A text-heavy RPG with a strong sense of the bizarre
Disco Elysium
A TOP-DOWN RPG/adventure game! In
2019! Well, sort of. Disco Elysium might be
viewed from above, and its police detective
plot might sound like something Sierra
On-Line could have produced, but this is a
postmodern game for postmodern times,
and it isn’t afraid to let things get weird.
Your tie is talking to you, for one thing.
Waking, naked apart from your socks,
on the floor of a squalid hotel room in
some ghastly 1970s alternate reality, the
world’s worst hangover has pummeled
your memory into a blank slate, perfect
for character creation. There’s a murder
to solve—somebody, probably you, has
allowed the corpse of a hanged man to
remain in a tree at the back of the hotel
for several days; it stinks, and you feel
so tender you barf—if you manage to get
dressed, that is. Getting your tie from its
resting place on the ceiling fan is tricky if
you don’t have enough points in Physical.
While you can roll your own character
from the off, there are some ready-made
ones waiting for you. It doesn’t matter
which you choose, as it won’t stay that
way for long. Every piece of clothing you
acquire boosts some skill in some way.
There’s often a sting in the tail, though,
as a stat that protects your character
from the effects of drugs may lead to youThe quest for your identity is
as much a part of the game as
solving the murder.one because you were still reading about
the environment. You have a partner, too,
who fills in the blanks with yet more text.
Luckily, the reams of text just allow
the quality of the writing to shine through.
However you develop your character,
there’s a line that will make you smile.
As a police procedural, even one starring
such a complete human disaster as the
protagonist, the game could be dry and
feel too bound up in rules. Thankfully, you
never feel this, as intelligent choices in
setting and the characterization of those
around you make every choice seem valid.
If this is the start of a new golden age
of top-down detective adventures, we’re
here for that. And even if it’s a one-off,
we’re happy to have seen it take flight so
successfully. Unforgettable. –IAN EVENDENDisco Elysium
DISCO Acres of painted
graphics and a book’s worth of
quality writing.
PROG Not a game to be played
fast; can occasionally feel too obscure.
RECOMMENDED SPECS i7 or Ryzen 7; 8GB
RAM; GTX 1060 or equivalent.
$40, http://zaumstudio.com, ESRB: Not rated9
VERDICTabusing them, or one that detects lies
may lead to paranoia. You’ve been in the
hotel for a few days, misbehaving, and the
guests give you clues as to what sort of
person you are. Don’t like what they say?
Deny it and bounce in another direction.
With 24 skills, if you tally up the sub-
skills, everything is a test of one or
another. Even combat, when it occurs,
is more a test of dice rolls than of pixel-
accuracy or weapon level. Equipping the
right clothing can give you enough of a
stat boost to pull success from the jaws of
defeat, and failed tasks can be re-rolled
under the right circumstances.
The game has a rather beautiful hand-
painted aesthetic, the character portraits
a particular highlight, but even in 4K
on a huge screen, you’re never going to
get away from the text. There’s reams
of the stuff, constantly scrolling up the
right-hand side with every thought your
character has and every microdecision
you make. Choose the Sensitive character
archetype, or otherwise boost the Inland
Empire skill, and you’re treated to the
thoughts of inanimate objects, too. The
Thinker, with his Encyclopedia skill,
constantly uncovers new facts about his
environment. It’s a good thing there are
no tests of player skill—you’d fail every ©^ZA/U
MADVEN
TUREin the lab
90 MAXIMUMPC JAN 2020 maximumpc.com