The Pleasures of Playing Disco Elysium

Disco Elysium was released in 2019, and since then, it has won four awards from The Game, three from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and 91% from review aggregator Metacritic. The public's adoration begs the question: what makes Disco Elysium so fantastic? We've compiled a list of factors:

Nothing else in this article makes Disco Elysium so special; the story makes it stick with you.

The game's lengthy read requirements put off many potential players, but they can't put the book down once they begin. It's impossible to get bored because there's just so much to discover and explore, from hidden secrets to alternative lines of conversation.

You will spend the first hour of the game picking every possible dialogue option to learn about a character, even if reading isn't your thing.

The time it takes to complete Disco Elysium is a topic of debate. Completionist runs take an average of 45 hours, while the average playtime is around 22 hours. However, those figures do not reflect the true potential of Disco Elysium's replay value.

You can't see every possible outcome in the game in one sitting, not even if you grind for over 60 hours.

A quest line can be completed with a single conversation choice. Quests can be locked after one is completed. Skill selection, upgrade priority, outfit, and drug use all significantly impact how the game is played. Playing through just once isn't going to cut it, and neither will subsequent plays because they will all be unique experiences.

The events' results in Disco Elysium depend entirely on your decisions and the dice rolls. You may have your tie for the rest of the game when you start it because the first check you make is a Savoir-Faire check to see if you can get your necktie off a ceiling fan. A seemingly insignificant change like this could affect the rest of your run and make it unique from your previous attempts.

The gameplay of Disco Elysium is unlike anything else you've seen. At first, the 24-skill system may seem daunting, but its brilliance will soon become apparent.

You can tell immediately that this is a throwback to classic tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons. Using dice to determine the outcomes of events emphasizes this mental image of a tabletop game. The element of surprise is a large part of what makes this game so much fun, despite any initial unease you may feel.

When you play a role, you get to decide what kind of person that role's protagonist is. Is he a super smart cop? What is the definition of a useless schmuck? A savage idiot? From deciding on a set of abilities to picking a specific line of dialogue, everything is up to you.

Every new game is an opportunity to start fresh and make your character how you want them to be. The choices you make in a role-playing game will always take you in a different direction, depending on the character you're playing.

You assume the role of a detective whose night of heavy drinking has left him with no recollection of the previous day. From the outset, it's clear that the game will spend a lot of time explaining his backstory. The main character may be complex, but don't let that sate your curiosity too quickly. Whether it's the truck driver stuck in traffic for days or your partner Kim Kitsuragi, everyone in the game has a rich history to share.

You can get to know most NPCs better because they talk quite a bit. It is well worth it, as each character is developed thoughtfully, and the insights into their backstories are fascinating.

As we've already established, the lore of Disco Elysium sets it apart, and every character does a great job of tying into that. There are morally gray characters alongside those with good intentions, and each one is wonderfully realized. Incredible voice acting helps make every NPC you meet feel like a real person.

As evidenced by its nomination for the 2020 BAFTA Games Award for Music, Disco Elysium's score is top-notch. The soundtrack, composed by the alternative rock band British Sea Power (now known as Sea Power), features a song for nearly every playable character and scenario.

As far as I'm concerned, the music's greatest strength is that it doesn't try to force itself on anyone. The tunes would be playing so that you wouldn't always hear them. It's very understated and works seamlessly into the narrative.

It's not obvious that an alternative rock band composed over three hours of varied, noir-esque music. After hearing Sea Power's other material, it became abundantly clear that the band deserves a BAFTA for the breadth of its creativity.

Disco Elysium is an all-out celebration of mythology. The creators gave a lot of thought to the world they built, as even the smallest details reveal something about the plot.

The protagonist in this game awakens, having forgotten his past, and it is your job to help him rediscover his place in the world and his identity. It's much more fun to piece together a mystery when there's no information gap between you and the character.

Unlike other mythologies, Disco Elysium's backstory is not restricted to the politics and history of Revachol alone. This game's world is packed to the gills with minute details. Every conversation you have with a non-player character, every thought you have, and every book you read will teach you something new about the cosmos.

It's not just a book club in Disco Elysium. The murder mystery that drives the plot will keep you thinking. It's similar to playing online poker. You will always need your skills to analyze the situation. It's a challenging game that requires your sharp mental ability. You won't merely be guided through the investigation by the game; rather, you'll have to use your ingenuity to solve the mystery.

It would have been easy for Disco Elysium to come off more like an interactive book than a video game, with all the visuals, music, and text. Thankfully, you can always find a new puzzle to solve, a new mechanic to test out, or a new way to spend your skill points strategically. Without the potential for failure, the experience would lack excitement.