Disco Elysium: A RPG of one story and many different interpretations

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Disco Elysium Final Cut title is displayed in the bottom middle of the of the image. On the cover there are two men, the man of the left is a lanky individual with glasses and is holding a blue flashlight, that is on in his one hand and one can barely see him holding his service pistol in the other. The other man is more burly build and with mutton chops, he has swung his jacket over his one shoulder and on the other hand is wearing an armoured glove and his service pistol in view. Behind them is a man holding a bottle in the air while standing on a statue with a rider and a horse head that is broken.

Disco Elysium, a story written by Robert Kurvitz and published by ZA/UM, is a detective story that tasks the role of the player to solve a murder mystery, however as playing the lead detective on the case the first experience showcases a human being that is in turmoil and not in all their right senses. One questions the validity of the claim that your character is a detective when confronted with the fact.

Despite the initial juxtaposition of considering the image of a detective and how the character has behaved, it is up to the player to decide whether to double down on what they see initially and build their character as someone lost to all reason, to see if they can do better, fall even further into despair or try take things as they come on the chin and accept the status quo.

The success or tendency towards a play style is further reinforced by the traits one chooses to define their character by and in conjunction with the other systems help define the type of character you are.

There are 3 basic archtypes namely:

  • The Thinker who approaches problems with logic and analytical thinking but at the expense of social intelligence and a weaker physical presence. 

  • A Sensitive individual who is a charismatic smooth talker that can "feel" their way through things, being able to suss out what people think or feel and also be in touch with more esoteric elements of the game, however this comes at the cost of detective reasoning and conceptualisation.

  • Embrace a Physical approach where empathy and reason are things that slow down an investigation and intimidation and physical prowess can muscle its way through the bureaucracy. Leveraging your physical feats, the detective has a more hands on approach to solving the mystery and their body is a medium through which they tackle the would. 

The forth option is a custom setting and a player is free to adjust the character to their preferred distribution within the allotted attribute points given. This setting is more recommended for those that have played the game already or have a strong idea exactly what they want to play as.

Main Square backed up with traffic, at its center is a dilapidated statue of a man sitting on a broken horse. Surrounding it various cars and trucks. Notable names include a small FALN truck and the Whirling Rags building

These archetypes are further specialised through skills and is capped by the base stats of the primary attributes.

These skills can be further modified by both clothing and items, that is mostly found in the world but can also be either bought or through convincing another character to part with an item.

Another system called a thought cabinet which is a system that allows the character to ruminate on a concept or idea that comes to their mind that is important enough to make them to think more on it.

An internal monologue while talking to another person what is here reads :"sip, how are the, umm, high-concept, reality-based adventures proceeding?" "INLAND EMPIRE[Easy: Success] - Good, these people know your *true* name. Looks like it has proceeded you, Mr Sunset. More on that later." "HORRIFIC NECKTIE - I like this guy. You should, too. He *respects* you by calling you your *true name*." "YOU - "Not too hot. I'm on a 50-year losing streak."" "IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL - "That's harsh. I'm like three or maybe four years into mine. Wait no, make it five." He looks at his shit-stained Lickra(TM) with a grim expression. "Things aren't going super well for Idiot Doom Spiral, either. Haven't found those keys yet; haven't won that great piece of ass back. No word from my business-buddies..." He takes a sip from this beer." "SUGGESTION[Easy: Success] - This guy's your buddy-buddy. You feel it immediately: you belong to an organisation. A fraternity. Of *drunks*." The player is then presented with the following choices: "1.- "What do you guys do around here?" 2.-"What is a... Tequila Sunset? You keep saying it." 3. - "Be seein' you" [Leave.]"
The results of these thoughts can result in extra experience when doing an specific action, modification of skills, both positive and negative, an increase in skill caps, locking into a line and leaning of thought and even have an effect on how story elements will unfold.

The systems described also play a role in decision making where more invested skills are more vocal in how to solve a problem and the internal monologues can turn into a full blown discussion in a debate on how something should be approached and how it should be internalised.

All these systems play a part in a game world that although limited in size, is full of characters that brings the world alive. A negative can be said that with those that the player communicates with are limited and strongly sticks to an archetype but I find this is a good compromise to limit scope to allow characters and ideologies to breathe where there are fewer characters but the ones that are there are exaggerated to provide the thoughts of many into a generalised surrogate.

Disco Elysium Artwork with the player character sitting in, his partner on the case, Kim Kitsuragi's car, a Coupris, with a sword in his hand. Kim is standing on the other side reading a newspaper.
It also is able to show the good and bad sides of the rules and systems in relation to the world's history. Some may feel it more harshly judges some philosophies over others but it shouldn't be discredited as all sides have flaws and it pokes fun at all of them. There are some good representations on how some systems play out within the game world and it can give insights on how it can take root in society if one takes the time to reflect on the commentary provided.

It is interesting how it explores how a person can find meaning in something and how that search for meaning can influence how they make choices in the world they inhabit. 

At the end of it all it is a compelling story of taking someone at their lowest and putting their life in the player's hand. 

Artwork of the small fishing village on the outskirts of the of the city. One can see people bringing their boat in from a fishing trip guiding it between a pier and a small broken ice sheet, a Coupris is parked near an abandoned building after driving in over an improvised bridge from the road. The village has few people spread out over it, sitting one benches and one standing on the pier watching the fishing boat being brought in.

It is an excellent role play experience where it can be a personal journey of discovery and redemption, an exploration of self-destruction and how it can poison one's life or the player can ignore the personal introspection and focus on being the type of cop they desire and focus on solving the case in role of the systems that the game provides.

Images Source:

IGDB Disco Elysium The Final Cut

Video Source: 

Disco Elysium Final Cut Announcement Trailer

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