Dr. Marta F. Suarez
Disco Elysium is a CRPG (Computer Role-Playing Game) developed by the Estonian game studio and publisher ZA/UM. Originally released in 2019, the game was re-released in 2021 as a “Final Cut” version with new voice acting and quests. The game’s main premise is to investigate a murder in the imagined city of Revachol playing as Harry DuBois, a detective from the Revachol Citizens’ Militia (RCM). Yet, this is just one of the mysteries that the game offers and, at certain points, this objective might take a backseat.
Disco Elysium creates a universe of nostalgia, disappointment, and decay, where the pickets have blocked the harbour with union strikes, the remnants of a not-so-distant war are ever-present in the streets, and the everyday dialogues of characters are often infused with political and philosophical talk. In this world, our playable character, Harry, is not the heroic good cop fighting to uncover the murderer. Instead, the game paints him an almost unlikeable character to whom the player might eventually warm up, particularly if he is not taken too seriously. The start of the game presents Harry in his darkest hour, slowly regaining consciousness from a night of excesses and bad decisions. The game opens with a black screen and a dialogue with the mysterious voice of “Ancient Reptilian Brain”, which tries to convince the player to do nothing, embrace the silence, and accept death. In an unusual opening scene, Disco Elysium offers the player the possibility of not playing by refusing to wake up and instead giving up to the pessimism of a futile existence, leading to a game over within the first couple of minutes of the game. In these first minutes, the dialogue options withhold more information than they give, creating disorientation instead of revealing who our character is or what is happening. This sense of confusion is heightened by the sudden involvement of more voices, such as “Limbic System” and “Encyclopedia”. These and many others are Harry’s internal voices, parts of his personality that offer advice throughout the game, both hindering and aiding the player. When Harry finally manages to wake up, the player meets him lying face-down on the floor of a trashed room, in their underwear, and visibly hungover. Further examination of the room allows the character to find most of his clothes, and also reveals that Harry suffers amnesia after a night of drinking of “world-ending proportions”, as stated by the mirror. In the world of Revachol, objects might interact as if alive and sentient. They share thoughts, they provoke, they are sad, they die. Mostly, they keep Harry company, and act as one of the voices that plague his mind. A high “Inland Empire” skill (linked to the subconscious and foreboding) allows Harry to speak to some of his clothing, not always with the best results but quite often with amusing dialogues and surprising discoveries, whereas other skills like “Shivers” allow the player to get more information from the city and the environment, among others.
The world of Revachol invites the player into a poverty-stricken society that is still suffering from the aftermath of a failed revolution. Once the capital of the world, Revachol is now in ruins, controlled by a Coalition of Nations, and bearing the scars of the past. The game helps build the lore of the world through skills like “Encyclopedia,” dialogue exposition, and other objects like books and art. It is immensely rich and at times complicated, expanding into thousands of years, different governments, and recent historical events. This society, and its history, is shaped by beliefs, politics and philosophy with uncanny resemblances to those from Western and European history, but which are also distinctive enough that they can be read as parodies, criticism, or symbolic representations of the human disposition, the fervent ideologies that fuel tensions in society, and the almost inevitable failure of these principles to unite society and content everyone. Indeed, political alignment is one of the mechanisms in the game that allows the character to develop one of the four ideologies present in the game, such as communism, fascism, ultraliberalism or moralism: a choice that is based on his responses and interactions throughout the story. Whilst specific quests allow Harry to approach and embrace different ideologies, the game in itself does not seem to fully align with any or, at least, leaves the choice to the player. Harry has the opportunity, as a blank slate, to recognise himself in some of these ideologies and agree with their positions, slowly associating himself with one or more of them and acquiring a “political thought”, which can open a related political vision quest and the possibility of internalising the thought for a permanent stat to some of his skills and abilities.
Thoughts in this game are not simply dialogue choices but a result of them. The game keeps track of the player’s interactions with objects, people or the environment, and their selection of dialogue options. Many of the choices throughout the game are linked to a particular thought, and acting in a certain way or selecting a particular dialogue line might add scores to a “thought” in the background. After a while, the player will be informed of a new thought, and they will have the chance to internalise it for a permanent skill stat, often hindering other skills in the process. The process of internalising a skill usually takes a few in-game hours, during which some other temporary effects are applied. The final skill or stat that internalising the thought generates is not known until after the thought has been made permanent, making it a gamble that can only be reversed by using another skill point to “forget” that thought. Thus, players are not encouraged to internalise thoughts to check what they provide, as not only do they cost additional skill points, but reloading would erase hours of a playthrough. With fifty-three thoughts in the game and up to twelve slots to fill, the game invites the player to make a choice and accept failure, a dynamic that, as we see from its opening, also guides all other aspects of the game.
Disco Elysium follows some of the usual conventions for D&D-based CRPG such as dice-rolling to decide success or the use of skills linked to perception or strength, among others. However, as seen above, many of the usual categories for skills are distinctive and unique to the game, such as the aforementioned “Shivers.” In dialogue options, the game displays statistics that represent how likely is to succeed the checks with that current skillset. Trying them at different times of the day or increasing a skill by wearing different clothing might change the statistics and allow one to try again later on, even after failing the first time. Although in D&D games failing a dice roll or check usually means that the option is unavailable for that character again, in Disco Elysium failure is often desirable, as it gives new dialogues and options to achieve the task or progress in the interaction. Frequently, the failure leads to a surprising or comical moment and/or a more creative way of attempting the task again. When the players risk locking themselves out of a task or choice, the dialogue line appears in red to warn the player that the line cannot be reattempted later. However, at times, the dialogue options do not represent all possible choices for the dialogue, as the previous interactions, the character’s skills, and the personality traits acquired up to that point might shape the options to configure the list of choices in a certain way. The player might feel there is no “good” option, irremediably leading Harry to say something inadequate for that situation or to take a course of action that will almost definitely anger those around him. The replayability of the game resides precisely in the plethora of options and dialogue paths that it offers, based on previous choices and interactions.
Indeed, the developers notoriously posted on social media that the game had over a million words, with most of these dialogues being rewritten and edited several times, sometimes by different members of the team. This fact might not surprise those aware that Robert Kurvitz, the lead game writer, had originally written a novel for the world of Elysium. However, despite some very positive reviews from critics, the novel failed commercially and led Kurvitz to a period of depression and alcohol abuse. It was not until much later, approached by his friends and partners Kaur Kender and Aleksander Rostov, that Elysium became the foundation of a video game. As Kurvitz recalls, the original team consisted mostly of writers with no experience in coding and programming but vast experience with storytelling. ZA/UM and the cultural association linked to it consisted at the time of a group of writers, musicians and artists who had to learn how to make a videogame along the way. The striking design of Aleksander Rostov sought influences of fine art to develop a distinctive art style, whilst the Sea Power’s soundtrack fills the game with a mix of melancholy, gloom, and the repetitive beat of a disco party.
With its rich world, intriguing characters, complex storytelling, a visually unique style, and a soundtrack incorporating well-known musicians, the game became a hit both in critical reviews and sales. A sequel was expected by the gaming community, yet, to the surprise of everyone, the main creative designers of the game were suddenly dismissed in 2022, starting a long process of court cases, involving accusations of fraud and an attempt to steal IP by one side, and of toxicity and lack of work ethics on the other side. The entire original team was dismissed shortly after and by summer 2024, not only had all of the design team been replaced by new staff, but ZA/UM had also suddenly laid off a quarter of their remaining staff after cancelling the sequel to the game. Currently, the game remains the only published project at ZA/UM.
In the end, the future of the sequel seems to mirror the world of the game itself: lying in ruins, reminiscing about an almost-successful revolution based on ideals of community, which are quickly put down by commercial interests and neoliberal practices. Despite the conflict, Disco Elysium remains one of the best games of the last five years, its world providing an immersive playthrough full of hilarious moments bordering the absurd. The game offers opportunities for reflection about the human condition, but also allows us to simply enjoy these dialogues within the fictional universe of the game, without forcing a didactical approach and, instead, allowing critical distance and nuanced, implicit commentary. It seizes drama and exploits dark comedy, whilst at times also hinting at the paranormal, science-fiction, and even fantasy, depending on the paths taken and the quests’ progression. A game well worth playing, wrapped in some despair, and decorated with a funky and potentially heroic necktie.
Bio:
Marta F Suarez is a Senior Lecturer in Latin American Cultural Studies (Screen Media). With a background in screen studies and storytelling, her research explores speculative fiction in screen media, unveiling the tensions and dialogues arising between portrayals of race and gender and the societies from within which they are imagined. She is currently working on transmedia narratives and exploring questions of adaptation, storytelling, and portrayals of identity. In her spare time, she can be found adventuring on the PlayStation or on a watching spree across diverse streaming media.
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