Review: DISCO ELYSIUM Is a Phenomenal RPG
Disco Elysium is one of those games that I heard so many good things about that I had to give it a try. When ZA/UM announced that the game was released physically on the Nintendo Switch in partnership with Skybound Games and iam8bit, I knew it was my chance. The team was willing to send me a retail copy of the Switch version to play and I was thrilled. All the thoughts that follow are my own and if you like what I have to say, the game is available now on Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox with physical copies available through iam8bit and many retailers although there’s also a Collector’s Edition available exclusively from iam8bit.
The game is an RPG with the best analogue I can think of being the old Baldur’s Gate games. You play as an amnesiac police officer in the fictional land of Revechol. Throughout Disco Elysium, you’ll have stretches where it’s just you and others where you have party members. You’ll have a lot of dialogue options that influence your character’s growth as well as how people perceive them. A lot of games promise that your choices impact the story and the world as well as your character, but Disco Elysium is at the top of the list for actually fulfilling these types of promises. It also doesn’t feel like you get pigeonholed very quickly. The exception is that there were times I accidentally chose a dialogue choice or action that I didn’t mean to and there was no way to take it back without loading from the last save file. The game felt like it gave you a ton of freedom as you played to play the character you wanted. Whether it’s a smooth talker or a brute, whether it’s a terrible racist piece of crap or a more dignified person who just had a rough time in their life, you feel free to create whoever you dream up.
Another strength of Disco Elysium is that it is telling an interesting story and it’s one with a lot of grey. I already mentioned how it feels like the player has been granted a ton of freedom in their choices and one of the things that helps this is how there are a lot of situations that don’t necessarily have a cut and dry right and wrong. This being said, there’s also a lot of very touchy subjects like mental health, racism, etc. If you’re not comfortable with any of these themes, maybe skip this game.
Now we get to the unfavorable details. I was provided a copy of Disco Elysium on the Switch and I understand that the game has had a rocky path on the system and come a long way. That being said, load times still felt pretty long which I don’t inherently blame the game for, but it does make it seem like the game may be a bit much on the console. There were also a few times where I had frame drops while playing in handheld mode. In addition, if you play in handheld mode, I felt like the screen was a little too small and it was hard to really see a lot of details. Thankfully, the ZR and ZL triggers do let you adjust the zoom and that helps. I will also say that load times were better when docked and it was much easier to see things when docked and using my TV. One thing that I’m confident is less than desirable on all console versions is the controls. Most of the controls are fine, but to interact with the world and with NPCs, you use the right joystick to change your selection. My experience was that this was a little finicky, hard to use precisely, and frustrating at times. Maybe this is just the Switch version, but it really does feel like Disco Elysium was really meant to be played as a PC game where you have a mouse to point and click (and there’s nothing wrong with that).
The game has an art style that’s very unique and seems almost like a water-colored medium. It is one of these art styles that feels timeless and will probably age very well. The music and sound for the game are also well done. This game has a lot of great work put into it.
Overall, Disco Elysium is a solid RPG that hearkens back to classic RPGs while creating something new and unique. If you feel comfortable playing a game with heavy and mature themes and like classic RPGs, this one is a solid hit. I would personally recommend that you play it on PC if you can. The Switch version works well for the most part, but the handheld experience isn’t optimal in my opinion and the lack of a mouse creates a clunkier feel. My score below reflects my experience with the Switch version, but I imagine the PC version would rate higher. That being said, there’s no physical version of the game (which some people care about) for PC, so there is that to consider.
