Disco Elysium

Pros It starts out with intrigue right from the get go. You can't quite remember anything after apparently waking up from some serious binge drinking, but are probably a cop, and are in a strange hotel to investigate a suspicious death.

Curious setting. There's a kind of 50s or 70s vibe, or both, but it seems to be an alternate universe or dystopia in which there is unusual tech, and the way society and politics are organised is strange.

Character abilities are so very different from anything else. The categories of abilities are largely reflective of mental and physical characteristics a detective or cop could benefit from, ranging from empathy to visual acuity, and from persuasiveness to logic and reasoning. These are divided into subcategories for more specific skill sets. And on top of that, raising the level of a skill too high can have both positive and negative consequences.

It really feels investigative. It has a combination of the various items to pick up and decide how or where to use them later, and a dialogue option system built around interrogation.

Cons The characters are also quirky, but often to the point that it feels too over the top or tongue-in-cheek to take it very seriously.

Whereas the first 4 of the above 5 points would each individually be a strength, the combination doesn't really work for me. In trying so many unique and quirky things all at once, it goes a bit too far. The end result is more like an artistic experiment than a cohesive and fun-to-play game. You really need to be in just the right mood to play it for long, but since it's so story and dialogue driven it's also not the kind of game you can just dip into for half an hour here and there.

It's can be a bit too slow.

Overall I'm glad I gave it a try. It's quite the experience. But I'm also glad it wasn't too expensive, because I can't imagine ever finding the time to finish it.

How is this a "game"? What even is with people highly rating this? You just endlessly talk to random people, roll dice for some stupid outcomes, and click around to painfully walk or run to just keep talking to people and read walls of text. The graphics and animations are utterly pointless when all the game is about is reading walls of text.

There is nothing incredible about the text walls wherein you're supposed to deduce something out of them, it's all mostly just pretentious rambling of the main character's thoughts with equally pretentious voices.

I'd be better off reading a novel if I wanted to read plain text.

When I came across this title, the keyword for me in the summary on IMDB, was "detective". I checked the game trailer and the right murky setting, you would expect from a story about a detective, was there, so I did not think twice and one week later I entered the world of Elysium. Oh, boy. Should I say I was not disappointed!

The game starts in a hotel room. You wake up and can't remember even your name. This is how your journey begins. I don't want to spoil anything further. But I think it's safe to say that you remember something about your wife. And something tells you it's a sad story.

The game has its syle. The overall dark mood and all those intellectual conversations you are going to have, help you do dive deep into the Elysium mystery. Plus there are many layers to the story. I think investigating every corner inside the game not only will take time but it also requires several playthroughs. Some information can't be unlocked until you start the game over from day one.

Overall, it feels, especially approaching the finale, that the developers set the bar too high and it was hard for them to keep up. Nonetheless, I think to appreciate the effort at least do few key things before making your opinion about the game: don't miss the night call, the "wake up" moment in the investigation, and the beautiful song (yeah you are not wrong when thinking this game is somehow connected to music).

The case you are to solve is interesting by itself, but for me, that side story, the memories about the wife in the detective's life became the reason I did not give up until the final credits. I strongly encourage you to play this game. The sadness has its name now, and for me, it's Disco Elysium. How simple!

Where do I even begin? I know! The characters! First of all, you aren't even told the main character's name, so I called him in my head "The Detective." Additionally, the blatant anti police opinions shown in this piece of media enrage me, and I often found myself biting my arms and hands in anger. Every single character was either mentally handicapped or a foreigner. The voices in my head was so stupid! The only good character was Garte, because he shares my haircut, voice, and cynical attitude towards life. The woman on the boat aroused me, though. Also! When I get my gun, it doesn't turn into a shooter, as expected. Also also! It is some strange foreign nation, so my years of studying geography were useless to me, as I was not able to know the landscape! >:(

This is a beautiful game exploring the difficulties after a political revolution turned civil war. The connections made and the rediscovery of yourself makes for a unique and memorable experience that will stay with me for a long time. I have to reccomend this game to any history/politics/law/sociology buffs, as this similar-to-modern day history has deep roots within the characters and the environment. O also recommend this to anyone with strong/set political opinions, as your choices and statements will be challenged in many ways by a variety of ideologies from the characters.

Overall, 9/10 stars and is a fantastic game that is a must play. The art style is beautiful and highlights the need for connection.

Have fun playing, bratan!