Disco Elysium - The Final Cut

This game has a bit of an inital hurdle to get over if you're a braindead gamer like me. Once you settle into the world, meet the characters, and start the investigation, you quickly discover a beautiful and tragic world that you can navigate in so many different ways -- all of which affect how others percieve you and the actions you can take later on. I love this game.

Let me start by saying if you personally believe the story in a game is not enough to carry it, don't play this. While the game takes the form of an isometric RPG, it is very minimal in that aspect, with only a few diffrences depending on your build. And for about 90% of the game, you mostly going to be reading/listening to the characters and narrations. It's almost like a audio book you can "play". But despite all of this, I personally found the game to be really fascinating. It has a unique sense of world building that uses the amnesiac hero trope we have all seen a million time, and use it to make the player feel just as confused as they are. The more I talked to the people, the more I wanted to learn every detail about their lives, as well as the history of the world. This game is an example of how you can use games to tell a unique story, rather than having a unique story built around a game we have all played before.

Maybe it's because I'm not an RPG guy, or maybe I just was never in the right frame of mind to play this game. I don't know. Whenever everyone around you is screaming from the rooftops how great a game is, and yet you think it's trash, you just might wonder if something is up? I have tried getting into this game so many times. Last I checked I clocked in just under 8 hours on this game, and I've given up. I really regret this purchase. It's slow. It's clunky. The dialogue is weird. It's difficult to do the simplest of tasks. I don't like the whole game your "mind" plays with you as you go thru the tiresome dialogue. I feel like I'm constantly just clicking on the next thing to just advance the story hoping something good will eventually happen. Maybe there is a good game here somewhere, but after 8 hours I'm done trying. If you're thumbing thru all of the 5 star reviews and wondering if there could be anything possibly wrong with this title, just know that if you're someone like me who plays mostly action and sports titles, then this game is not for you. I got it because I thought it'd be good to try something different, and I ended up hating it. I think I might be able to understand why some like it because there might be a good story here. But I need my games to get going and do more then just deliver endless trivial dialogue. This doesn't do it for me. Some games are so good they surpass their defined genres, but this game is not one of them.

Atmosphere. That's what this game has. Music, sound, voice acting, story and dialogues. Thrill. It maybe lacks actual action, but it still makes you feel action. There can be not enough space to explore for someone, but there is infinite space to discover in Pale and even more – inside hero. And more so – it doesn't tell who you must be. It asks, and accepts your answers.

It's a peculiar game: Isometric, small in size, not much in terms of replayability as you literally have ONE case to solve and there's just one solution to it. HOWEVER, the way it's all done makes it a masterpiece. The story is complex. There are great NPCs, with excellent dialogues and great voice acting. The whole vibe of Revachol is one of a kind, and it's unforgettable. The game is rich in social commentaries and political points of view served in an excellent way that is amusing, sometimes dark, but never boring or clumsy. The NPC partner we get is actually pretty helpful and feels like a real character, not just another NPC that we need to take care of. The music and the whole imaginarium is rich and unforgettable. This game is a very rare case of a gaming gem that truly stole my heart. I can't recommend it enough. And if you aren't convinced... hey, tell me, in how many games can you actually discuss the matters with your reptilian brain? How often are you after a cryptid? And how many good things have been already taken away by the Pale? Go. Play it. Enjoy the experience.