"I'm a man, I consider nothing human alien to me."
I've been obsessed with this quote ever since I've first read it years ago. It just encapsulates perfectly, at least for me, what it means to be an semi intelligent being trapped in a rotting monkey. Disco Elysium isn't afraid in talking about the ugly and the pathetic. It's a ballad for the losers of all the world which at the same time kindly reminds you of the virtue and the beauty you sometimes find between the heaps of shit. Yet it somehow doesn't feel anywhere near indulgent, on the contrary, it's scathing and it's cheeky and, ultimately, it's happy just to be able to be here.

"It's okay... I know how you feel... Let me tell you about the time I got SO drunk I forgot the world and had to learn it all over again. It's a hell of a history... If you find the time."

Every poor devil who, as me, enjoys partying at nightclubs, sometimes the nasty kind of ones, learns either by failure or luck some golden rules that no amount of alcohol can black out. For instance:

- Don't trust anyone who talks either too little or too much, but always trust the nerd.
- People will generally side with the person pouring the booze.
- If she looks crazy she probably is crazy.
- The final two hours of your night are always the most desolating ones.
- DON'T OPEN doors, purses, wallets or really anything which isn't strictly your business.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines just asks for you to spend this little amount of street smarts anyone could achieve if they are willing to spend a few nights partying in some godforsaken complot you really shouldn't be anywhere near. It's the same criminals, crooks and creeps you can spot at the clubs, it's just their drink of choice is a little bit more... exotic. Not my weirdest night, to be honest.

“There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly.”

A lot of suffering for a little happiness. Such is the nature of life. Such is the nature of Arcanum. The only difference being you can actually choose to play the latter. You won't forget either it's charms nor it's broken ass mechanics, just beware, there's an abundace of the latter.