Disco Elysium – The Final Cut – PS5 Version, Reviewed on PS5 – RPG, Mystery
Disco Elysium released on PC well before it came to consoles, so I was looking forward to the game for a long time, having heard some interesting things about it and liking its graphical style. When it finally got a PS5 release, I jumped right on it, and loved every part of the experience. It is truly one of a kind and is at times hard to accurately describe.
Set in an abstract yet familiar land, Disco Elysium is a detective tale unlike anything else.
Story:
The story, and overall story mechanics are a masterclass in writing and game programming. The tale is revealed through a combination of narration, dialogue, and inner-thoughts, as well as playing out on the screen through your chosen actions. Dialogue is the main aspect of this game and the gameplay revolves around it, so a strong story and style were necessary, and Disco Elysium delivers on all fronts.
The setting is the year ’51 and the world is Elysium. Reflections of our own reality make it feel like it could easily be a real world, and despite its own vast and rich history of thousands of years. The story and the setting are influenced by multiple real-life cultures and historical economic systems.
I am not going to dig to deep into too many story plot points as there are too many amazing discoveries for first-time players, but here is a general take: You wake up in a hotel room after a drug and alcohol fueled bender, still in a deep haze. Your memory is at best spotty. You discover that you are a detective, and you are in the local town Revachol, in the Martinaise district, and you are investigating a murder case.
Learning about the town, the townsfolk, the murder victim and the world around you all becomes part of the greater narrative, exploring all sorts of real-life social, economic and historical aspects, despite it taking place in a fully fictional world. The story is a complex dive into the world of political beliefs, crime, social class, economics, religion, morals, education and even a touch of the supernatural. Discovering all of these elements and historical narrative is just as amazing and learning about the game’s core mysteries.
Gameplay:
Gameplay is unique, like most everything about this game. While it does emulate some styles of the distant past in gameplay and presentation terms, it sets its own rules also at times with some creative and crazy aspects as well as fun tweaks to older-style games. Overall, this is definitely best-described as an RPG, however it remains an unusual one.
While the character you play as will always remain the same, as will a few details of his past, the player does start with choosing from 20+ character attributes, all of which will define and drive your game’s narratives, as progressing in the story requires a combination of skills and abilities. Your character can only be proficient in so much, so the game guaranties that not all paths or information will be available to all character types. This ads replay-ability, as well as enhances realism as your character will be good at some stuff and awful at others.
This game is presented in a top-down viewpoint and has well-designed and stylistic backgrounds. Your character explores interiors and exteriors in a small town, and the map itself is not gigantic, but provides a lot of content all things considered. Your character interacts with the world around him, learning new clues, details and tidbits, and hoping to succeed enough to get another bit of experience or money.
Ah yes, you are fairly broke also, so figuring out how to remain sheltered is an issue to juggle while canvassing for clues. The more you earn, find or steal, the more you can buy, as items and hotel rooms are both useful. Learning and succeeding at tasks and finding clues allows your character to slowly level up his skills and attributes, allowing for some improved chance of success in a few more areas.
Experience is provided through successes, and story progression. There are narrative, gameplay and dialogue choice moments that “roll” the games internal dice of probabilities. The higher your levels or skills are, the better your odds at succeeding, but if you didn’t put any points into athletic or physical skills then your chances are slim of knocking out an opponent if threatened. Your skills affect your gameplay and choices, and sometimes missing a success will alter your progression forever leaving you with less attractive options.
Another interesting aspect to Disco Elysium’s gameplay is its important time system. You only have a limited amount of time per day, and only a limited amount of time to solve your case. The good news is, once you learn exactly how it works, it will allow you to strategize and manage your days. Overall, the basics are: if you choose to do anything, such as speak to people or perform tasks, time will pass. It will not pass however, if you are just walking around and exploring. You can actually explore the entire city as far as you can without talking to anyone, or doing anything, and technically, time will not pass.
I am honestly skipping over so many details to the character sheet/skill systems and the game’s “Thought Cabinet” which further allows tweaks of your character, but so much of it really comes with learning how to play the game and explanation won’t help much here. Suffice it to say that just playing the game and learning about the mysteries of Revachol is how you advance your character and the game’s story, and it’s all expertly crafted.
Graphics:
Graphics are gorgeous, and like a classic painting. While not infinitely detailed, the character models are distinguishable and well modeled. The backgrounds, both city buildings and skies above are meticulously designed, and gorgeous to look at.
While this game’s graphics is not its main feature, there was a lot of effort and care put into them, despite an indie budget. They deliver a sense of style that matches the dream-like world you spend your time in, whether beautiful or nightmarish.
The experience is one of cohesion from all sides, graphics included. Dialogue and menu items are well-presented and match the overall art style, and your character does change appearance depending on which items you are wearing/holding.
The graphical world is all tied together by entrancing and melodic music which flows through the locales to meet the setting’s various moods.
Fun-level:
The best part about this game is its freedom of choice, which should drive most every player of this game to have a unique experience. There are sooo many ways to tackle sooo many of the game’s problems, and depending on your own personal choices, your character build, and your own life morals, your story will be refined by those elements. The brilliance of the writing and the insanity of some of the game mechanics only further drive home this experience as one of the best ones available in gaming.
Graphics, music, gameplay and voice narration are all top notch, and cohesive despite having distinct styles. The actual gameplay mechanics are not common, and it is in no way an action/thriller/shooter, but for anyone with patience and a mind for discovery, Disco Elysium is one of the most rewarding and artistic creations available.
Downloadable Content (DLC) Review:
First off, I am unsure of the differences between the original Disco Elysium release and the console release entitled Disco Elysium – The Final Cut. I have read that it is additional voice work and quest lines.
Skipping past that, there have been two small trophy packs released for free for this game. I have played neither, but a quick summary is:
Jamais Vu – This adds additional new scenes, and new related trophies.
Collage Mode – This adds a non-story mode called Collage where the player has access to game environments, effects and dialogue and can create screenshots. Additionally, the player can search the game backgrounds for photo fragments, and then put them together for a bonus task. There are new related trophies.
Final Score: 10.0
DLC Score: N/A