Disco Elysium - The Final Cut (Computer)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): March 30, 2021
- Release Date (EU): March 30, 2021
- Release Date (JP): March 30, 2021
- Publisher: ZA/UM
- Developer: ZA/UM
- Genres: Role Playing Game
- Also For: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Game Features:
Expecting a raw, noir detective RPG, I excitedly jumped into Disco Elysium's world... only to be immediately revolted and disgusted. I got a bad feeling that stuck, and made me feel dirty. I wanted to turn the game off and leave it... but I didn’t; and I’m happy about that. You like that, don’t you? You like feeling miserable?
Depending on how you create your character you can be very weak mentally or physically, and there’s even a risk that you might get a game over in the very first minute of the game for getting sad about being a fat failure, failing to put on your clothes. Or if a kid throws various, colorful alternative terms for genitalia at you. Rightfully so. Or just because you’re sitting in an uncomfortable chair. There are many ways to die in Disco Elysium, but not from the standard combat you’d expect from an RPG. In this title, your battles are verbal: in progressing the story, discussing politics, and fighting with your own mind.
This is a good place to mention the first real flaw. I died at the same place over and over again, from a kid being mean to me. What I didn’t realize was that I could heal myself by clicking an icon in the lower left hand corner of the screen. The number of healing items was the same as my max health, so I assumed the number was my max health. I just happened to figure out that I could heal after quite a long while. What’s interesting is that you have a short time when your health reaches zero to heal yourself, so you don’t have to feel a need to be at max health all the time. So what’s the flaw? The fact that the game didn’t explain the GUI enough to tell me that I could heal myself.
This leads me to the Options Menu where I came across similar issues. In it, you can customize your experience really well, with several sliders for different audio elements and a good selection of options for the graphical fidelity. There are options for Twitch integration letting your viewers help out or control some elements of the game for you, as well as a streaming mode that makes it all copyright-friendly (switching out certain music). There’s a hardcore mode, making the game even tougher than it already is; a detective mode highlighting some interactable objects; and a “tutorial agent” mode which isn’t selected by default, but turning it on doesn’t seem to do very much either. There’s also options for “voice over mode” with the options "Full, Psychological and Classic". But there’s no information on what any of it means. Lastly, there are options for Languages and you can choose two languages, probably one for voice acting, and one for the text - but it’s not clear if that’s the case, or which is which.
These issues are things that could’ve been explained in a manual, something I’m really missing these days. Aww, nostalgic? How cute.
GUI issues aside, in Disco Elysium, you play as a cop who has seen better days. At the start of the game, he wakes up hungover and amnesiac in a trashed hotel room. Amnesia, as the good old RPG trope that it is, lets you create and play as the character that you wish. But that’s just half of the truth in this case. Your mind is playing tricks on you time and time again, coming with suggestions depending on your stats and abilities, or from how you’re playing the game - sometimes even forcing you to say things that you didn’t want to, deliberately. You are a scumbag. These thoughts come into play further in The Final Cut suggesting the character to lean towards different political directions depending on what you’ve said in the past: been critical about capitalism in some conversations? How about being a communist?
There’s also something called the Thought Cabinet, where you can research some thoughts and ideas that pop into your mind during the game. These will give temporary boosts while researching as well as permanent boosts and abilities once they’re completed. However, they can also have some negative side effects, and you can only have so many thoughts at once. This gives you the option to spend your hard earned skill points on either leveling up your main stats, increasing the Thought Cabinet slots, or forgetting a thought altogether.
Skill points are earned by getting experience points as usual, but as previously mentioned, not by combat. In Disco Elysium, you earn experience points by completing missions, as well as through secret, hidden missions like getting someone to trust you, or answering some specific questions in a particularly good way. Or finding your other shoe.
Your stats are also modified by the clothes you wear, the items you hold, or the drugs and alcohol that you have consumed. Junkie. These stats determine what your mind is telling you and if you pass or fail various skill checks that combine stats, modifiers from dialog choices, past choices and a dice roll.
Dice-rolling is a major aspect of the gameplay and while it’s easy to fall into the trap of “save scumming” to make sure you always pass a roll, I highly suggest not to do that. Allow yourself to fail, since that affects the story in its own way. There are white checks and red checks where the white ones can be attempted again after a criteria is fulfilled (it can be time passing, or some other event allowing you to try again) and the red checks are a one-time deal. These checks are connected to your different skills: they have a base number that you have to reach to pass the check depending on the difficulty of the task; this is then modified by your skills to make it easier. Depending on choices made earlier, this can be further modified both in positive and negative ways. And it is all then decided by the roll of two dice.
Take the adventurous task of grabbing your own tie from the ceiling fan as an example. Base difficulty is 10 and my Savoir Faire skill is 2: so with two 6-sided dice I have to reach 8. But if I turn off the fan first I get a bonus of 3 points; making the task much easier since I only have to roll 5. However, no matter how high your skills are, rolling a double 1 will always make you fail - and double 6 will always be a success, even if the odds are against you! As if the odds would ever be in your favour.
Another thing that I'd suggest is to let your mind get into the game; give it a fair chance. As I mentioned at the very start, I wanted to turn the game off despite being excited about the game’s premise. I needed to get into the game, to understand the mechanics and just let go of any expectations - let the game take me on a journey. It’s okay to fail a skill check, or a dice roll. It’s okay to pick the worst dialogue option. It’s okay to make bad decisions. All your decisions are bad. The game will remember, and it will all play into the story. And it will mess with you.
Oh, yes, the story. You are an amnesiac detective, waking up in a trashed hotel room. You already said that, moron. You will soon enough figure out that you’re sent to a city - Revachol - to investigate a murder. Who is the victim? Why were they killed? Who did it? Well, you can’t expect much help from the people of Revachol, who all seem to have issues with authority. Everyone would have issues with you though. But you will get help from your newly assigned, reluctant yet faithful partner, Kim.
Time is standing still in Disco Elysium when you are out exploring the world, it only passes in dialogues, so if you need to advance the clock you can always strike up a conversation with Kim. Don’t waste too much time though, since you need to spend the night somewhere which isn’t free, and money is tough to come by. So one way to make that extra buck that can save your butt is to grab a plastic bag and start collecting cans and bottles like the bum you are. Despicable filth. There is a time limit of sorts, but don’t let it stop you from just going with the flow and enjoying the experience.
So what's really new in this Final Cut? Excellent voice acting for every character in the game, as well as your inner thoughts - something enhancing the experience and immersion. The political vision quest is also added to this version of the game, letting you explore different political alignments to further vary the skills and thoughts you can learn as well as change how you interact with the inhabitants of Revachol. Graphics has been updated with up to 4K resolution support, there are more items, more dialogue options, and a whole new area to explore! There's also support for controllers, more language options and general quality of life enhancements.
Do you want an intriguing story? Immersive story telling and voice acting? An RPG that doesn't revolve around dragons and fairies? A dirty, somewhat realistic world filled with issues and politics, hate and empathy? Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is for you. If you already played this game, there's plenty of content added to warrant a replay in this free update for existing owners. And if you haven't played it before: now's the perfect time to jump headfirst into this filthy world.
DISCO ELYSIUM - The Final Cut - Launch Trailer
Verdict
- Excellent game mechanics
- Intriguing story
- Good voice acting
- Interesting visuals
- Amazing soundtrack
- Slightly confusing at the very start
