Disco Elysium

 PC
  • Publisher: ZA/UM
  • Release Date: Oct 15, 2019
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 64 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 63 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 64
  3. Negative: 0 out of 64
  1. Metro GameCentral
    Oct 21, 2019
    70
    A fiercely original take on traditional computer role-playing games that often seems unrefined and self-indulgent but is still a welcome shake-up of genre norms.
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In Progress & Unscored

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  1. Eurogamer
    Oct 18, 2019
    A verbose and rich psychological roleplaying game that doesn't offer enough choice in the role you play.
  2. Kotaku
    Nov 11, 2019
    There’s unexpected joy in the little moments of Disco Elysium.
  3. PCWorld
    Oct 16, 2019
    I also wish Disco Elysium were shorter, if only because I’d love to play through it as a completely different character on a completely different trajectory. Pick up a smoking habit! Tell everyone I lost my memory! Beat people up! I rarely get to replay games, especially ones that are 50-plus hours long. It’s hard to imagine seeing everything Disco Elysium has in store. Maybe that’s a good thing though. After all, what I’m getting is mine—something Jon Ingold told me when I first demoed Heaven’s Vault, the idea being that you can only have such a unique and personal connection to a game if it’s also possible to miss out on other parts. And hey, I have a loooooooong way to go in this first playthrough. That’s worth celebrating as well. I can’t wait to see what’s still in store. I think I might even find my gun soon. If I’m lucky.
  5. Polygon
    Nov 5, 2019
    The way the game’s systems interact, holding true to their own rules while allowing you to stray so far in multiple directions, turns Disco Elysium into a pure role-playing experience that feels wondrous and unique compared to its peers. I never feel like my lack of certain skills hinders my ability to progress; it simply pushes me toward more interesting solutions. When I play Disco Elysium, it plays back. [Polygon Recommends]
  6. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Oct 15, 2019
    A masterpiece, but flawed, and proof positive that if ZA/UM can do flawed masterpiece for their first outing, they might already be chipping away the flaws in time for their next.
  7. The Jimquisition
    Nov 5, 2019
    Disco Elysium is one of the best roleplaying games you could hope to experience, provided you're looking for something savagely dark, political, and introspective...Bearing a brutal wit and a deep, contemplative story about depression, addiction, societal struggles, and everything in between, Disco Elysium is one of the most fascinating games you can play this year.

Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best PC Game of 2019
15
#15 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1436 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,203 out of 1436
  2. Mixed: 96 out of 1436
  3. Negative: 137 out of 1436
  1. Ubykh
    Oct 15, 2019
    10
    A unique Game of a kind, that revolutionize the RPGs with a level of writing rarely achieved elsewhere.
    True Detective plus Bukowski meets    A unique Game of a kind, that revolutionize the RPGs with a level of writing rarely achieved elsewhere.
    True Detective plus Bukowski meets Pixar’s Inside Out where your thoughts and psyche are your skills and they talk to you.
    Just a masterpiece.    … Full Review »
  2. OfCourse
    Oct 18, 2019
    4
    First i wanted to note that i played Planescape: Torment right before the release of this game, so any comparisons i make have nothing to doFirst i wanted to note that i played Planescape: Torment right before the release of this game, so any comparisons i make have nothing to do with nostalgia or rose tinted goggles.
    Unlike the greatest written game of all time - Planescape, Disco Elysium falls into every possible pitfall of its genre. In no particular order:
    1) The writing is bloated and self-indulgent.
    Unlike what most people claim, Planescape was very concise and to the point. It respected your time and didn't waste it on meaningless paragraphs on paragraphs of text, that in the best postmodernist fashion mean absolutely nothing to the player. Planescape was never a diarrhea of words. Lore dumps were contained and almost entirely skipable(especially important on the subsequent playthroughs). Planescape trusted you to be smart enough and figure out less important parts of the world yourself.
    Disco Elysium is the opposite of that. Prepare to spend tens of hours of playtime on the text that has absolutely nothing to do with the tasks at hand or the dialogue. It came to the point that i now believe that you could cut 2/3 of the text and the players wont miss anything but fluff. The fluff is not as terrible and boring as in Pillars of Eternity, but there's more of it and its there to pad the playtime and validate someones degree in writing.
    2) Show - don't tell.
    The game is all "tell - don't show". You will read so much interesting(and unnecessary) history and lore that you will ask yourself, "why im in this boring **** looking for bottles, instead of those cool places".
    3) The humor is cringeworthy.
    Authors seem to think that "im so random an quirky" is funny. Needless to say if you don't like this type of humor, all of it will fall flat on its face.
    4) Politics and other controversial topics are all bark, no bite.
    Authors said that they will tackle politics and they did. Its done in the most limpdicked way possible, consisting mostly of "im a nihilist Morty" style of writing. One moment the game pretends to be edgy and dark(you can kill a minor and say you want to **** one), another its censoring words that you used when you were in a middle school. In the SAME scene.
    It laughs at every stance(by representing them as stupid), while trying(and failing) to pretend that it doesn't have a dog in the fight. If you do all 4 political stances as a separate playthroughs you will easily figure out what are the politics of the authors.
    5) The only actual gameplay is "collect the bottles".
    At first i though it was a joke aimed at Life is Strange, with its meme bottle collecting gameplay. How wrong i was. The rest of the game is walking and reading simulator with a dice game thrown in every once in a while.
    Say what you want about Planescape being a book and not a game, but it had a robust rule set, decent combat and fantastic spellcasting. On top of having better writing and story.
    6) Soundtrack is all over the place and almost never fits.
    Quality of the OST varies greatly and yet again reminded me of LiS. I also currently playing Persona 5 and i nearly threw up in my mouth after listening to some of the Elysium compositions. Ironically soundtrack of the game is a far cry from the fabled "disco life".
    7) Environments are nothing special.
    Given the lack of gameplay, one would expect it to look absolutely fantastic. In my opinion(and this is the first and the last time i will use this word) Planescape looked more atmospheric and interesting.
    8) Bugs
    I started the game with get the shoe quest being impossible to finish because the second shoe disappeared after i interacted with it, without giving me the usual internal dialogue. Reloading fixed nothing, i had to quit the game and start a new one.
    Dialogue window sometimes locks up with no text being displayed, and no option to close the window.
    I wasted a day researching an idea, only to then notice that it bugged out and stopped despite claiming that its internalizing.
    Some other minor bugs i cant remember from the top of my head.

    There are several other problems i have with the game and its developers, but i will not drag this out any longer and force you to read another blanket of text. Leave that to the game.    … Full Review »
  3. AllNewSuperfake
    Oct 16, 2019
    2
    If you are easily impressed by pretentious walls of text and think that a mixture of stereotype dark noir characters, alcoholism andIf you are easily impressed by pretentious walls of text and think that a mixture of stereotype dark noir characters, alcoholism and unappealing environments make for a deep experience, you are in for a treat. Just soak in that negativity, revel in pointless exchanges and a skill tree that adds a constant rain of arbitrary checks with every step you take. Never forget that you are playing a masterpiece, and every seemingly wasted minute you put into this will inevitably elevate you above those who dare question it's genius. Don't forget the planetscape reference.… Full Review »
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