Disco Elysium:
Last week's review of Disco Elysium didn't even hint at the plot, so that's part of today's story. The protagonist wakes up three days into a bender, and is joined by a police detective from a neighboring district to solve a murder. A body has been hanging for a week in the yard of a local hostel called the Whirling-in-Rags. Arising in his wreck of a room, the protagonist remembers nothing about his life, but eagerly anticipates solving the mystery. With Lt. Kim Kitsuragi, the protagonist must explore the political, racial, and economic forces in conflict over the future of Revachol. To examine these feuds, the developer creates an entirely new world, mundane in general, but containing fantastical features like The Pale, Cryptids, and Innocences.
When the protagonist
awakens in the Martinase district of Revachol, he is suddenly a part
of time again, and time circumscribes his activities in this slum
which he can not leave. Time effects who will be where, what one can
do, and when the day ends. Most games that include time make it flow
evenly and consistently, applying pressure to the player, like
Majora's
Mask. In
Martinase time passes not by walking, but by talking. Even then, it
flows slowly, gelatinously. The protagonist is drawn into many
tasks, connected to the crime or not. Disco
Elysium
features a well designed task log to record the many jobs assigned to
the stumbling, shuffling cop. In contrast, the game includes an
atrocious map, which doesn't point out where the tasks are. Not
only is it useless, but it's disturbingly ugly, with green-gray
builds drawn haphazardly on a gray background. While the rest of
Disco
Elysium
doesn't suffer the same level of aesthetic inanity, its drab and
dull. The developers designed a unique look, and for a few scenes,
those with a bit more color, it shines through the grime momentarily,
before sinking back into the muck.
As
the protagonist patrols the waterfront, shipyard, beach, abandoned
church, and neglected living quarters of the former capital of the
world, time continues its slovenly, lurching pace, the protagonist
needs to do the Jamrock Shuffle to find some cash quickly. He's
woken up without a cent to his name, his badge and gun are missing,
he's trashed his hostel room, and the department won't forward him a
dollar to pay for repairs or rent. The manager won't let the
protagonist spend another night unless he pays 130 Real for the
damages, plus 20 Real for the nightly fee. As dusk approaches, if
the player hasn't found the cash, Kim Kitsuragi offers to sell some
fancy hubcaps he confiscated from a wealthy criminal, but had hoped
to put on his car. The next day the player still needs to locate 20
Real for a bed. What Disco
Elysium
doesn't do, is explain the penalties. It seems to imply that failure
to find the money means a night on a park bench, accompanied by a
penalty to Attributes or Skills for the following day. As 2am
approaches, and people disappear to bed, it becomes clear this isn't
true. Sources online, confirmed
by the developers on Steam,
paint a dire picture. If the player can't find $20 by 2am, time
doesn't pass. Disco
Elysium
doesn't officially lock up, but it's impossible to progress. In
fact, it's extra difficult, because most of the possible money making
adventures (the bottle recycler which rewards the player with
insubstantial coins, the
Mega Rich Light-Bending Guy, Rejoyce Leyton-Messier, and the Union
Boss) all go to sleep at midnight. It's terrible enough that it's
impossible to move forward, but even worse that the game doesn't
mention this at the beginning, or at 2am on Tuesday as the
protagonist wanders back and forth along the deserted alleys. By
this time my three save files were past midnight, and restarting from
the beginning after eight hours wasn't an option. I considered
hacking the game file after reading online about this option.
Fortunately, I was able to sell everything the protagonist had
collected to the pawnbroker, scraping together just enough Real to
pay for a night at the Whirling-in-Rags. The developer clearly
doesn't know what a pawnbroker is though, because it wasn't possible
to repurchase the stuff the following day. On the third day a free
bed becomes available, just travel west across the canal. In spite
of this small redeemer, this feature is an atrocious design choice
because the player is not warned of the severity of the punishment.
The
character never regains his memories, but in exploring the town both
he, and the player, learn about the world of Elysium (an odd name for
such a depressing location). With the developer committed to a
world-building exercise as vast as that of Pillars
of Eternity, it isn't surprising that multiple factions are vying
for power. The wastes of Revachol are the result of a deposed
monarchy, a communist uprising, and its defeat by the capitalist
countries of the world. Fifty years has still left Revachol an
economically devastated vassal, pillaged repeatedly by corporations
and wealthy individuals who see it as fit for extracting riches and
dumping refuse. Like our modern world, poverty, greed, and political
violence breed racism, the third compounding factor in the murder
mystery. When Disco
Elysium
is exploring these connections it is at its best, using emotional
power to blow the player away, reminding the player that decay and
desolation lead to innumerable sorrow. An excellent musical score
compliments the themes. But it also misses beats occasionally.
Communism isn't just a red herring. Disco
Elysium's
radical condemnation of capitalism is delivered by a lunatic,
murderous, hermit, undermining its point. And many of the components
they don't feature in the ending, or weren't explained enough,
similar to the mistakes of Tyranny.
To
address the final problem requires returning to Skill checks. Disco
Elysium
includes an uncountable number of these, but a few are crucial for
progressing. But even those these critical checks are required, the
game only uses one specific Skill, creating a bottleneck. For
example, the final conflict requires a check to toss a Spirit Bomb,
composed of a Blue Medicinal Spirit and the Horrific Necktie, but
only one skill is applicable. With an 80% the protagonist still
missed, so I'm more upset at the game engine than the design choice,
but I lament for those who never had better than a 20% chance to
begin with. More damning is the required check to locate the
murderer's hideout. Again, this requires a specific Skill check.
It's a white check, which means the player can repeat it, but only if
they can unlock it. Remember, a check can be unlocked by putting a
point into a Skill, but a Skill can only be improve equal to its
original value. So a Skill that started the game with a value of
one, can only be improved once. This was my situation. I tried the
Skill Check once and failed. I put the point into the appropriate
Skill, tried again, and failed again. This could have been the end
of my game, but there is one other way to reopen a Skill check. The
protagonist need to do something which modifies the check, which also
unlocks it. Fortunately I was able to use the boardwalk payphone
until Dolores Dei answered, and on my third attempt, I entered the
villain's lair. But it was a terrifying moment, feeling that the
Skill check was locked permanently. I would have had to abandon the
game twenty-two hours in.
In
conclusion, don't design a character with one point Attributes.
Don't be squeamish about asking for money, or wait until midnight on
Tuesday to start looking for 20 Real. Seriously, Disco
Elysium
is a phenomenal choose your own adventure novel, with an enthralling
protagonist, well written supporting cast, set in a expansive world
explained through the sociology and political aspects of a beat down
district in the former capital of the world. Aside from one or two
glaring game play flaws, the Attribute and Skill system, and the
manner by which it is woven into Elysium, is fantastic and unique
beyond anything seen in games. But the murder mystery plot doesn't
go anywhere except in circles until the it reaches a disappointing
conclusion. The player spends a lot of time running circles
themselves around Martinase, as time passes slowly in drips and
drabs, looking for the objective to move the plot forward. If you're
looking for a deep dive into the broken psyche of a man and his world
consider Disco
Elysium.
Otherwise, forget this one.
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