2019 | ZA/UM | Playstation 4
“There is nothing. Only warm, primordial blackness. Your conscience ferments in it
— no larger than a single grain of malt. You don’t have to do anything anymore.
Ever
Never Ever.”
With these words I got introduced to what is one of the most compelling, enrapturing and absorbing experiences I wasn’t expecting, nor ready for. Disco Elysium at its core is a detective RPG styled after the Infinity Engine CRPG’s of the 90’s, particularly Planescape: Torment, but as I quickly came to realize, it would unfurl a murder mystery presented in such a compelling manner that I never stood a chance. As it proceeded to sink its coffee stained teeth into my willing brain, I let myself get swooped off my feet as I spent hours listening to the inner workings of the main character argue with one another about the meaning of alcoholism and drugs, sociopolitical viewpoints, suggestive dramatization and so much more. And, I LOVED it!
It is incredibly difficult to just sit here and concisely present what Disco Elysium is, since it feels like most of the words won’t accurately describe the depths of these waters. So for now, let’s start with the basics;
Disco Elysium is a tabletop inspired CRPG where you have a set of skills that determine the value of the dice rolls you make during conversation. These skills forego conventional designs and instead ZA/UM opted to bring the internal workings of the main character to the forefront by dividing his personality into an array of different skills you can utilize during the murder investigation. You have a total of 24 skills divided in 4 main categories to explore, namely; Intellect, for the thinking man. Psyche, for the feeling man. Physique, for the being of man and Motor Skills for making sure you aren’t constantly tumbling over your own feet. Each of these has 6 skills that will be in an ever intertwining discussion to assist you, the main character, through all the conversations and situations you will find yourself in. At any given time the game will give you an option to make either a White Check, which can be repeated for the same amount of times as you have skill points in the respective skill, or a Red Check, which can’t be repeated. Each time you attempt one of these checks, the game will roll 2 six sided dice and combine the results with your skill bonuses to determine the outcome. Along this, you’ll frequently see things like “Inland Empire [Medium: Success]” pop up in the text window, meaning that the game made the roll for you. On top of that you can ponder over different, more challenging topics to gain a bonus from your Thought Cabinet, which are more complex conundrums that require to be unlocked over time. I am oversimplifying by a good mile here, but it’s a start into the world of Disco Elysium without spoiling too much of the narrative itself, which is at the heart of this game. So as a little warning on the side; I will have to go over some, not all, of the plot points later in the review.
You wake up from the sleeping void in your dreams to find yourself in a room, trashed beyond redemption, your clothes unceremoniously decorating the various pieces of furniture. A window is smashed, you feel the breeze and stink of Revachol waft through the maw of broken glass. As you take your first steps into Disco Elysium you find yourself completely stripped of everything. Your clothes are gone, you have no memory of who you are or what happened here and the only company you carry are the voices in your head and THE EXPRESSION. Upon leaving the hotel room you stumble downstairs, towards a man in an orange blazer eagerly awaiting your awakening. He informs you that his name is Kim Kitsuragi and that he is assigned as your partner to solve a murder behind the hotel, where a body was found strung up on a tree.
From here the game essentially lets go of your hands and lets you roam the world of Elysium as you please and how you please. You can roam around the area and explore the Revachol coast, read up on the latest and greatest of Hjelmdallerman, interact at maximum velocity with the local youth, the possibilities are vast and numerous. Your goal is actually surprisingly simple; solve the murder of the hanged man before the tense situation in Revachol escalates to a full blown civil war. Along the way however, we quickly spiral into an inward journey as our lead detective is figuring out who he was and more importantly who he now is. The memory loss itself is more of a tool to make the blank slate of the character feel more natural as well as to hand the player this blank slate and color in the picture of who you think the main character is, what his morals are, his political stances, his values. Do you give in to the temptation of abundant narcotics and partying or do you ignore your screaming tie to stay laser focused on the case? The clay is in your hands and it’s your job to give it shape, making Disco Elysium a much more profoundly personal experience than I originally thought it would be.
Despite the bleak and pessimistic view on the world and humanity as a whole, I found there to be a good spark of optimism lingering in the far corners of Revachol, albeit beaten and bruised. Throughout my playthrough of roughly 38 hours I spent most of the time trying my best to redeem our hero in the eyes of your ever faithful partner, Kim. Whom, despite my esoteric antics of talking to dead bodies in bear fridges or looking for any connection between a crab and a sunken vehicle (which I drove into the water to begin with), handled the case with a level of professionalism and patience that I never would’ve been able to muster up. His calm and focused approach made it that by the end of the game I didn’t care about solving the case, more that I didn’t want to disappoint Kim, who stuck with us through the nonsense, drunken antics and smelly jackets.
In a way solving the case ended up a hollow victory for reasons I will not give away since that spoils a lot of the plot threads. The eventual answers felt more like a handout than me actually solving the case itself. However, this gave way to an odd sense of pride as I didn’t let my partner down. Disco Elysium is the epitome of ‘the journey is as important as the destination‘ and the growth our main character made throughout the game was something I personally felt a great deal of pride for. My choices didn’t always land me in the best places, but despite having to deal with a nerve wrecking standoff or deadly radio waves, I felt like the character I ended with was a much better character than the one I started with. The events might play out similar on your run in comparison to mine, but the choices you make to get there and the dice you roll to put yourself in the hands of Dolores Dei make it so the playthrough is completely and totally yours. Which is one of the reasons this game is so incredibly good.
Did I mention that all of this is voiced? With the release of Disco Elysium: The Final Cut all the dialogue, both internal and external, is now completely voiced. And excellently so I might add. The crown of this experience goes to Lenval Brown, who absolutely steals the show as all the different facets of our mind. Despite being a relative newcomer to the voice acting scene, and being cast in Disco Elysium through a friend of a friend kind of way, his performance is delivered with a brutally efficient, static and nuanced methodology that makes each of the 24 internal voices unique in subtle ways. His voice serves as a consistent companion whispering wisdoms and possibilities into the players ear. The rest of the cast brings their a-game with Kim at the helm, investigating with an ever calm and analytical approach. Though honorable mentions have to go to the ever at MAXIMUM VELOCITY, Cuno, a frighteningly accurate depiction of a truly unhinged kid. The voice work for this game is absolutely incredible, all the more impressive given the vast amount of script it has.
To add to that, the art in this game is absolutely incredible to behold. Most of the main bodies of art have been provided by the rough and aggressive brush strokes of Aleksander Rostov, who provided his services for all the portraits, the skill portraits and all of the character portraits. As well as giving us “The Expression”. The Thought Cabinet, however, was done by Anton Vill, who provided the absolutely spectacular abstractions for the inner thoughts that our detective can ponder about. These art pieces look like a bizarre love child between Hieronymous Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delight” and whatever you think of when you hear the name “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” by Harlan Elison.
Disco Elysium brings back the memories of playing Planescape: Torment and Baldur’s Gate from when I was a kid, with a few twists of its own. It leans heavily towards to darker and grimmer aspects of humanity as it explores the war torn Revachol with a magnifying glass of unfiltered and epic proportions. The desensitized reaction of the inhabitants to the corpse hanging in the backyard for over a week, describing it more as a smelly nuisance than a lost life, is a great introduction to the mindset that the citizens of Revachol have developed. There is an atmosphere of permanent melancholy permeating throughout the game and it uses this as a vessel for some on the nose political commentary as well as a more contrasting positive message that, despite being in a dark place, there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you’re willing to walk towards it. Disco Elysium is simply a wonderful anomaly to experience, elevating itself from video game to pure existential art. There really isn’t anything like it out there.
It’s Disco time, baby/10
TanookiChickenAttack 