GOTY for me for sure. I haven't enjoyed an RPG this much since Planescape Torment or Age of Decadence.

The only possible negative: I'm not sure the game has as much replay value as PST, let alone AoD (the latter particularly featured relatively short play throughs and one only saw a part of the game each time).

I was able to pass the vast majority of (white) checks in the game with persistence, drugs, clothing and a little luck. Which is cool in a way, but reduces replay value.

I definitely didn't get to unlock, let alone complete, all of the thoughts though - at least 1/3 or more I never unlocked, and I still had around 4-5 to complete by the end of the game. So there's that.

Plus of course there are a few ways certain events can change (including the ending), so there's that too.

Overall, I rather enjoyed the ride from total fuck-up to fascist junky hero cop. Not sure how I was considered a bit of a racist though - possibly related to the fascism? (I also don't see how fascist == "misogynist", though that could be related to... other things I won't spoil).

The ending was actually rather satisfying - although there was the definite feeling of rail-roading towards the end. It was kind of annoying that I couldn't follow up myself on the most obvious discrepancy of the murder until right at the end (though this was lessened somewhat by the PC's own comments of "Why didn't we check this out BEFORE?").

And sure I got played by a few people. One of them I was sure of almost straight away, but I'm also sure the decision I made saved a bunch of people. And organised crime isn't that bad when there's little other order. The other one, well that was sort of expected too - but they earned it I thought. ;)

I'm sure I'll fire this up again at some point, see if I can bring about the apocalypse this time!

For anyone who's gotten there though - does anyone know when you get to drink the blue stuff with the neck tie? He/it/whatever convinced me to buy it (for $3 so who's complaining!), but I never got the opportunity to drink. I suspect it would have helped immensely in the church. I was able to solve this anyway (thankfully, since the payoff was totally worth it!) since I had high logic, so some more clothes, some drugs, and some other clues managed to make the probability better than even - but I feel like I missed out on something there. Could it be because I wasn't wearing that tie at the right time/place?

It's definitely up there for me, but it suffers from the fact that I played PST for the first time in May, so the memories are still fresh. It will also have to battle with Pathologic 2(and maybe Outer Worlds, who knows?) for the top spot. To be honest I never felt like PST had a lot of replay value either, but I'm the kind of guy who only tries out those options that feel comfortable to him; that said it might be better than Disco Elysium in that regard. I never heard of AoD before so I can't comment about that.

Also, this game definitely doesn't feel "colossal" to me, at least compared to others RPGs, like the developers claimed before release; in fact it seems smaller than PST itself, which is mostly confined to the city of Sigil until the last part of the game, and it reflects on the time it took me to complete those games: 70 hours for PST, 60 for Disco Elysium. It must be said that this is at least in part understandable due to the lack of combat, and therefore dungeons, in the game. Come to think of it, it's quite remarkable how long this game manages to keep going just on the strength of its dialogue, but still, "colossal" it isn't.
The title of biggest RPG for me belongs to DOS 2 or Pathfinder: Kingmaker(I'm only considering RPGs with an isometric/top-down view). Do keep in mind that I never player Fallout 1 and 2(not for lack of trying, they just feel too old and cluncky), Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Arcanum and probably others I never heard about. Yeah, I started as a 3-3-3 cop and completed all the white checks - except for two that weren't available anymore after completing other tasks first; I only tried reloading the game with red checks, but kept it to a minimum(for example, when I failed that last red check in a certain area full of reeds... with a 97% chance of success...). I unlocked around 30 thoughts, out of 50-something I think? There were also two or three thoughts that I refused on purpose(both communism and fascism, maybe one or two more, I also got the thought for racism but refused to internalize it).

My run was focused on trying to get Harry's life back on track, so no drinking, smoking or snorting drugs, instead I tried to make up for bad/shitty things I did whenever I could(I went from sorry cop to regular cop over the course of the game), I got rid of The Expression, I stopped a drug lab from being built, I shaved(you don't look better) and I mostly tried to behave like a normal person(the further I got into the game the harder it was to keep things sane because some options are simply hilarious, but it was worth it in the end. My only sin was indulging in just a little corruption(alright, I took almost all bribes except the most ridiculous one), which meant that by the end of the game I was considered a mix of a moralist and an ultra-liberal "hustler".

Without saying anything specific, that call and the last dream... It was. So. Bad. They left me ashamed, and also angry because of a specific remark in the dream. This game definitely gets dark sometimes. Do you mean the 98% alcohol bottle? I tried to drink it immediately after getting it and my brain(I think Endurance or Pain Threshold) said "You won't be killing yourself today, just sell it for money".


I too was played by at least two people(another one hid one important thing from me for a while but overall was surprisingly honest), but I don't really regret it because I think I ended up saving the most lives.

I agree that it's definitely not "colossal" - but to be honest, almost all of those longer games have a ton of padding in them, usually in the form of boring dungeons (or dungeon-like areas) filled with repetitive combat. Personally I prefer games that are more "focused", as they tend to not drag out the ending quite so much. Filler combat sucks - Wasteland 2 is a great example of far too much boring crap in a game just to make it longer, which IMO ruined that game for me.

Shorter games mean I'm more likely to replay it, and more often (if it's good). Although I liked Fallout 2 (despite it's clunky control system), I still only completed it a total of three times in all the years I've owned it.

I also shaved and got rid of the "expression" - it was definitely a downgrade each time. He looked way better with the cheesy grin and the chops. I am kind of interested to see what he'd look like without the expression but WITH the hair still on...

I've since read somewhere what that "special 98%" stuff is actually for - it seems to require talking to the group of drunks again after meeting Ruby but before the big shootout - the tie basically wants you to use him and the alcohol to make a molotov cocktail! So nothing to do with the "pale" after all, but potentially another option for the shootout?

I agree there are some downright depressing bits in there. I thought it was kind of cool how at times - especially when failing certain checks, whether passives or active white or red - you effectively lose control of the situation as one of your brain parts takes over (and fucks things up royally). It was also interesting how sometimes even the "success" checks end up giving you crap advice.

As for the one who hid something important - if it's who I think it was, I was able to find out her deal and even had the option to arrest her - but decided not to, because I figured what they had done didn't come under my jurisdiction and I liked their attitude. There's a brilliant conversation you have at this time with most of your brain parts, where only volition has things figured out and the others are "compromised". I thought at the time that they were still lying (kind of obvious given their "profession" IMO) - and it turns out I was right - but it also ended up being helpful (though I'm not sure that "help" really added anything substantial, since my visual calculus had already come to the same conclusion - well it was one of the options anyway - not sure if arresting them actually impacts anything, but I'm going to go for that next time).

Interestingly, instead of using the "ultimate evidence" from the body to nail this person, I ended up using the confession of this person to uncover the ultimate evidence from the body instead - thought it was cool how it's possible to go both ways here.

The other person - getting played by them probably saved lives. But again, something I'll have to see next game - will there be regime change? Or will there just be more blood? More importantly, is it possible to actually bring forth the apocalypse (sooner)?

There is one thing that I will definitely have to check out - since it seems so amazingly minor, and discovering this tidbit didn't reveal anything since I had already made my decision on it. Basically, the other dead body - I took the case, but just wrote it up as an accident. There's a kebab in the bin next to him, but it's not hinted at all that it's important. Then, via some unrelated talk (and possibly a skill check), I visited Evrert (much later - after already having relayed the news to the station and the spouse) - and he mentioned some crazy killer who killed a guy with a kebab! I really hope this ends up being some amazingly-well-hidden killer angle, though it wouldn't surprise me if it's either a massive coincidence or was something that was cut - I don't expect to actually catch any kebab-killers. But damn I hope it unlocks some crazy thought or something...