DiscoElysium /£29.99 inc VAT
DEVELOPERStudioZAUM/PUBLISHERStudioZAUMW
hereas most role-playing games treat character
creation as a separate entity that occurs
before the game starts, Disco Elysium
dedicates its entire length to figuring out who you
are, spiritually and literally. It also happens to be
one of the most imaginative, touching and laugh-
out-loud funny RPGs in ages.
You play an alcoholic, drug-addled police
detective who, after one too many all-night
benders, awakes in a hotel room having sluiced
his entire memory right out of his head. You
can’t remember your name, what you look like,
or what you’re doing in the dilapidated port-
town of Martinaise.
Through the intervention of your newly
assigned partner, Kim Kitsuragi, you learn that
you’re investigating the death of a man hanging
from a tree behind the hotel. You chase these
two cases – the mystery of the hanging man
and the mystery of yourself – across Disco
Elysium’s 20 to 40-hour duration.
Ultimately there’s only one killer, but there
are many potential detectives who will try to
catch them. Nearly all of Disco Elysium’s action
occurs through its complex dialogue system.
Around a million words have been poured into
the story, but what makes its narrative so
compelling isn’t its breadth, but how the
dialogue interacts with the game’s skill system.Your detective has a total of 24 different ‘skills’, each of
which represents a small but noisy part of his
mind. ‘Encyclopedia’ is your personal
knowledge bank, giving you insight into the
game world’s lore. Physical Instrument, on the
other hand, is your mental personal trainer,
encouraging you to do anything from busting
down doors to busting in faces.
What makes these skills different from those in
other RPGs – aside from their weird names – is that
they’re represented as individual characters. They
speak to you directly in dialogue and, depending on
your proficiency in them, will offer you advice and
tips on how to perform actions, solve puzzles and
respond in conversations. A high Rhetoric skill, for
example, will advise you on how to win over people
in conversations, whereas high Perception will help
you notice tiny details about crime scenes and
people, bringing up new actions and conversation
options as a consequence.
Like the colourful population of Martinaise,
however, the facets of your mind aren’t always
helpful acquaintances. Electrochemistry is a skill
that, at high levels, shields you from the negative
effect of narcotics. However, it also makes you
want narcotics more, rearing its head to nag you
whenever the subject of drugs or alcohol come up
in conversation. High Empathy, meanwhile, will
help you feel what others are feeling, and therefore gainGAMES / REVIEWS
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DISCO ELYSIUM
+^ Incredible writing
+^ Fantastic art
+^ Innovative
skill system
+^ Almost everything,
to be honest
DISCO INFERNO
-^ Time progression
can cause
frustration
-^ Overindulges in its
own lore a bit