustrating bugs. It was often hard to tell where the invisible borders were and I spent too much time aimlessly trying to figure out how to get to a given location. But I was so enamored with what this game had going for it that I effortlessly looked past all that jank.
If you're into immersing yourself into a fascinating and complex world of revolution, desperation, righteousness, power and intrigue, and you enjoy games that give the player meaningful narrative control - go ahead and give this one a go. It might not be your thing, but if it does capture your imagination then I think you'll really love this one.
