Unreal fucking game. From the height of seething highest anger to the most tender understanding. An absolute golden game. I went from despising and stupidly fumbling through this title to enjoying the walks, the many sights, the many enemies, the many fights, the history, and everything the game had to offer. The complete switch I made from when I started playing compared to now is really something. But I really came to appreciate and love this game from the bottom of my heart.

(More writing soon, might make a full blogpost instead.)

Boy, do I love listening to the same three terrible soundtracks for hundreds of hours.

Do you enjoy aimless stories?
Do you enjoy pointless and over-the-top rape scenes in every second chapter?
Do you enjoy characters changing their mind after listening to redditor villains?
Do you enjoy endless exposition about irrelevant shit?
Do you enjoy your cast being full of flat characters?
Do you enjoy neverending lectures regarding swordsmanship in the middle of a fight?
Do you enjoy said fights being decided by random asspulls?
Do you enjoy every single chapter ending in the same identical manner?
Do you enjoy small screen resolution?
Do you enjoy reading from even smaller text box?
Do you enjoy your main characters falling in love with little girls at first sight?
Do you enjoy little schoogirls beating elite soldiers to death with bare hands?
Do you enjoy edgelords perpetually wallowing in self-hatred?
Do you enjoy forcefully thrown flashbacks that add virtually nothing?
Do you enjoy hyper generic and tone deaf vocal tracks?
Do you enjoy dilemma being resolved with cop-outs?
Do you enjoy random CGs and backgrounds that tell you nothing aside from people having figures?
Do you enjoy 'caricature villain of the chapter' plot structure?
Do you enjoy every single sorry excuse of an antagonist dying immediately after they do something minor?
Do you enjoy stories about heroism where there is not a single character representing the population?
Do you enjoy adult trying to act like an animal by writing a poem while fucking a schoolgirl?
Do you enjoy juxtaposition being presented as some deep argument?
Do you enjoy themes set-up in initial chapters never being brought up ever again?
Do you enjoy non-main characters looking and being bland?
Do you enjoy 'I am not like other girls' route system?
Do you enjoy choice system that does opposite of what is generally done and considers itself as subversion?
Do you enjoy said 'subversion' (of harem tropes, allegedly by some readers) having literally zero cohesion and correlation to this story's narrative?
Do you enjoy climax of your choices being off-screened and bearing zero consequences?
Do you enjoy a curse that kills closed ones attached to a person who does not know a single person and has no attachments whatsoever?
Do you enjoy plot randomly making up jobbers just for MC to bypass the curse?
Do you enjoy plot for some reason demanding from the cursed to kill people he just met instead of you know, people he has been chilling with at government?
Do you enjoy relatively grounded and self-serious stories snowballing into Dragon Ball?
Do you enjoy routes being heroine centric and abandoning literally everyone else?
Do you enjoy sprites that do not ever move?
Do you enjoy lack of dynamics and dialogue not having a semblance of interesting or/and likable conversations and banter?
Do you enjoy 3D toy transformations?
Do you enjoy repetitive and flashy closed-up special effects?

Then this product is for YOU!
(Special cheers to people who enjoy it for being funny rather than considering it as something 2deep4u and well-written, though)

"Yes. Sometimes it's better to let people come to these conclusions themselves."

The best way to describe Disco Elysium is greatness. I'm not talking about certain aspects about it. Not the main parts or just the climax. Everything about it is carefully constructed and well-written. From the moment you get introduced to the main character, conflict, subplots and from the very last minute after you finish the game. There's a minute precision and care on every detail of the game, it's truly amazing. The mystery's well-thought out, the process is methodical and every angle is considered. Locations are memorable. B-b-but what if it sacrificed enjoyment for writing? Overdone joke but you just have to see it. The prose and dialogue are witty, humorous, wild, and organic. Every character have distinct personalities, motivations, and beliefs and contribute to the overall picture the narrative is going for. It's incredibly refreshing seeing how the characters interact and there are consequences with every choice you make even if you attempt to avoid them. What's at stake is believable. "Okay but you're just talking as if the game is objectively great and not coming from your own opinion." You know me, I prefer reading books, and visual novels now so this type of game works for me. There are 3 things I want from creators. First, I want them to be ambitious, I meant that I don't want to see them holding back. Go ahead make me uncomfortable and I'd prefer that instead of thinking what-ifs, and buts. I want them to commit in their vision in the way that they can only do. With countless other things out there and ideas recycled, there's still room for originality. Secondly, I want the story to be thought-provoking. It could be any topic but I want it to tackle grand ideas and down-to-earth ones. It wouldn't matter if you couldn't learn or reflect about anything from it that's relevant in your life. Lastly, it must make me emotional not that it's necessary. It'd be pointless if it's forced out of me but I want just a bit of everything. Joy, sadness, anger, catharsis, frustration, empathy, regret, etc. Such is life and how art is best experienced.

Well no surprise, they succeeded in every single category with ease. I already love stories these kinds of stories and glad that it still surpassed my expectations even with minor inconveniences and shortcomings. So go ahead and let yourself soaked with it's rich world and characters. Disco Elysium is a self-discovery journey awaiting you.

"I'LL CRUSH YOU"

~me to ANYONE who talks shit about jack garland in any fucking capacity. the protagonist to surpass caim has arrived

EDIT:

ok here's an actual review - this is the best action game to come out in well over a decade. play on hard with party disabled and you'll have a thoroughly challenging experience with some of the best boss design the genre's seen period. come for the stellar combat; stay for more of it plus a godlike narrative. jack garland IS the best protagonist in ff

and he did it HIS way

One brings shadow, one brings light

A genuine thematic spectacle of a narrative saturated with emotional highs, ruminative nuances, and intrinsic allures. Rich in tight and compelling character writing, moral and personal inflections, and imaginative and complete world building.

All accompanied by a tonally evocative and pertinent soundtrack bestowing a sense of poetry and cohesion throughout the story.

An extremely human and well developed cast including two absolutely phenomenal antagonists that act as premium artifices in driving home its central themes.

Themes at which stem from the root of every facet of the game. Themes at which are explored poetically and firmly. Themes at which lie at the heart of a very particularly familiar and relevant tale.
A tale about hope. Despair. Courage. Understanding. People.

A tale about humanity - from its most arduous and painful detriments, to its most integral and bountiful allures.

All in all, Shadowbringers stands as an ingenious achievement in storytelling. Without question the strongest the series has to offer.