Disco Elysium Review
Disco Elysium is a text adventure game. There’s a lot of text hidden under one of the most beautifully designed worlds I’ve ever had the pleasure of exploring. Despite a seemingly simple game mechanic, the game has been crafted so carefully and lovingly that it’s hard not to appreciate the immense project this was.
The art is exquisite and reminiscent of oil paintings while the animation is smooth, well-choreographed and exciting to watch. My personal favourite lies in the surreal and almost horrifying art in the thought cabinet, which works as it’s translating unusual concepts and thoughts, of which most seem to be unhealthy, into a tangible visible form. The character art is another part I appreciate as portraits and models are in no way alike nor are they flawless and attractive: they’re incredibly human.
The story follows a detective on a case who is currently suffering from memory loss and this may be part of the best decisions in the game. With memory loss, the game perfectly rationalises being an RPG with an already fully developed character. You cannot remember who you were, but you currently have to suffer the consequences of being someone else whilst also choosing your own dialogue options that influence the kind of person you will become. This is possibly the strongest element of the game as there are an amazing amount of dialogue choices all of which can subtly affect your future dialogue choices. Choosing a slightly political, sexist, racist or quirky piece of dialogue leads to even your own internal monologue having different wordings for the same scenario. Even the case you need to solve isn’t necessarily the main story as your roleplaying can actually impact what you prioritise. All of this is wrapped in incredibly witty and genuinely hilarious writing that reinforces the setting, provides a great deal of depth to characters and immerses you in the game. There’s something to appreciate in the moral options the game provides as some actions don’t have clear consequences and characters are not just good or bad (except for Lt. Kim Kitsuragi who is a paragon of all that is good in the world); it’s very much up to you whether you’d like to go the extra mile and interpret the future how you’d like.
The other gameplay mechanic is a literal dice roll on the many attributes of what kind of an individual you are. These attributes can influence the kind of information and dialogue options you’re privy to alongside whether or not you’re successful in certain actions. Choosing strength attributes helps you pass through the physical world unharmed but you don’t get access to as much information had you chosen intelligent attributes. Choosing to be skilful and perceptive with details may mean you miss out on the supernatural or metaphysical information the city could provide. This is very exciting early on but with levelling up, clothing and your thought cabinet this becomes almost trivial as you can just reach any attribute level you need to. Regardless it’s still an interesting experience to see what happens when you’re lacking in certain attributes.
There’s incredibly little to dislike about such a well-made game as even small bugs have been addressed quickly. Time is a great concept to bring life to Revachol and the looming deadline definitely adds a sense of foreboding but after 2 playthroughs you can manipulate this to make the most out of everyday especially when you realise you can’t go past 2am. My personal taste would’ve tried to make the benefits from themed clothing match more so my character didn’t look like a hodgepodge from a charity shop but it adds to the quirkiness of the character.
This game was made by people who care about the art they create and it shows in every aspect of the game.

Conceptually there is a lot of complex ideas that Genesis Noir wanted to explore but it all seems to have random ideas mixed in causing there to be a lack of focus. There are some beautifully surreal elements, visually stunning segments and the music created a great atmosphere... until the end: The last couple of segments of Genesis Noir gets very surreal but graphically and musically, for me, the quality greatly declined whilst the actual story prolongs itself by adding depth to characters, some of which you have very little interaction with. I had no attachment to the ronin and certainly didn't care for more of his story.

The real tragedy of the game is the bugs and terrible controls making for awkward, long gameplay that can be longer when you have to restart an entire level because close to the end, something doesn't work and you can't progress. I tolerated this while the gameplay and story was novel and interesting but the game definitely tests your patience. Only worth it on sale.