Disco Elysium - The Final Cut

Played the game twice before the final cut (with full voice acting and extra missions), which I mean to get round to experiencing. One of my favourite games for its unique story, atmosphere, humour, and characters. I love a bit of philosophy and socio-economic critique. The art is wild. The writing fine. Thank you creators.

I want to walk through the Pale, forget i ever bought this game, buy it again, and be amazed like the first time. It's that good.

This game is fantastic, if you like narrative, atmosphere, and innovation, play this game. Just go into it with a point and click adventure game mindset rather than an RPG mindset, because while there are Role Playing elements there isnt any combat or anything like that. I consider it an Adventure game.

Combine Twin Peaks, Naked Lunch by William Burroughs, Al Amarja from the Over the Edge RPG, and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency with a post-mod Britain feel and you are in the right ballpark. The gameplay is an isometric view game along the same lines as Baldur's Gate or Kingmaker or Pillars of Eternity but on a much smaller scale and area. In brief, you awaken with no memory of yourself or your world. The character generation system is deceptively simple but has a huge impact on how you interact with the setting (I can confirm this from 3 different replays with different builds). There is no "right build" but allows you to play according to your preferred style. The world is a fascinating place and there is a lot of backstory to digest but a lot of interesting metaphysical discussion to be had. Caveats: there is a lot of dialogue and a lot of reading, you cannot customize your character's physical nature (though you can change outfits almost at will), and no real combat. Your skills reflect different aspects of your personality and will give their opinions as their skill level increases. Delving into the personality vault is also fascinating but the game doesn't allow you to go too deep as opening slots uses the same currency as the skill upgrades and requires in-game time. And this ties into the final caveat, the game can feel rushed once you get past the seagate. Overall, the game is different enough to be worth your time if you like mysteries and puzzle games and unusual settings with a mundane veneer. Additionally, an upcoming DLC update will be adding complete voice acting to all of the dialogue which currently lacks it.

This is one of the most unique games I've ever played. At a glance it looks like an old school isometric RPG like Fallout 1/2, and it does mostly function that way, but the beauty is in the writing. There are normal stats, but there are a lot of stats that are internal/mental. You'll frequently argue with yourself mentally(and sometimes out loud to appropriate NPC effect) which can also make for interesting alternate solutions to problems.(or failures) WARNING: the subject matter can get dark, including thoughts of suicide, depression, racism, drug use, etc. It can get very political too, so you can explore having communist, liberal, facist, sexist viewpoints. While there is a LITTLE action, do not get this game if that's all you're looking for. This was one of the first games where right after I finished it, I restarted to try different options/stats. The story itself is nothing extraordinary, but it's the journey and internal exploration that makes it unique.