Disco Elysium's communist fans have basically ensured that my initial response to its art style (bad) will never be questioned. I just have almost zero interest in ever playing it bc the way people treat it as a lightning bolt of pure Communist Truth is *obnoxious*.
the game is much better than its fans
So I'm told.
Its approach to reinterpreting standard RPG mechanics is actually inspired IMO but gets overlooked in discourse focused on the game's self-critical politics.
"you need to level up a point in racism in order to successfully communicate with the weird phrenologist doorman but don't worry you still have enough points left to be a level 6 Communist / 4 Drug Fiend."
The challenge on this front is that Disco Elysium's meta commentary is really designed around the 25 people who have replayed Fallout 2 so many times that they have an optimized build designed to pass as many skill checks as possible.
Which is fascinating for those 25 people, but will generally pass over the head of people who haven't dipped their toes in the human sewage of RPG Codex.
I do think ideas functioning basically as classes and your psyche being your party work really well even if the player lacks the full meta knowledge to appreciate it.
But some of the game's best moments are only available through failure. The game occasionally falls back on that kind of optimization design, but for most of the game failure leads to rewarding or interesting outcomes.
My favorite ability in the game can only be achieved by monumentally fucking up the initial investigation so badly you vomit.
That's what I'm talking about, though. The game's meta commentary is designed to comment on people who optimize uber alles, with passing checks often being harmful and failing checks being beneficial.
It even includes stuff like jokes about how everyone immediately turns on auto-run and has a complete lack of combat encounters. All of this is very clever, but really will only land as commentary for a pretty small circle.
I'm not sure I felt punished by success there though. It was a great little moment and I'm glad I encountered it but missing it wouldn't lock me out of some big side quest later. It was just a fun moment.
In theory I see where a fully optimized build trying to do everything possible needs to fail a check here and then succeed later etc., but the game never asks that of you and (more importantly IMO) doesn't reward you for that playstyle.
If you are doing a full 100% walkthrough build or whatever, you aren't going to have "fun surprise moments" because that's not how you're consuming the game. That's fine too, if that is how someone wants to have fun, but I don't think it's fair to hold against the game itself.
Someone told me this before I played it and that I shouldn’t save scum for failed checks and I’m really glad they did. It’s fundamentally a story *about* failure: a failed cop, a failed revolution, a failed relationship
And importantly it isn't South Park. It's a story about failure but not about cruelty and mockery.
in retrospect it's kind of crazy how good i found FO2 to be and how many times i replayed it given how flawed character design/development is in the game. there are basically no real tradeoffs because so many of the skills are underdeployed (kinda lazy game dev tbh)
It's SO GOOD at bringing the TTRPG experience to a single player game. I know this is the politics website but that's the strongest part of the game
everything i have heard is that it’s a great story and a lousy game
I think it's a pretty good game with a great story.
The game is extremely good, but the play style is out of fashion.
yes, it feels a lot more along the lines of Tides of Numenera
Unpopular opinion: it's a mechanically fascinating game wasted on people no sane person would want to spend time with in a setting no sane person would want to spend time in.
"But it speaks to the human condition in a deep and profound way." Yeah, y'know, there's bits and pieces of the human condition that I feel like I've heard enough from already thanks.
do you like visual novels or ttrpgs? you'll probably like it
i do not
Disco Elysium is a 10/10 game but cilantro tastes like soap to some people and there's no solution except not eating cilantro.
It's one gigantic choose-your-own-adventure book. With pictures and voiceovers. So it's not your typical gameplay, but it's still a beautifully crafted game.
totally depends on what you want in a gameplay system IMO
that’s fair, my favorite games are doom and zelda, and tedious dialogue/cutscenes aggravate me
I really can second this, I've been playing it a bit and... I don't know that you would like it, Penitent, it's a bit low power compared to the stuff you're normally into, but it's absolutely not... trying to do the things that its fans on here would imply it is
This is good to know, because that has in fact been a major reason I haven’t played it yet.
thirding this. the game is deeply skeptical of pretty much every organized ideological principle that it offers you the opportunity to explore. I don’t really think that a deep or rigorous engagement with the game as it’s written leads to the takeaways that some of its fans think it has, but.
I can second this. Honestly it’s less about politics and more about the impact the clash of ideologies had on the city and its people. It’s mostly about how people and places rebuild their identities. (Haven’t finished it yet though)
I have had people yell at me that the game is Communism Uber Alle from people who think that’s great and from people that think that’s awful but having played it thoroughly a couple times now I struggle to take any throughline away from it that isn’t
“believing in something is important but what that something is specifically doesn’t matter. Except fascism, fuck that specifically.” Which, I mean, fair.
It seems worth commenting that this seems deeply Existentialist, regardless of anything else.
Existentialism is a fairly typical well for RPGs of all stripes to draw from, DE's main difference is just the amount of time it spends on the philosophy. It is a game that is less about the thing you're doing and more about the kind of person you want to be while you do it.
In particular, although I never read it, I had a thought of, "Isn't there a novel by Camus that has exactly this conclusion?" (Pick something to believe in; it doesn't matter what; Nazis go to hell.)
Which either really works for you or really doesn't.
There is a clear melancholy sadness over the failure of the Revolution to be sure but it beats you over the head about your choices if you agree with that just as much as if you don’t
The Rick & Morty of video games
I have heard the same from many people, but it’s fans really have damaged any desire I have to play it)
That Poasting While Gay account honestly carried that entire burden on their shoulders alone, and still succeeded in turning me completely off of the game.
Subtext is for cowards
I mean, nobody criticises communists better than communists.
It’s not really a political game, it’s about a lonely sadsack detective in a world that’s ending trying to find purpose again. If it’s about anything, it’s about depression.
Despite what the crazy fans may tell you, at its hearts it's just a super fun detective story.