Disco Elysium

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

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  1. Vasot
    Jan 11, 2020
    4
    Boring, pretentious and overrated adventure type of game with few rpg elements. Text, text, text and more text to read combined with a weird plot and without any action at all (and it's supposed to be a detective noir "sigh") You just walk around and talk to random NPCs all the time that's mostly about it. I got bored after playing 5 hours and try reading column of texts it's 2019-2020 addBoring, pretentious and overrated adventure type of game with few rpg elements. Text, text, text and more text to read combined with a weird plot and without any action at all (and it's supposed to be a detective noir "sigh") You just walk around and talk to random NPCs all the time that's mostly about it. I got bored after playing 5 hours and try reading column of texts it's 2019-2020 add some more voice acting instead of adding huge text piles in my screen if i wanted to read a book i wouldn't play games. The gameplay is monotonous the texts are horrible long and the plot is not really interesting to keep playing. I don't understand the high scores… Expand
  2. Lawgun
    Dec 15, 2019
    4
    Wow, just another Tides of numenera but with some modern political references.
  3. TedDawson
    Nov 6, 2019
    4
    I feel bad because so many people love his game - I don't.

    Some Games are loved by critics and players - like Witcher 3. And like Witcher 3 everybody seems to love this game - I don't. Everybody seems to love the tv series "The Wire" - I don't. I find the game ... boring ... and ... to slow ... Characterbuild is so slow that the fire did not start - I also dont like the character    I feel bad because so many people love his game - I don't.

    Some Games are loved by critics and players - like Witcher 3. And like Witcher 3 everybody seems to love this game - I don't. Everybody seems to love the tv series "The Wire" - I don't.

    I find the game ... boring ... and ... to slow ...
    Characterbuild is so slow that the fire did not start - I also dont like the character - I dont like the partner ... I did not likt the (slowly) unfolding story .... it all felt like stereotypes everywhere

    Walk there - click here - talk there - Walk back - read - I cared less and less about the story and requested a refund after 2 hours playtime.

    Graphics are not my taste.

    Voice acting is awesome.    … Expand
  4. 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 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    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 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.    … Expand
  5. EgoSum
    Feb 20, 2021
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
    Saul Bellow.
    I got fooled (I recognize that!) and I wasted quite a few hours of my precious life reading overly pretentious "mountains" of texts in this simulacrum of "RPG". That's why I gave it 4 middle fingers.
    Lose your life in a library, not in searching a stone thrown in a pond that 100 wise men can not get out.
    (adapted from Saul Bellow.)
    You've been warned.
    PS:
    Cuno, you little sh*te.
    Edit:
    "Recruit Detective Kim Kitsuragi" (Steam) only 16.2% of players achieved this. A character encountered in Day 1 of the game.
    This game is such "masterpiece, a revolution in rpg genre" that 83.8% of the players (that means 5 out of 6!) did not even bother to continue it.
    I did not take into account GOG/Epic statistics, I'm pretty sure they fall in the same ballpark.
    You can believe whatever you want and praise as much as you want but facts are stubborn.    … Expand
  6. Fanchylul
    Feb 20, 2022
    4
    Душнейший перехваленный графоманский кусок кала, насколько вообще нужно не ценить свое время, чтобы в такое играть
  7. Mindurbidniss
    Jan 15, 2022
    4
    Buggy as hell. Do not believe the hype of this title. It's trash. The choice options are great but only if you agree with the preset choices. The controls are a mess, leading you down paths you never intended. There isn't really any true choice in the game if you look into it. Accept their (3) choices or default. I expected so much more from this.... It's not there
  8. gentlebenno
    Apr 8, 2022
    4
    The most pretentious game I've ever played. You're hooked for about 3-5 hours until you realize just how bored you are. Your "decisions" are cosmetic and have no impact to the base plot and thus are irrelevant.
    At one point, I died from a heart attack after kicking something. Was this meant to be funny? Or is the game just, that, stupid? Your answer will tell you whether or not you    The most pretentious game I've ever played. You're hooked for about 3-5 hours until you realize just how bored you are. Your "decisions" are cosmetic and have no impact to the base plot and thus are irrelevant.
    At one point, I died from a heart attack after kicking something. Was this meant to be funny? Or is the game just, that, stupid? Your answer will tell you whether or not you will like this game.    … Expand
  9. 0wn3df1x
    Mar 27, 2022
    4
    A mediocre isometric point and click quest mixed with a visual novel, filled with terrible and boring graphomania.
  10. ass_we_can
    Feb 8, 2022
    4
    Tons of useless and pretentious paragraphs aimed to impress those who have never read a single book in their life. Luckily for developers, there are plenty around.
  11. Ratingss
    Feb 17, 2021
    4
    Clearly inspired by Planescape , its the same old point n click adventure game but it uses some stats to lock you out of things, and make stupid people think its an rpg game, and this gimmick that makes the game seem interesting at first soon breaks it into a save scumming game because you will get stuck if you dont exploit it. The game also censors itself which is pretty dumb imo.
  12. PenetratorGod
    Sep 1, 2023
    4
    I played the game and it was definitely one of the worst and boring games I've ever seen and I deleted it. It's not a game, it's more like an e-book.

    First of all, this is not an open world game. I have no idea how it can be marketed like this, have the makers ever seen an open world game? The NPCs do nothing but sleep at night and the world is a small and frankly empty map. It's static    I played the game and it was definitely one of the worst and boring games I've ever seen and I deleted it. It's not a game, it's more like an e-book.

    First of all, this is not an open world game. I have no idea how it can be marketed like this, have the makers ever seen an open world game? The NPCs do nothing but sleep at night and the world is a small and frankly empty map. It's static and dead and never changes. It's not even a world, let alone an open world.

    It's not a real RPG either. Yes, you have stats and inventory and dice rolls, but that's it. Also, these are just game mechanics, there's a skill tree and inventory like in a lot of games, but they don't make a game an RPG game, and there's no real choice, because the whole difference is tied to dialog options, which you'll click on anyway, further destroying the role-playing part, and for a lot of things, choosing to do something will actually be a dice roll, and the mechanics of retrying the roll are overly complicated and too overwhelming to take the time.

    No matter what you do, you'll be dragged towards a single ending, which makes sense since it's a murder mystery, but as a player you have no choice, the only real choice is at the character creation screen, and from that point on it's pretty much set how you're going to play the next 30-40 hours of the game, which is filled with dialog just to drag it out.

    Yes, you can click on options in dialog windows, but the game will decide for you whether that happens or not, and it will mostly depend on your character's stats and some modifiers. Yes, again, it's an RPG mechanic, but as a player, you don't really get to choose anything or do anything.

    An example of a game where your choices really matter would be Detroit Become Human. Or even Witcher 3. Disco Elysium is nowhere near that level, Detroit is already not an RPG game, Witcher 3 is not a pure RPG, but supposedly Disco Elysium was marketed as open world and a pure RPG, but it's not even half as successful as those games.

    In short, Disco Elysium is not a game to be played even if it's free. I never understood what they liked about this game. It is one of the most overrated games of recent years.    … Expand
  13. Gonoru
    Oct 2, 2020
    3
    Dialogs are loooooooong, boring, and confusing. Although the setting is interesting, I culdnt finished, it felt as every quest took too long and I was bored
  14. rxerick
    Mar 29, 2022
    3
    I can't in good conscious recommend the game. This is my second sitdown with it, and it's just not fun. I got over it being text heavy and tried to lean into the story except there isn't much that lures you in. The pace of the game itself, as in the travel, is so god awfully slow. Dying of a heart attack because you kicked a trash can or turned on the lights doesn't have much comedic valueI can't in good conscious recommend the game. This is my second sitdown with it, and it's just not fun. I got over it being text heavy and tried to lean into the story except there isn't much that lures you in. The pace of the game itself, as in the travel, is so god awfully slow. Dying of a heart attack because you kicked a trash can or turned on the lights doesn't have much comedic value to start, but then to have to think about everything I have to trudge through again to get to that point. I don't *want* to save and reload constantly. I want my consequences to stick, but the consequences for *everything* can't be death. This falls under the game type of Undertale where folks are enjoying the story enough to overlook the complete absence of a game. It doesn't help that other reviews lead me to believe that choices don't actually matter.… Expand
  15. Topfpflanze
    Apr 23, 2021
    3
    A talkative, extraordinarily lame what-the-hell game where you don't get to see any perspective at all. It seems to make no sense whatsoever.
  16. alphaer
    Oct 28, 2019
    3
    Endless text windows (mostly not synchronised) - No real tutorial - completely un-motivating story/plot - no common theme noticeable, therefore no further motivation to move on - really tried it for 3-4 hours - in the end I was relieved quitting it
  17. satanicpuppy
    Nov 10, 2019
    3
    Understand, this is not an RPG. This is an adventure game, with skill checks. If you like clicking on everything in the world, and reading a *lot* of honestly pretty dry diatribes about race and politics, then this is the game for you.
  18. celebthread
    Dec 29, 2019
    3
    wish there was more here
    this just does not feel like a game, and feels like something that might cost $7-15 not 40
    I was pretty excited to try this I loved RPGs like divinity and torment. For the first 20 minutes of DE I did feel the immersion and felt hopeful about what was coming next. It wasn't until I started to understand the games mechanics a little bit more that I realized    wish there was more here
    this just does not feel like a game, and feels like something that might cost $7-15 not 40

    I was pretty excited to try this I loved RPGs like divinity and torment.
    For the first 20 minutes of DE I did feel the immersion and felt hopeful about what was coming next.

    It wasn't until I started to understand the games mechanics a little bit more that I realized how shallow of a game it actually is.

    You start off with 8 skill points that you can allocate that boost about 6 or 7 skills per point. You can be a strong character, a sensitive character, a smart character, or a sneaky? character. Throughout the game you'll level up and you can use more points, but as far as I can tell the only stat that really matters is the strength, because if you only allocate the 1 default strength your character has 1 health and will just die randomly when talking to people.

    Certain dialogue options in the game will 'check' the players skill to make sure you have enough to do certain things. Usually the cooler things require a check and there's an avg of 1 check per new person you meet.

    Since the game is split up into 4 trees str int etc. Only 1/4th the time are you gonna have the required skill to pass the check 100%. And you might think ok thats cool, but passing or not passing a check doesn't seem to matter at all. When I first started the game I played as the sensitive character and I passed a check to flirt with a woman in the start, but in the end she walks into the room and nothing more happens. Then when I played the strong character I failed the check -> she went into the room same exact outcome. As the strong character you can punch the kid Cuno in the face when he is mouthing off to you. But after that his dialogue is the same as if you played the intelligent character and didn't punch him.

    So I guess the gameplay of this is building your character to pass checks so you don't lose 1 health here 1 health there. Or so you can see more interesting dialogue. The problem is it just doesn't feel rewarding at all. Not to mention the characters are voiced for their first few lines of text its not til you reach the check that they stop being voice acted and you just have to read from then on. You seem to win the game by avoiding as many 'checks' as possible and choosing the safest route that wont cause you to lose health and die. So in a way the game rewards you for playing it in the most tedious way possible. If you are a stealthy character you can use your hand eye coordination to shoot down the corpse you are investigating, however if you fail this check or you are just not the stealth character there is a whole bunch of **** you have to do before you can bring the corpse down and preform an autopsy. If you are a strong character you can punch out a giant bodyguard thats blocking a path, but if you fail that check he kills you, or hurts you and you have to find a different way around. About 3/4 of the time you are playing you will wish you were a different type of character so you could pass the check that leads to the simplest resolution.

    If you're reading this and thinking ok this sounds kind of interesting please realize this is the only interesting part about the game, the rest of the game (like 95% of it) is just filler dialogue that has nothing to do with your stats or checks. It's just a visual novel pretty much. You can level up your stats really high. You might look at a stat like 'suggestion' that tells you it decides how much you can flirt with people and manipulate them and think OK i will level this up really high then my character will be able to flirt with everyone. NO. it doesn't make a difference to the game play at all. You will just have a 97% chance to flirt successfully with the one or two characters you can flirt with rather than 72% chance to flirt successfully.

    I don't want to say the game is horrible but I would not recommend it to anyone. I feel it's so much more likely for the average person to be completely bored by this game than it is for anyone to enjoy it. This is just not a game for your average person on STEAM. It's like a choose your own adventure book. If you can look past the fact that none of your choices or stats really make a difference in the end, and just read the book and enjoy the story then maybe this is something you can consider buying. For normal people that want to play something fun this is too much money for something you'll probably hate.    … Expand
  19. podzorama
    Apr 24, 2021
    2
    What am I missing here? This just ain't happening for me. Reams of static scenes reading endless streams of dialogue about...who knows what. Moving from place to place and interacting with objects and NPC's an absolute joke.
  20. kamgeforce
    Aug 19, 2021
    2
    If you like dialogue heavy games and have a testosterone levels and political views of a teenage female, this game is for you.
  21. robomartion
    Oct 27, 2019
    2
    A self-indulgent point-and-clicker that forces its unsolicited ideology on you every chance it gets. The only real choice you get is when you've had enough...
  22. Brucifer
    Nov 10, 2019
    2
    Gibberish writing masquerading as Pseudo-faux avant-garde pontifical erudisms. Not even an RPG, IMO. Its a graphic adventure/puzzle game
  23. valixt
    Oct 31, 2019
    2
    Pros: stylish interactive book
    Cons:
    No gamepad support (constant clicking where you need to go).
    Lots of loading screens.
    No fast travel + slow moving speed + constant clicking = uncomfortable gameplay.
  24. 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 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 playingIf 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.… Expand
  25. hulkbin
    Dec 29, 2019
    2
    I am sorry but I really do not understand why this game gets such a high score.

    I would give 9 or 10 out of 10 if this was supposed to be a Novel. But as a game, 2 is the maximum I would give. It is so boring and slow, even though u accept the fact that everything should be solved by a dialogue, the dialogue itself (alot of them) are not story related or even related to the    I am sorry but I really do not understand why this game gets such a high score.

    I would give 9 or 10 out of 10 if this was supposed to be a Novel.

    But as a game, 2 is the maximum I would give.

    It is so boring and slow, even though u accept the fact that everything should be solved by a dialogue, the dialogue itself (alot of them) are not story related or even related to the situation at all sometimes.

    If u want choices in a game, I'd rather play Detroit become human. If u want some RPG + dialogue choices, I'd rather play The Outer Worlds.

    This is a very good Novel but not a Game.    … Expand
  26. Fousch
    Oct 19, 2019
    2
    It's just a reading simulator. The devs should have at least hire voice actors to voice the endless dialogs. At this state it feels like a book reading and not a game. It burns you pretty fast.
  27. lb2001
    Jan 2, 2023
    2
    This game is highly overrated... yes there is a great atmosphere, dialogs are interesting and most caracters are complex, but overall the game is boring because burden with tons of text to read, too many inconsistencies in puzzles. There is a deep sense of being highly constrained in this game and unbearable loading times. A very niche game. Unless you are a hardcore rpg player don't buyThis game is highly overrated... yes there is a great atmosphere, dialogs are interesting and most caracters are complex, but overall the game is boring because burden with tons of text to read, too many inconsistencies in puzzles. There is a deep sense of being highly constrained in this game and unbearable loading times. A very niche game. Unless you are a hardcore rpg player don't buy this game. Many SF/dystopic books provide a similar but greater experience… Expand
  28. emorcen
    Oct 16, 2019
    1
    Clumsy controls and an ultra-slow burn. Pretentious writing and generally restrictive choices in dialogues. Another one of those titles hyped by hipsters or people who never grew up playing titles better executed.
  29. gstate
    Nov 10, 2019
    1
    It's the self destructive, ostentatious, circumlocutory, nihilistic, preachy politicized RPG Reddit has been praying for UwU.

    I often find the same lot who love games like this looking down on Anime-y type games, so lets be clear on one thing: this game is just as much fan-service for those nervous about whether their liberal arts degree in Russian lit was good financial decision as is    It's the self destructive, ostentatious, circumlocutory, nihilistic, preachy politicized RPG Reddit has been praying for UwU.

    I often find the same lot who love games like this looking down on Anime-y type games, so lets be clear on one thing: this game is just as much fan-service for those nervous about whether their liberal arts degree in Russian lit was good financial decision as is some harem anime game.

    Lets also be clear on point 2: giving you the option to whole hardheartedly agree with the devs politics or simply remain silent on political issues is not "choice", that is the same "choice" given to all those in authoritarian regimes, wholehearted agreement or silence.

    I applaud the devs for taking a position on something instead of having some watered down "taking over the world is widely regarded as a bad move" message. But there is such a thing as nuance. And this had all the political nuance of COD's "FREEEEDUMMM!" message on the opposite end of the political spectrum, but run through a thesaurus several times and given over to undergrads who specialize in the art of maximizing word count on their essay requirements.    … Expand
  30. UstInsan
    May 20, 2022
    1
    The game is a complete disgrace, I can say I hated the game. I have never seen a game as bad as this game in my life, I finished the game and I do not recommend you to download a game I hate, even the worst game I have ever played, I can say that the game really sucks. Do not download, I do not recommend downloading.
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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. Adventure Gamers
    Apr 10, 2020
    100
    A murder mystery set in a rich, fictional setting, Disco Elysium is told with sweeping profundity and hilarious absurdity. With no combat to impede story progression, this is a choice-driven role-playing adventure that deftly raises the bar of quality for the medium.
    Read full review
  2. Gamersky
    Mar 28, 2020
    95
    Disco Elysium is a very special RPG that most of your time will be spent on reading. It features a well-written detective story, various tricky skill trees, and memorable characters. This game might be the best one of its kind. But if you can't stand reading for a long time, just don't try it.
    Read full review
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 28, 2020
    80
    Unconventionally conceived adventure game with excellent visuals and world worked out to the smallest detail. But it will satisfy only those of you who are not afraid of the huge amount of English dialogue, because it makes up the vast majority of gameplay. [Issue#299]
See all critic reviews »