Disco elysium is a deeply entertaining and extremely well written and designed mystery game which suffers from a weak third act, railroading, and an excess of loading screens.

The upsides:
- The story is (for the most part) incredibly engaging. I was incredibly invested in the case, and the people in the world. They were all well written to the point where I cared about them.
- The dialogue is fantastic, regardless of the tone it's taking, and it switches between tones fairly seamlessly. Funny, dramatic, and thought provoking.
- Having your skills be additional dialogue is a really smart decision executed well. When you fail things in this game, having a skill you have high points in suggest the way forward makes it feel like your character sheet matters. It also helps you not feel as stuck as you otherwise might.
- There is a huge amount to do and explore, and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface after one playthrough.
- the game is unabashedly communist.

Downsides:
- The loading screens got annoying. Not convinced 4(!) were needed every time you went inside to see Klassje.
- everything after the (spoilers) military tribunal felt kind of muted. I guess you could say that was deliberate and the point, but it didn't make for engaging gameplay.
- (spoilers) The killer being someone you haven't even interacted with, let alone suspected, sucks and is deeply uninteresting as a conclusion.
- although most issues felt fairly open-ended, there were a couple of points where I felt the illusion of choice that you could do a thing or not do it was stripped away. Notably, stuff like (spoilers) presenting the shot on you as a skill check when it was actually impossible to succeed, even with sixes.