The way this story and its mystery unfolds is almost unlike anything I've ever seen, making it stand out among detective games along with masterpieces like Outer Wilds and Return of the Obra Dinn.
Disco Elysium is one of, if not the best written prose I have ever seen in a work of fiction; the writing, worldbuilding, character writing and the main gimmick are so well done that not calling the game a masterpiece feels, to me, a disservice to all that the game excels at. The humour is also extremelly hilarious, with some thoughts in the Thought Cabinet making me laugh out loud.
There's a beautiful, heartfelt OST, that manages to evoke feelings in me after finishing the game.
The social and political commentary and backdrop offered by the game is also in a class of its own, and the fact that most of the politically oriented dialogue options felt wrong in some way just demonstrates the complexity many of these issues have, especially when you factor in that these are "real" people. The game does a great job, in my opinion, in showing that even some of the most far-gone characters are that way for some reason; they're not monsters, they're just products of Revachol and its awful state of afairs.
Kim also might just be my favourite deuteragonist of all time, and earning his respect felt like a real accomplishment, mostly due to how fleshed out and consistent his character is. This is also helped by the masterful voice acting without which I couldn't imagine myself enjoying the game as much, since it definitely helped me empathise with the characters to a large degree.
This game is also dense. Some exchanges are insanely long and exhausting, but surprisingly this does not take away from the game, but rather enhanced my experience of immersing myself in a detective role. Really, the only downside is that I felt this game was unplayable when I was feeling tired or wanted to wind down.
Extremely minor spoilers regarding what I felt is one of the many, many topics which the game aims to discuss:
Lastly, I just want to mention how beautiful it all is; Harry's story, one which I felt was about the tremendous effort it takes to heal and get through mental health issues, affected me in a deeply personal way, as it coincided with my own mental healing process. If you play this game, you will absolutely understand the sequence I'm referring to, and I just want to say that playing through that made me feel so... empty, and at the same time, inspired. You can get better, bratan, even if everything in your head spirals in the opposite direction.
And in the end, I'm glad to be me -- an incredibly sensitive instrument.
Disco Elysium is one of, if not the best written prose I have ever seen in a work of fiction; the writing, worldbuilding, character writing and the main gimmick are so well done that not calling the game a masterpiece feels, to me, a disservice to all that the game excels at. The humour is also extremelly hilarious, with some thoughts in the Thought Cabinet making me laugh out loud.
There's a beautiful, heartfelt OST, that manages to evoke feelings in me after finishing the game.
The social and political commentary and backdrop offered by the game is also in a class of its own, and the fact that most of the politically oriented dialogue options felt wrong in some way just demonstrates the complexity many of these issues have, especially when you factor in that these are "real" people. The game does a great job, in my opinion, in showing that even some of the most far-gone characters are that way for some reason; they're not monsters, they're just products of Revachol and its awful state of afairs.
Kim also might just be my favourite deuteragonist of all time, and earning his respect felt like a real accomplishment, mostly due to how fleshed out and consistent his character is. This is also helped by the masterful voice acting without which I couldn't imagine myself enjoying the game as much, since it definitely helped me empathise with the characters to a large degree.
This game is also dense. Some exchanges are insanely long and exhausting, but surprisingly this does not take away from the game, but rather enhanced my experience of immersing myself in a detective role. Really, the only downside is that I felt this game was unplayable when I was feeling tired or wanted to wind down.
Extremely minor spoilers regarding what I felt is one of the many, many topics which the game aims to discuss:
Lastly, I just want to mention how beautiful it all is; Harry's story, one which I felt was about the tremendous effort it takes to heal and get through mental health issues, affected me in a deeply personal way, as it coincided with my own mental healing process. If you play this game, you will absolutely understand the sequence I'm referring to, and I just want to say that playing through that made me feel so... empty, and at the same time, inspired. You can get better, bratan, even if everything in your head spirals in the opposite direction.
And in the end, I'm glad to be me -- an incredibly sensitive instrument.