We Played Disco Elysium for Sad Boy Summer 

As another summer comes to a close, so does our annual Backlog Challenge. This year, we voted on several options — Titanfall 2’s campaign, Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen, Kingdom Hearts, and Disco Elysium. We embarked on a group (re)play of Disco Elysium, a beloved indie in which players take on the role of an amnesiac, alcoholic cop trying to solve a murder during an economic depression. You know, fun, happy summer stuff! 

I played it years ago, and I was hyped when fellow writer Matt suggested it for this year’s challenge. While there is a core central story, players have a lot of freedom in how they progress, including how they build out their version of the character with D&D-like stats and different conversational approaches. I’m excited to hear how everyone else’s journeys into Revachol went.

So, without further ado, here are our thoughts on ZA/UM’s 2019 hit, Disco Elysium (with a few spoiler-free questions at the beginning!). 

– Amanda Tien, Editor

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Playing Disco Elysium 

#1: Disco Elysium has been an indie darling for years. Did it live up to your expectations? Or if you replayed, how did it feel upon return?

Amanda Tien: Disco Elysium originally released in 2019, but only for PC, which I didn’t have at the time. I really love detective games, so I eagerly awaited my chance to play it. It received major updates in 2021 and was re-launched as Disco Elysium – The Final Cut. That’s when I tried it first, and I passionately wrote about how The Final Cut was my Game of the Year because it particularly resonated with me during the pandemic. I described how, in spite of and perhaps because of the bleakness, it gave me hope. Replaying it, it’s still good, but I started thinking more how it has since influenced other games. For example, the narrator here totally reminds me of the one in Baldur’s Gate 3 — a sumptuous voice describing scenes and making static observations more exciting. 

Vaughn Hunt: I was vaguely familiar with the game thanks to other writers here, so I was excited to see it as an option in our Summer Challenge and immediately voted for it. I can happily report that Disco Elysium lived up to expectations and exceeded them by a lot. The narrative functions are expansive and deeply intellectually critical, which I loved. The narrator was hilarious, and I loved all the various internal voices — a treat for those who love detective stories and anyone who loves absurd comedy. The only technical issue I ran into was a save problem where the game wouldn’t let me save unless I shut it down first, losing a few hours’ progress.

Anthony Franklin: I haven’t spent a ton of time in the CRPG genre, but I’d heard so many good things about it that I felt compelled to grab Disco Elysium – The Final Cut when I saw it on sale. It’s been sitting in my backlog list for a while, and this was the perfect excuse to really dig in. I’m glad to say it’s everything I’d been told it was and more. The writing and the gameplay felt so specific to what I like in games that it made me mad I didn’t fire it up sooner.

Clint Morrison, Jr.: This was my second time completing Disco Elysium, and my fourth or fifth time attempting to restart it. I continue to find the writing and art style compelling, even if I think the game’s often-commented-on politics are not nearly as deep as I would like.

Sean Cabot: I first played Disco Elysium – The Final Cut only a few years after it came out, on the Nintendo Switch of all systems (on which it famously does not run well). I didn’t fully know what to make of it at the time. Frankly, it’s still a lot to parse even now. That said, there really isn’t anything like it. Nothing with this verve of dialogue, this uniquely desolate and yet strangely hopeful tone. Even if you never fully understand it, you can probably get why it’s so beloved.

Despite my best efforts, I could not fully commit to the Fascist stuff because the sheer disdain that your partner Kim Kitsuragi has for it is soul-crushing. Few games actually make you feel this much like a jerk for doing or even just saying bad stuff.

Sean

Scarlet Hardy: Disco Elysium has been on my backlog for a good while now, and this is my first time trying it. I haven’t finished it yet, but so far, I’m really enjoying it. It took me a little bit to completely wrap my head around how the skill checks worked as well as the leveling up, but once I got into a rhythm with it, I was quickly enamored with the art and writing of the game. 

Donovan Harrell: My expectations for Disco Elysium primarily extended to the game’s quality. I’d only heard great things about Disco, especially its writing and storytelling. It’s been sitting in my backlog for years. But, now that I’ve put nearly 20 hours into it, I can safely say that it blew me away. It easily exceeded my expectations for dense, witty writing and unfathomably deep world-building. But I struggled, and still struggle, with the finer elements of the system.

Disco Elysium is far from the action-centered gaming experiences that I normally go for. I think the only other CRPG game I’ve ever played is Baldur’s Gate 3. These games remind me of sitting down with a good fantasy book; sometimes, though, it takes me a while to get into the mindset for it. I eventually got deeply invested into this game’s world through its politics, history, absurd characters, and twisted sense of humor.

#2: The game has a very strong aesthetic and a very specific type of Dungeons & Dragons-inspired gameplay. What did you make of the vibes? 

Amanda: The visual style still impresses me. Disco Elysium has a really specific look. I love the vibe of a hand-painted background or a character portrait. They’re also not afraid of the protagonist HDB just…being ugly, which I think is kind of charming! The music and voice acting is good, very appropriately emo. It’s also just really funny. I think you need that humor to counteract how dark and depressing it can be.

Vaughn: The art style is dope. It feels like sketch art and graffiti fused for this sharp, moody aesthetic that is unconventional in the sense it really obscures anything you view. A perfect medium not just for the ugliness of HBD, but the world of Revachol as well.

Anthony: I was really into the art style. I looked at it almost like playing in first person — I imagined that’s what the world looks like to HBD in a drunken stupor, hazy and like a painting.

Clint: The game possesses an aesthetic hook that burrows into your psyche. I find the water-color quality to be both haunting and beautiful. 

Sean: The game has a striking combination of artful, deliberate design being used to present some truly bizarre and — in some cases — disgusting people. I agree with Anthony — even when you can clearly tell what someone looks like, it feels filtered through HDB’s imperfect perception of reality. While the environment and models look reasonably like real objects and people, your impression of the world is always colored by something more imprecise and human.

Scarlet: The visual aesthetic is probably one of my favorite video game art styles of all time. It genuinely felt difficult to close the game each time because of how insanely beautiful it is. I’m also completely obsessed with the art used for each of the skills in the game; they look simultaneously gorgeous and somewhat sinister.

Donovan: I’m with you, Scarlet. I’m still in awe of the artwork representing each element of the RPG system. I would definitely hang paintings of the art for Inland Empire, Empathy and Conceptualization in my apartment. In all, I’d describe the game’s art style as the vibes of Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco Goya mixed with the delirious, gothic whimsy of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. And communism. 

#3. Who was your favorite NPC in Disco Elysium? 

Amanda: HDB’s partner, Kim Kitsuragi, is my favorite character in the game by far (so much so that I’ve been tempted, multiple times, to buy a ridiculously expensive $500 jacket). I love that he’s from a mixed Asian American background (even though there, like, isn’t America here). He’s funny, nice, kind, and just good. Actually, he might be just one of my favorite NPCs ever. That being said, I also still think fondly of Annette, a geeky little girl that hides and reads books all day because… low-key same.

Vaughn: The only Kim K I care about — the lieutenant. 

Anthony: Cuno. I couldn’t have guessed that he would be so integral to my playthrough just based on the way he was introduced. I’m used to there being an annoying kid in a game, but they’re usually a throwaway character, meant only for that one interaction. But he ended up making me laugh and being relevant to some quests in my game, and that was incredible. 

Clint: I find the relationship between rival neighbors and pétanque players René Arnoux and Gaston Martin to be one of the best in the game. Their irritation with one another (the Fascist and the contrarian) not only does some heavy world-building but showcases how “lived in” the world is. 

Sean: Kim, but that’s almost too easy. He’s such a patient, caring soul that you have to wonder whether or not he’s right to give you as much trust as he does. Call Me Mañana, one of the harbor workers, has a similar easing presence, but you don’t talk to him that much. Klaasje, the dancer, is probably one of the most interesting characters to talk to if only because you’re never truly able to get a good handle on her, and at a certain point even your own instincts seem incapable of assessing her objectively.

Scarlet: At risk of completely echoing what’s already been said, Kim Kitsuragi is undoubtedly my favorite (at least at this point in my playthrough anyway). His dialogue is always brilliant, and I love hearing him explain the context of the world more. As a character, he really helped me feel immersed in the story and world. 

Donovan: Kim can’t lie to me. I know he wanted to see his car sitting on dubs, riding those confiscated spinners. And I couldn’t deny him that pleasure, so I just collected a bunch of bottles and begged strangers for money. And I’m with you, Anthony, my second favorite was Cuno. He was truly an awful little shit. But his dialogue is hilarious, and I feel like he just needed a better island to grow up on.

#4. Do you think you’d ever play Disco Elysium again? Why or why not? And would you recommend it to a friend? Or, if you haven’t finished it yet, do you think you’ll stay with it? 

Amanda: ZA/UM as a studio has had a lot of controversies and issues over the past several years, and that’s continued; they just laid people off after their new game Zero Parades: For Dead Spies didn’t perform as well as they wanted. Still, Disco Elysium has become a kind of modern cult classic, and I think it’s a great game for all (adult) players to try at least once. It’s a beautiful game that I think will continue to influence other developers for years to come. I did really struggle to replay it for a variety of reasons (for one thing, I was tempted to just make the same choices) but I was still impressed.

Vaughn: I finished the game and immediately wanted to boot up another run to explore all the paths and experiences I didn’t see or find the first time. The game feels and plays like a cult classic. By the end, you don’t expect a sequel or ask for more — it feels like a really unique experience. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys political satire or loves a good detective story because the narrative in this game is as strong as the art style is unique. That said, I’m with you, Amanda — it’s important to acknowledge the controversy surrounding the studio and not to expect a sequel, at least not one you’d want to play.

Anthony: I’d consider giving it another go with a different character build that feels more natural to my playstyle. But it’s hard to say for sure. I’m glad I gave it a chance but as Amanda and Vaughn have mentioned, the way ZA/UM has been operating makes it hard to feel good about another run. 

Clint: It took me five years to complete a second playthrough. I imagine it’ll be another five years before I pick it up again. 

Sean: Honestly? I would. If only just to see some of the other wild options and side quests that I didn’t have time to get to. When you first play through the game, it seems fairly straightforward, but there’s so much there to overlook that a replay only feels natural. Eventually, doing the Fascist and Libertarian quests feels a bit weird given my Communist playthrough, but then again, HDB isn’t a role model however you play him.

Scarlet: I’m still currently working on my first playthrough, but I imagine I’ll start up another run at some point, just to explore the other possible choices. However, I doubt it will be any time soon. The game can be fairly heavy, and it requires quite a lot of focus as to not miss any small details (especially on a first playthrough), so it isn’t something I’d be playing when I feel like relaxing.  

Donovan: I also didn’t finish this game in time after losing progress from a nasty save glitch. But I certainly intend on finishing it and replaying it with a different build. I leaned on Intellect and Psyche this time, but I’d love to see what options a more physical build would open up. 

Scarlet: Okay, one more thing, but I love this little “Dancing Queen” animation video. I don’t think it has any spoilers in it.

Sean: That reminds me of one of my favorite edits ever that showcases the story with an alt-J song, but it has a lot of spoilers in it, so definitely don’t watch it until you’ve finished!

Editor’s Note: Which perfectly brings us to… The spoiler chat! A few of our writers were not able to finish the game by the time of publication, so only those who have hit credits have filled out the rest of the spoiler-heavy chat below.

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Our Builds and RPG Choices in Disco Elysium 

#5. What kind of build-out did you do for HDB? How did it affect your gameplay? 

Amanda: When I play any type of role-playing game, I almost always go for the smooth-talker. I love seeing how far high Charisma can get me. Any type of spy, subterfuge, romance, kinship, white lies, I’m there for it, so I often try to edge for a smart character, too. Unfortunately, focusing on skills like Suggestion and Logic meant my HDB was really physically weak. I remember there was a locked door, but because HDB was not strong, he actually got hurt simply by trying to turn the handle! During my replay, I went for a super buff, dumb-as-bricks type. Definitely a different energy haha. 

Vaughn: I usually change my build for every RPG, depending on its premise. For this game, I went with a logical and almost competent HBD. I thought he would need a big brain to figure his way out of what was happening, but that left him with little in Psyche or Physique, but his Motorics were okay. I got through most of what I needed, but definitely blundered on most physical things (somehow I still kicked our racist friend in the head on the bridge). In general, I thought the dice rolls were unfavorable, no matter what the percentage. I definitely failed 80%+ rolls and managed to nail 17% rolls, but all in the game of being HDB. 

Anthony: Much like Amanda, I typically prefer a character who can talk their way out of anything. But given what I had heard about the game from a story perspective, I wanted to try my best to move away from that. My HDB is a blunt instrument, someone who will punch their way out of a situation if at all possible. It made me more willing to be confrontational in dialogue, especially with bridge boy like Vaughn mentioned. 

Clint: A bunch of English majors¹ choose to play high Charisma — I’m shocked! But… same. I wanted to be able to talk my way through anything. I took advantage of the perks of every outfit (I bought every clothing item that I could). During my first playthrough, I chose what was most aesthetically pleasing to me. During this playthrough, it was all practical for each situation. 

Sean: I opted towards the stats that would make me a better detective, Intellect and Psyche, while largely ignoring Physique and Motorics. Considering the preponderance of deducing you have to do, this paid in dividends. I sought out the Wompty Dompty Dom Center though as soon as I could to maximize XP gain, and aside from a few bad rolls at high percents, solving the mystery was smooth sailing. That being said, I probably could’ve invested in Authority a bit more. I was hampered by choices I took for the sake of politics or fun, which lowered certain stats. While I spread out my level up stats to account for checks I needed to retry, my early game investments were largely what carried me through.

#6: How did you choose to play HDB? What were his political views and his relationship with Kim Kitsuragi like? 

Amanda: In both playthroughs, I really leaned into the idea that my HDB was heartbroken and lonely. As a result, at any given opportunity, I made my HDB be nice to Kim as the only person who’s giving him a chance. It’s my HDB’s friendship with Kim that helps them save the day, and that felt really rewarding. In my first run, I was too afraid of making enemies so I accidentally avoided completely any and all political affiliation quests. My second time, I tried to do the Fascism stuff but some of those options are so sexist that I just couldn’t do it so I went with some Ultra Liberalism in my second playthrough. 

Vaughn: It took me a while to figure out how HDB should be, so I was erratic for a while. In the end, he became a Moralist the more I learned about the world, so he could find some semblance of balance against the numerous voices in his head. Like Amanda, I was close with Kim on my run and even got that Thought Cabinet for him, which made his checks a little easier. 

Anthony: My HDB pushed people away and kept them at a distance. I didn’t get as attached to Kim. The more I played HDB as an abrasive character, the more intrigued I was by the path that personality would take him. I really wanted to see how, if at all, that story would pay off.

Clint: My HDB during this playthrough leaned as left as I could possibly make him. I also intentionally did not remove the body from the tree or look in a mirror. I found that at times this really helped my relationship with Kim, but it often put Kim’s view on authority at odds with HDB’s actions. 

Sean: Kim is legendarily impossible to hate. Even as I turned HDB into a genuinely unhinged full-blown Communist, Kim maintained a frankly undeserved level of faith in him. Maybe going Sorry Cop helped, but I did pepper some apocalyptic ramblings and superstar slang in there too, so I can’t imagine Kim thought I was particularly stable. I actually started up a secondary save file to play with some of the early Fascist and Libertarian options, and despite my best efforts, I could not fully commit to the Fascist stuff because the sheer disdain Kim has for it is soul-crushing. Few games actually make you feel this much like a jerk for doing or even just saying bad stuff.

The Best Parts of Disco Elysium 

#7: What moment of the game really stands out in your memory?

Amanda: At one point, HDB can recover a ledger with case notes in it. There’s a letter at the back, but something in HDB’s brain tells him to stop and not to open it. Again, I was really interested in HDB’s relationships, so I pushed for it and made him read it. It’s so beautiful and so sad and so crystallizes the decay in relationships (something that was/is top of mind for me) that HDB has a heart attack and dies.² I thought that was a brilliant touch by the game developers, that this is a man who is so out-of-touch with his feelings or how to process grief that he will literally explode.

Vaughn: The church quest is amazing. How it evolves from being a supposedly empty building to acting as refuge for four kids that want to make a drug-infested club is hilarious. I love that it turns HDB into a “hardcore dancer” even briefly. I took away their drugs, and I thought that would make them hate me, but it still became one of the best quests in the game. That being said, the quest where you recover your gun is terrifying. And, I loved the build up to finding Ruby… What a clever way to create a stalemate, using the pale. 

Anthony: Cuno and the dead body. I came up to that section before I leaned all the way in on how I wanted HDB to be, so running into that foul-mouth rock tosser was hilarious. Looking back, that moment sticks out as a great way to introduce a character with a lot of layers.

Clint: In the same ledger that Amanda noted, HDB and Kim discover notation for 216 solved cases and 3 kills. The quiet reveal allows for each player’s HDB to respond in a multitude of ways. Kim affirms the signs of a successful and “tame” career in Jamrock, but I can’t help feeling that disappointing aura of “it got me to this place” from HDB’s perspective. He becomes a seemingly futureless man burdened with the present briefly reminded of a successful past.  

Sean: Finding out that the Insulidian Phasmid is real affected me so much on my initial playthrough that I made sure to get that scene on this one. The option where HDB truly believes he’s finally gone insane only for Kim to whisper that he sees it as well still makes me tear up just thinking about it.

And the conversation with this beautiful creature, a being that represents a futile hope shining through, and how it can affirm HDB’s desire to move forward and try even in the face of the hell of his being, is to me where the game truly reaches its highest point. In a game with so many great scenes, the Mercenary Tribunal, the Working-Class Woman sidequest, and especially the scramble to get the hanged body down from the tree and examine it, this still stays with me most of all.

#8: What did you think of Disco Elysium’s ending? What ending did you get?

Amanda: I didn’t even realize there were multiple endings until…just now lol. It fit so well that I assumed everyone got the same ending! But it makes sense — this is a game about choices, and so it’s natural that it would have multiple endings based on the choices you made. 

A few years ago, I wrote in this piece about how it made me hopeful. I consider my first ending to be my canon one. In my game, because HDB pushed past his relationship issues and was able to bond with Kim, both of them made it out alive and caught the bad guy. Additionally, my HDB had been such an unbeliever, such a depressed overworked, but when he discovered this mystical insect, he came to believe in the beauty of the universe and of hope.

Earlier in my game, HDB had flirted (poorly lol) with the fisherman’s widow, this brave woman who keeps going back into the ocean that killed her husband. Before my HDB returned to the precinct with his new partner Kim, he goes to see the fisherman’s widow at the lighthouse. Seeing where my HDB started versus where he ended really hit home with this idea that “people can change.” To see the two of them standing at that lighthouse, maybe with plans to go out, maybe not, but feeling brave enough to face the day… It said a lot to me about how we can always make new choices. 

It genuinely felt difficult to close Disco Elysium each time because of how insanely beautiful it is. I’m also completely obsessed with the art used for each of the skills in the game; they look simultaneously gorgeous and somewhat sinister.

Scarlet

Vaughn: I second that, Amanda — dope ending to a crazy adventure of a game. I like that the seemingly most useless quest in the game flips to being the most important and the crux of the case. I managed to save Kim in what is one of the best “do or die” by dice moments and look like a badass (shout-out to Cuno). Despite my blunders throughout solving the case (I got to the end with ZERO arrests), I managed to get to the best outcome (to me) where HDB reconciled with his squad and recruited Kim to the 41st Precinct. 

Anthony: I was happy with my ending, even though I’m pretty sure it’s the worst version of the ending you can get. My HDB is alone and back on the bottle. But the journey to get there felt right. It was that question of just how hard can you push at people before the ties break and you’re left floating in a haze all alone. I didn’t solve the case; from the standpoint of how I played, I’m good with that. It was actually a great commentary on the effects and consequences of addiction.

Clint: There is a certain amount of nihilism, right? The world of Disco Elysium barely cares what I did as HDB. I did find reconciliation (and recruited Kim to the 41st Precinct), but this ending doesn’t feel revelatory. There will be no parades for our duo. The dDserter will linger during my next playthrough, and all I can hope for is a better Tribunal outcome. 

Here is also where I get a little frustrated with the game’s supposed politics: Your political persuasions throughout the game don’t really matter in the end. HDB will remain a cop whose ethical and political growth don’t contribute to meaningful change.  

Sean: To me, the ending, at least if you’re meeting a baseline level of decency as a human being and competency as a detective, really does come across as hopeful as Amanda says. Even ignoring the Phasmid, and accounting for the Deserter’s horrific recounting of the war that sent him fully over the edge, there is a sense that you’ve pulled it together and done a genuine good. If we are to take Kim’s faith in HDB as a moral baseline, Kim’s shocking ability to believe in HDB speaks to the game’s ultimate thesis that HDB — and perhaps anyone — is capable of good, meaningful change even if this is only one part of it.

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1. We actually don’t know what everyone majored in, but we are clearly are all passionate about writing! ↩︎
2. After writing this, I decided to Google it to find exactly what happens and I found this Reddit thread that he does not actually die (!!!!). The game resets, imitating the start menu of the game after a death, but if you stick with it, you learn that HDB has simply passed out and then Kim (if he’s with you) wakes you up and gets you back to work. I had no idea; it was so convincing that I assumed I had genuinely died and when I reloaded, I simply did not open the letter. This blew many other people’s minds in the Reddit, too. ↩︎

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Agree or Disagree?

If you’ve played Disco Elysium, please let us know in the comments what you think of our writers’ experiences with the game. For 2027’s Summer Backlog Challenge, we’ll probably pick something a bit more uplifting than this or a zombie robot horror apocalypse story.