Posted on: December 19, 2019

lunias

Games: 209 Reviews: 2

A revelation - proof games are high art

What to say about Disco Elysium? It is a fever dream whose schizophrenic conglomeration of extremely tender moments, riotous quips, and meticulous world building evokes an experience seldom achieved across any art form. It is exceedingly difficult to maintain a narrative voice like the one in Disco's without it crumbling into sophomoric and indulgent fare, but Disco's writers somehow pull it off. It is the best implementation of a dialogue system I've ever seen, shedding the archaic requirement to navigate every single nested option. The art and music meld perfectly to flesh out the city. The reactivity and choice and consequence are staggering. The world and characters are conscious of your behavior at an unprecented rate. It is a singular experience that no one should miss. It will stick with me for years to come.

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Posted on: October 25, 2019

Arcangle

Verified owner

Games: 184 Reviews: 4

A carousel I shall ride again.

So, at the moment I'm reading Crime and Punishment. It only took me thirty-something years to get around to it. In that book the main character, who is struggling to get by in a cold and cruel world, is pushed this way and that by drives within himself which he is powerless against and which he refuses to even admit exist. The story does not go well for him. I mention this because I've never played an RPG before in which your character seems unable to stand against the worst sides of himself - and to deny that these sides, this weight of memory, exists. There is every chance that this guy's story won't go well, either. For all this game's other strengths (the bloomin' excellent writing; the humour; the existential bleakness; the karaoke) and weaknesses (the relatively small patch of city it takes place in; the currency which never feels quite as useful as I'd like it to; the slow pace of the story), I think it's this aspect of the main character which will stick with me. That, and a scene where he's dialling random phone numbers out of boredom and makes one call too many. Studio Zaum have created a protagonist whom you have an enormous amount of power to shape and, simultaneously, very little power to shape - because he doesn't have the insight and the power to shape himself. And, for all his many faults, I ended up really feeling for him. It's a fascinating gaming experience, in a looking-through-your-fingers kind of way, and I'm sure I'll be back to play through it again once I've stopped aching from my first go around.

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Posted on: November 7, 2019

skprog

Verified owner

Games: 337 Reviews: 17

artistic detective rpg

so far 4 hours in im having a great time. will probably recommend to my friends family and family pet. its a deep thought provoking game. i never thought a detetive rpg would be good. but i am both proven wrong and deeply happy about it. game has a dark sense of humor that only barely covers the truely dark subject matter of the game. the game is a painted art style which i was against untill i saw it in action. rough to move around at first. but once you get use to the system and its ideals and start to learn how the systems work the game kind of becomes amazing.

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Posted on: December 4, 2019

sarcode

Verified owner

Games: 19 Reviews: 2

Deeply impressed

Surreal, whimsical, often thought-provoking, and always engaging. I think the game achieves what it set out to do. This isn't much of a "game" in the traditional sense - I would consider it a visual novel primarily, with RPG elements. There is extremely little combat - there is no "combat system", the rare violent encounters are handled through the dialogue and skill check system. You aren't overcoming foes (unless you choose to rail against the player character's own self-destructive lifestyle itself, I suppose, or coming up with particularly clever repartee by passing a skill check) or being the Chosen Hero (unless you choose to give in to the player character's own delusions). You're a sad, tired, and sick middle-aged man in the midst of a mental breakdown, and everyone can see it as plain as the inflamed, rosacea-ridden nose on your face. The pathos of this creates a heroic image in itself of the player character as he struggles to do the right thing and solve the case... or you can just become a gloriously psychotic mess and stumble your way from fuck-up to fuck-up and enjoy the results. The skill checks play into the role-playing - failing skill checks regularly is an expected part of the game. Even failed skill checks provide you with funny or expository dialogue. However, over-extending yourself can lead to failed skill checks physically damaging you through stress or injury - you still need to be wise about which checks you feel like attempting. The writing is very enjoyable, and the characters are full of life and interesting. The quality of the English used, considering this is from an Estonian studio, is excellent and matches the command of a native speaker, aside from rare very minor proof-reading issues (switched letters, typos, etc.). I could ramble on for a long while, but suffice it to say I would strongly recommend this game if you're looking for something different in an RPG. Highly unique and unfailingly interesting, if nothing else.

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Posted on: March 19, 2020

magicnightcn

Verified owner

Games: 26 Reviews: 3

优秀的游戏！可以说是近年来最棒的RPG

3月19日，其它平台已经更新了中文，我还没来得及打开今天的更新，不知道是否同步更新中文了。

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