I could be wrong but i always thought inland empire was a direct reference to david lynch, he has a movie of the same name and the inland empire aspect of your personality is pretty weird and lynchian. I wouldn't doubt twin peaks being a inspiration. Great video, always down for more perspectives on this beautiful, haunting game. rip ZA/UM
Also in the basement of the Doomed Commercial Area there's a description of a blue velvet blanket or something, which is another obvious Lynch reference
Literally every time Kim asked Harry stuff like "How did you know??" while you were just talking with Shivers or Inland Empire, I would think of Agent Cooper being told where to find hints/evidence in his dreams and then trying to explain that to Harry (!), so it's the most logical comparison to me. Love me some sad intuitive bois.🖤 Gonna definitely have to check The City & The City, and that description alone also reminds me of the movie The dark city (1998), which also has a very specific atmosphere
I see a lot of similarities in its use to Jung's view on the unconscious as well tbh, being able to communicate with the internal land of dreams and symbols, the symbols having some intrinsic connection to the situations you happen to find yourself in. It's like para-intuition.
One of my favorite things I get from Disco Elysium, personally, is an exemplified sense of longing. It’s beautiful to me that Harry starts out as a broken man, and I always like to read the game as the story of him living in spite of his circumstances. My Harry can be Sorry Cop, suicidal, perpetually hungover, and always wishing for who he used to be… but he keeps fighting, to solve a case, to create communism… to live! “And still… does the longing ever stop?”
I agree. The great thing about Harry is that he never stops trying, no matter how bad his chances. There's a life lesson in there. To not be humiliated and deterred by failure but to keep going for that 24% chance die roll.
Yea, honestly when I think about another game that made me feel that way was probably OMORI, need to keep going, to overcome my fears, to never give up.
But this very fighting broke him - when you read his cases in the ledger you notice the trend - every one of them makes him more and more miserable. He just wanted to forget it all and that pushed him to destroy large part of memory of his past.
The story of disco isn't the investigation. It's heartbreak. You're drunk because you're miserable, and you're miserable because you cannot get over her. All you do in the game is pick which coping mechanism he chooses.
I think "an experience" is the best way I could ever describe Disco. When you really get into the game you slide into this weird state of mind where everything that happens kind of makes sense, even when in reality it probably shouldn't. The game gives you so many meaningful choices that really only matter to you and mr. Costeau. There are not really good/bad/sensible/irrational choices just choices and story that you make.
At least the first book written by Kurvitz is now available in the English Language, it was of course unofficially translated by fans so it's even better than the actual original thing! It is worth pointing out that Kurvitz wasn't the only person who made Elysium, it was a collaborative artistic effort and thus "A Terrible and Sacred Air" is not exactly the same as the game.
Closest I can get to Disco Elysium? You gotta use two monitors--you play Papers Please on one and Cultist Simulator on the other. I personally like to set the limitation that I have to keep a job in Cult Sim and any time i start a work shift i pause it and then do a day of Papers Please. It's weird lol, but strangely satisfying. Like when you and a friend would play Resident Evil 4 on the wii but one would use the wiimote and the other would use the nunchuk and you'd try to beat the game
I think to properly get the unique amalgamation of sad vibes Disco Elysium has, you really need to spread your wings and sorta put yourself into the shoes of Robert Kurvitz. He's an Estonian so he'd been growing up surrounded by very sad nations. And one of the main things is to kinda combine all the "Sadness" and "longing" of the surrounding cultures of Estonia. Soviet/Russian sadness is more "apathetic cynicism" Finnish sadness is more "loss of meaning and reason to keep going" Latvian sadness is more "melancholic sorrow". Swedish sadness is more "dreamy, contemplative melancholy" Estonian sadness is more "fragile impermanence" What direct translations of "depression" mean in these languages: - Russian: Toska / Toskaya Mooka or Unyneyye = All meaning variations of "unbearably oppressive state of sadness" and "deep sorrow and despair" - Finnish: Masennus = From verb "masentaa" which means "to depress" (I'm a Finn, I guess the word could originate from "samentaa" = "to muddle, to cloud, to make murky", combined with "mal" from Latin by Christian crusaders, which typically means some kind of an ailment) - Latvian: Aklais laiks = "dark times" - Swedish: Svår nedstämdhet = "severe dejection" / "profound despodency" Estonian: Meeleoluhaigus = "mood disorder" All combined, you definitely get this weird "melancholic nostalgic apathy". As if you romaticize the very sorrows of the past, wishing that the straight forward problems of the past were preferable to the existencial and nuanced ones you go through today. Estonian sadness definitely rings deep in Kurvitz, as describing Disco Elysium as depressive comtemplation about the fragile impermanence of life is quite accurate.
@@anusaukko6792 "Masendus" (Estonian) or "masennus" (Finnish), almost the same word. In Estonian it is "masendus on peal", "masennus on päällä" in Finnish. It is like you are under something, it is not sadness/sorrow but more like depression.
sorry, but that’s a massive load of pseudolinguistic bullcrap “toskaya mooka” doesn’t even mean anything in Russian, that’s literally just a random assortment of letters (and none of the other words translate directly to “depression” anyway)
To me Pentiment (created by fallout new Vegas writing head Josh Sawyer) is reminiscent of DE. It’s a murder mystery set in the Bavarian Alps but what it really captures is that sense of melancholy and longing that comes with human experience.
I need another video game with Disco Elysium's narcotic combination of mountains of well written, intelligent text, and talented, magnetic, immersive full voice acting. That's what really stuck with me. Kentucky Route Zero is the closest I've gotten in the writing department (and I wouldn't change anything about that game, like adding voice acting).
Watched this whole video before I noticed the view count. This was so professionally made, well written and superbly researched. I'm definitely going to have to read those books now. Thanks!
It might not be media, but I'd like to recommend visiting Paris. The events of 1871 were, after all, a very important inspiration for Martinaise's history. The Commune may be further in the past, but there are still some places where you can really feel their lingering impact. I didn't get to see the Pere Lachaise cemetery when I was there, which has a wall where many Communards were shot, but I saw the Sacré-Cœur basilica, which was built on the hill where the events of the commune began, to "cleanse" the city of the "unholy" ideas of the revolution. There's also one painting in the Musée d'Orsay in which the artist expresses his horror at seeing communards murdered in the streets, which I found quite impactful ("Une rue de Paris en mai 1871" by Maximilien Luce).
So true about "not to expect any of these things to fill in the hole in your heart because they were not meant to". Going into something expecting it to be "just like X" just sets unrealistic expectations and diminishes what makes it unique. While there are lots of similarities between Disco Elysium and Kentucky Route Zero, they are also incredibly different; even in just how the game is presented/played. DE is like other CRPGs just with no combat while KY0 is like a stage play as a video game, complete with acts, scenes and intermissions.
Great vid. I love Kentucky Route Zero. The first time I heard and saw Junebug perform "Too Late to Love You" was truly a special moment. I might have to replay the whole thing again.
for me, the special aspects of disco elysium are: 1. unique ways to play the game (player choices / role playing) 2. deep meaningful stories and content that you can't get without multiple playthroughs. including personified traits that speak (gives interesting psychological perspective compared to other role playing systems) 3. lots of themes, political and personal, that are done well 4. the music and art pulls it together nicely 5. humor i dont think setting or cop stuff is anything more than a logical vehicle to try to pull off the above
bro, ive been saying this, in my first playthrough of disco i took conceptualization as main trait and focused my starting levels in upgrading inland empire and visual calculus, and i got mind blown as how it seemed as if i was playing as rust from true detective
I played and finished this game three times, playing the side quests every time. When I got sick of it, I read every book/author that the developers recommended. It wasn't enough, and these works in isolation cannot satiate a desire for 'Elysian' media. Why? Because Disco Elysium is itself a confluence of ideas. It has the humanity of Emile Zola's 'Germinal', the political intrigues of 'City & the City', and the glassy prose of Dashiell Hammett's detective novels. The tragedy of it is there will be another thing quite like Disco Elysium. There might be a successor game or novel that provenes from the imaginations of Kurvitz or Hindpere one day, but who can say whether it will evoke the same feeling? The conclusion I came to is there is nothing left to do but celebrate this game through creation. Telling stories. Their purpose was to entertain us, and they succeeded. What comes after falls to us.
When it comes to games, the one that came really close to evoking that "Elysian" feeling for me was Planescape: Torment. I'm not sure if it's mentioned in the inspiration media by the DE devs, but it has a lot of similarities in it's plot, it's themes, even artstyle. But most importantly, that feeling you get when the credits roll, and you know, that something in you changed because of this piece of media that you've just experienced. Highly recommend.
Just scrolled down to see if someone else had mentioned Planescape: Torment before I posted something about it. Really enjoyed the video as is. To further the idea of other pieces of media that capture an aspect of DE that someone may be looking for Planescape is high on my list. It brings the incredible well written dialogue heavy rpg set in a weird city feel. You even have an amnesiac main character trying to figure out his past ( much of which is him having done bad things to people). The world is different, and it has its own things to say, but it has a heck of a lot to say. As a side note it was one of the big inspirations mentioned by the creative team, probably the biggest direct influence on what the game part of DE is shaped like.
It's absolutely mentioned by the devs as an inspiration. I have no idea how this video avoided mentioning it, unless they thought it was just low-hanging fruit, or something, in which case it still deserved an offhand mention.
Great, nicely paced and well edited video with some great writing to boot. What you said about Disco being a deeply personal experience very much resonated. I've tried to do a second playthrough 3 times to discover some more aspects of the game but couldn't pull through, quitting at the end of day 1 feeling like a second playthrough will take away something from my first experience. I highly recommend picking up a book the Strugatsky brothers from the dev inspiration list aswell. Roadside Picnic is their most well known and a good first read by them. Dead Mountaineer's Hotel has the most Disco vibes with it being a detective story with wacky characters. The Doomed City personally I think is their best book.
"Град Обречённый" действительно имеет так сказать немало общего с Диско Элизиум, первое что приходит на ум так это то,что в обоих произведениях мир похож на коктейль из множества культур ,да и мотивы будто провалившегося социального эксперимента,коммунизма и надвигающегося апокалипсиса очень похожи
@@sunlightedlordoflords9619 Fair point, a good amount of time has passed since I first read it but it's got a lot in common with Disco for sure. Much like Disco it can be very funny with excellent satire which is enhanced if you have some knowledge of Soviet history.
He site it officially as an inspiration. What he said in zero way means he doesnt like him. It is how artists think. Its a way of confirming to oneself that they have confidence in their own work. Picasso and many other artists sight direct influences as being inferior to themselves because they spend much of their life trying to catch up to these figures they admire.
A book that matches Disco’s love for vignettes into people’s lives and existentialism is Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. Jacob geller talked abt it! If anything, it’s more surreal and fantastical than DE. In both, the ending makes you cry.
I'd like to recommend Cosmo D's little series of games (Off-Peak, The Norwood Suite, Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1, and Betrayal at Club Low) They're a very strange and surreal dive into a set of uncanny but endlessly charming worlds, and the most recent game specifically really scratches that surreal RPG itch! Lots of great stuff in there, and not enough people talk abt them Edit: So I finally got around to playing it, and yeah, anyone who enjoyed Disco Elysium should absolutely check out Betrayal at Club Low (plus the other games, obviously)! It takes a very clear influence from DE while also doing a ton of really fun stuff with stats and balancing status effects! It's incredibly fun and rewarding so far
I've been SAYING! I'm a huge fan of the Off-Peak universe ever since first stepping foot in that god damn train station, and it has this similar dreamy vibe, while not sparing you the harsh reality of its world. I really wish more people would play these games, listen to the music and engage with the universe because it's so unique.
@MissGunpowder Honestly! I started with The Norwood Suite and I've been singing the series' praises since! I hope they start getting the recognition they deserve, and I'm so excited to see what happens next
I get that comparing Disco Elysium to Planescape: Torment is kind of low-hanging fruit, but not even mentioning it, even in an offhand "of course you most likely know this one so I'm not going to go into exhaustive detail, but check it out if you haven't" sort of way, in a video like this seems like it must have been a deliberate omission. I can't help but wonder why you made it.
Wowww I haven’t read that book much less thought about it in years but now that you mentioned this, yeah that tracks. I actually wouldn’t mind revisiting the Yiddish Policemen’s Union now that I’ve played through Disco Elysium a few times.
For me it was all about the immersion the game grants. For those looking, I recommend Games by Black Tabby Games (Scarlet Hollow, Slay the Princess) Life is Strange games The Walking Dead games by Telltale Other Telltale games Games by Freebird Games (To the Moon, Finding Paradise) Undertale Sam Barlow's games (Her story, Telling Lies) Emily is Away series
great video, thank you! yeah, the longing for disco elysium... truly, nothing fills the void. my main problem with most games and media is that it's rare to find such high-quality narrative, characters and in-depth politics in one "product". personally i don't care about settings and visuals that much, i'm 100 percent down with sci-fi, fantasy, honestly whatever, as long as the story's good, so the "second disco elysium" doesn't have to be a cop story, even a detective story for me fallout: new vegas was my "disco elysium 0", the first game that showed me how complex and interesting politics in video games can be. i love it dearly to this day, even though i know this game as a back of my hand. it's flooded with people and factions too, with artificial differencies that divide them, even within their own groups. as jacob geller said in his disco elysium video essay: "although they occupy the same city, look at the same buildings, they live worlds apart". and i don't think i've ever played anything besides fnv and disco that gave me the same feeling of connection and disconnection between people and the same lense through i, myself, view the world. but there are close examples kentucky route zero. obviously. night in the woods is one of them. it's not straightforwardly political at first glance and it's nothing like fnv or disco elysium in terms of setting/genre/etc but its view on politics and economy is crucial for its themes and plot. the doomed area around, simple struggles of the working class, how this game's narrative allows you to savor small stories and experiences, rings very "disco" and very "kentucky" to me. and it gives similar feeling of hope and dread simultaneously, as disco elysium does ("at the end of everything hold on to anything", the pale, all the apocalyptic talk in both games, etc) and not so long ago i've played pentiment. it's a bit weird to recommend it under a video about media that influenced disco elysium since pentiment itself was influenced by disco elysium (as its director josh sawyer says himself, he was the director and lead designer on fallout: new vegas too, by the way). and it's a veeeery loose comparison, the only directly similar things are, i guess, weird, narrative heavy dreams and talking skills (a very simplified version of them, at least), the unity of place and the detective nature of the game. but still, ignoring the medieval setting and flavor, it was my latest "disco-ish" experience. it's very well-written and it's an anti-mystery of sorts too, has lots of compelling characters and deep exploration of class\class struggle. if characters of disco elysium had very pronounced political beliefs that defined them (you can tell who's a leftist\a centrist\a fascist almost immediately in most cases), characters of pentiment talk in different FONTS that immediately show their social class. one font for peasants, one font for wealthy\educated npcs, one font for something in between, etc. this game places people in categories and yet, excels at showing their differencies, finding this balance between, again, connection and disconnection. but it's not disco elysium at all, of course. and it's a good thing it's not. it's just like you said: "find broadly what you liked about disco elysium and narrow it down" i did. and it's a great ride so far, even though nothing itches the scratch in a completely right way. more like, adds to all the existing scratches, because now i have to long for pentiment too :)
this video just made me get the game again so I can replay on pc and, inspired me to finally watch twin peaks. great work and you got yourself a new sub!
Woah! This video is really good? Usually I brush off RUclips recommendations from smaller channels, but I am really happy I stayed and watched this. Excellent work, you should be proud of it.
Lmao, I finished disco and immediately went looking for more. I also first went and read the city and the city. Nice to see I wasn’t the only one. Nice video dude!
I'd also recommend a book from the steam list - "Germinal' by Emile Zola. It is similar to Disco in a lot of aspects, especially in the way they portray working class communities. Without shying away from thier weaknesses like violence and alchoholism but simultaneously with a lot of empathy, understanding and solidarity. Zola's views were pretty similar to those of DE writers, as "Germinal" is also very anti-capitalist (and there is a lot of politics, epspecially leftist infighting). Additionally it's a very well written book and some descriptions feel very similar to shivers checks.
> Spends the entire Twin Peaks section talking about communism, despite concession at the very beginning that Twin Peaks doesn't mention communism in any way > Doesn't notice that Inland Empire is a direct Lynch reference
twin peaks is the only one i already had a connection to and holy shit its as good as DE for me. high praise for both works. very human very empathic *totally transcendent* works. maybe theyre about love The Perikarnassian Church is about *love*! Anodic music is about *love*! I got love for my Perikarnassian posse, *love* is the relay out of death! WE DANCE!!!" He violently shakes the tape player, as if to see if he can break it.
If anything I'm grateful to DE for setting me up to consume all the related books/media I could get my hands on. While you're right that nothing really scratches the same itch perfectly, they all are great on their own merits. True Detective S1, the Wire and the City and the City fulfill the murder mystery aspect, while Germinal and Mieville's books do that for the politics/struggle under social inequality aspect. Mieville was also a great gateway to other New Weird authors like Vandermeer, and the Pale seems like something straight out of his short stories (crazy mind-bending worldbuilding concept explored through a matter-of-fact low level perspective).
this is really cool! i'm at the moment watching twin peaks for the first time and cooper & truman are really the best thing about it, and comparing cooper to harry caught me off guard but it really makes sense lol.
While incredibly different from Disco Elysium in basically every way, I personally think that Outer Wilds is a great game for someone who liked Disco Elysium. It’s incredibly philosophical, yet practically not political at all. However, the emotion impact which the two games have had on me are equivalent. One game, Outer Wilds, made me entirely make peace with the concept of nothingness and death, while the other game, Disco Elysium, helped me better understand why I always keep going. The games are so incredibly different, but equally impactful, at least in my opinion (you have to play the Outer Wilds DLC though, it’s a must for the experience. It’s funny, in my friend group the ones who played Outer Wilds about a year and a half ago are the same who played Disco Elysium one year later, and I’m pretty sure all of us absolutely adore both games with all of our hearts.
Shameless self promo - check out Rainswept (released a year before Disco Elysium) It won't scratch that specific DE itch, but it's kind of like DE + Twin Peaks + Broadchurch + Night in the Woods.
I mainly wanted to play a "detective adventure". I knew pretty early that nothing was going to compare to DE, so LA Noire was a good fit. Also went down the path of creating my own DE inspired TTRPG campaign, using the Powered by the Apocalypse framework.
Great video my guy. Although I haven't played or seen anything from this game, it seems really interesting. I love a game where your decisions can actually impact how the story plays out. Well, it's great seeing you upload again and I wish you the best on your next video idea; be it a machinima, video essay, or even a vlog.
Thank you my friend, its a bit of a niche topic on a lot of pieces of media that aren't all too popular. Still, I appreciate you sticking it out on this video, if just to watch randomly.
when you said that line about politics being how we choose to treat and care for one another? i just sat at my desk and stared into space for a minute. that hit. excellent video. 💖 will definitely check out a lot of your recs.
Any person who mentions People Make Games usually knows what they're talking about. Never knew much about Disco Asylum admittedly until these uploads, great stuff!
i, too, have been hunting for anything to bring even a fleeting sense of the passion that disco elysium awakened in me ever since i finished the game, and have found it in some odd places. most recently, angels in america part 2: perestroika. (a seven hour epic of a play, you should probably read the first part first, but perestroika is where we get the most potent disco elysium vibes. it starts with a soliloquy from a character called “the oldest living bolshevik” if that gives you an idea.) the plot and cultural context of the play is VASTLY different from disco elysium, but you have the political overtones paired with absurd yet compulsively likeable characters, earth-shatteringly beautiful prose in the strangest places, plus a series of visitations from spirits that almost resemble the skill check dialogue if you squint. angels in america is more far overtly gay than disco elysium, imagine if the homosexual underground side quest was.. the whole thing. (a win, imo.)
if you like harry as a protagonist i cannot recommend bojack horseman enough! the amount of times i read a line in disco elysium and thought "no way that's not a bojack reference"
Kentucky Route Zero perhaps works better for us none-Americans. The country music, rural U.S. setting, the ranches, the cows, the truckers, they are a lot more romantic when the familiarity is absent, yet depicted just often enough for the struggles there to be understood. It does make me appreciate the voice acting in Disco Elysium more, tho. It has good music but that's about it, most lines like most similar CPRG/adventure games aren't voiced, which might be a deal breaker.
When it comes to China Mieville, I think that Perdido Street Station is a far clearer influence than The City. Released in 2000, it's a unique and bizarre secondary world fantasy focused through a marxist lens, that doesn't just stick to the formula of "(insert historical period) + dragons/elves/wizards/vampires" It takes as much inspiration from the socio-politcial conditions of neo-liberal Britain of the 80s and 90s as from Victorian Gothic novellas and HP Lovecraft, not to mention tabletop RPGs. And like Disco, its very... not American. But Mieville's character work isn't the best, Kurvitz et al. certainly did better with that aspect, with Disco a more powerful, character-driven work.
Agree completely! I read The City first but was really blown away by the world building of Perdido Street Station and the other books in his Bas-Lag series. Both are incredible and while I think The City is an easier introduction to Mieville in general, some of his other works capture that Disco feeling of wonderment much better for me.
Great video. Thanks for the recommendations, and thanks for reminding me of Disco Elysium. I love that game so much. I've never had a piece of art affect me like that one did. Thanks. Btw I threw the ball and was a sorry cop too lol
Plenty of folks claim something didn't inspire or influence them when the opposite seems obvious: Tolkien and Volsungsaga/Ring Cycle (magical cursed ring, the one who kept it the longest was warped in form into a dragon); Shigeru Miyamoto and Alice in Wonderland (going through a hole to another world underground and mushrooms that make you shrink / grow); etc etc. Some folks just seem...opposed to the idea that x/y/z had an affect on them. I'm not sure why some have this discomfort, and some don't.
Ehh sometimes they’re totally telling the truth. Mortis Ghost didn’t play any of the MOTHER games until way after OFF was released. He did like it when he played it though
great video.... i actually really love both DE and KRZ and played them roughly around the same time and always thought they were trying to tell the same thing. not favoring one side of politics or the other but just trying to display how hard it is to be alive for so many people, mainly because of how we are as people. both game's endings are very profound and stick with you for a while. while DE is obviously the better game, with its choices, mechanics, etc, i gotta say KRZ had a much more emotional effect on me in terms of the bigger picture. maybe bc i'm utterly over politics in general bc that's all people want to fight about these days. KRZ seemed to have almost turn the very act of existing in this world seem almost like a cosmic horror (if that makes sense)
Loved the setting,loved the themes,absolutely loved the skill system (if you even call it that,I think it's extremely creative and imo it's something that transcends the skills system) but didn't give the shit about politics.If this game didn't forced you to take a moral stance at almost every single turn it probably would have been the best game I ever played
What is an “eastern european style of murder?” This was a sloppy video. The writer was confounded by the devs saying that a work inspired them, and that they think it’s poorly done. Is inspiration to the author simply good things someone likes that they want to copy?
Gonna be honest, I liked the idea of a weird world, and detective game. But the politics of Disco ruined it for me. It just turned me off too badly lmao
loved the video but kentucky route zero was hot dog shit. bar none the most miserable point and click adventure "game" I've ever played. don't meet your heroes I guess
I could be wrong but i always thought inland empire was a direct reference to david lynch, he has a movie of the same name and the inland empire aspect of your personality is pretty weird and lynchian. I wouldn't doubt twin peaks being a inspiration. Great video, always down for more perspectives on this beautiful, haunting game. rip ZA/UM
Very true point, I think I just forgot that Inland Empire was in fact a David Lynch movie. Bad research on my part lol.
Also in the basement of the Doomed Commercial Area there's a description of a blue velvet blanket or something, which is another obvious Lynch reference
Literally every time Kim asked Harry stuff like "How did you know??" while you were just talking with Shivers or Inland Empire, I would think of Agent Cooper being told where to find hints/evidence in his dreams and then trying to explain that to Harry (!), so it's the most logical comparison to me. Love me some sad intuitive bois.🖤 Gonna definitely have to check The City & The City, and that description alone also reminds me of the movie The dark city (1998), which also has a very specific atmosphere
I see a lot of similarities in its use to Jung's view on the unconscious as well tbh, being able to communicate with the internal land of dreams and symbols, the symbols having some intrinsic connection to the situations you happen to find yourself in. It's like para-intuition.
@@MooseDiaper I found that interesting as well. Couldn't tell if I was reading too much into it.
One of my favorite things I get from Disco Elysium, personally, is an exemplified sense of longing. It’s beautiful to me that Harry starts out as a broken man, and I always like to read the game as the story of him living in spite of his circumstances. My Harry can be Sorry Cop, suicidal, perpetually hungover, and always wishing for who he used to be… but he keeps fighting, to solve a case, to create communism… to live!
“And still… does the longing ever stop?”
I agree. The great thing about Harry is that he never stops trying, no matter how bad his chances. There's a life lesson in there. To not be humiliated and deterred by failure but to keep going for that 24% chance die roll.
Yea, honestly when I think about another game that made me feel that way was probably OMORI, need to keep going, to overcome my fears, to never give up.
But this very fighting broke him - when you read his cases in the ledger you notice the trend - every one of them makes him more and more miserable. He just wanted to forget it all and that pushed him to destroy large part of memory of his past.
The story of disco isn't the investigation. It's heartbreak. You're drunk because you're miserable, and you're miserable because you cannot get over her. All you do in the game is pick which coping mechanism he chooses.
I think "an experience" is the best way I could ever describe Disco. When you really get into the game you slide into this weird state of mind where everything that happens kind of makes sense, even when in reality it probably shouldn't. The game gives you so many meaningful choices that really only matter to you and mr. Costeau. There are not really good/bad/sensible/irrational choices just choices and story that you make.
2:16 No one experiences deep dislike of leftists as much as other leftists.
At least the first book written by Kurvitz is now available in the English Language, it was of course unofficially translated by fans so it's even better than the actual original thing! It is worth pointing out that Kurvitz wasn't the only person who made Elysium, it was a collaborative artistic effort and thus "A Terrible and Sacred Air" is not exactly the same as the game.
Seeing illustrations of Tereesz, Kahn and Jesper in the game's portrait style would be awesome.
Closest I can get to Disco Elysium? You gotta use two monitors--you play Papers Please on one and Cultist Simulator on the other. I personally like to set the limitation that I have to keep a job in Cult Sim and any time i start a work shift i pause it and then do a day of Papers Please.
It's weird lol, but strangely satisfying. Like when you and a friend would play Resident Evil 4 on the wii but one would use the wiimote and the other would use the nunchuk and you'd try to beat the game
I think to properly get the unique amalgamation of sad vibes Disco Elysium has, you really need to spread your wings and sorta put yourself into the shoes of Robert Kurvitz.
He's an Estonian so he'd been growing up surrounded by very sad nations. And one of the main things is to kinda combine all the "Sadness" and "longing" of the surrounding cultures of Estonia.
Soviet/Russian sadness is more "apathetic cynicism"
Finnish sadness is more "loss of meaning and reason to keep going"
Latvian sadness is more "melancholic sorrow".
Swedish sadness is more "dreamy, contemplative melancholy"
Estonian sadness is more "fragile impermanence"
What direct translations of "depression" mean in these languages:
- Russian: Toska / Toskaya Mooka or Unyneyye = All meaning variations of "unbearably oppressive state of sadness" and "deep sorrow and despair"
- Finnish: Masennus = From verb "masentaa" which means "to depress" (I'm a Finn, I guess the word could originate from "samentaa" = "to muddle, to cloud, to make murky", combined with "mal" from Latin by Christian crusaders, which typically means some kind of an ailment)
- Latvian: Aklais laiks = "dark times"
- Swedish: Svår nedstämdhet = "severe dejection" / "profound despodency"
Estonian: Meeleoluhaigus = "mood disorder"
All combined, you definitely get this weird "melancholic nostalgic apathy". As if you romaticize the very sorrows of the past, wishing that the straight forward problems of the past were preferable to the existencial and nuanced ones you go through today.
Estonian sadness definitely rings deep in Kurvitz, as describing Disco Elysium as depressive comtemplation about the fragile impermanence of life is quite accurate.
Estonian word is actually also "masendus" same as Finnish.
Thank you for your aesthetically valuable comment🥲
@@MrTartuVaim masendus is not finnish dawg 😭
@@anusaukko6792 "Masendus" (Estonian) or "masennus" (Finnish), almost the same word. In Estonian it is "masendus on peal", "masennus on päällä" in Finnish. It is like you are under something, it is not sadness/sorrow but more like depression.
sorry, but that’s a massive load of pseudolinguistic bullcrap
“toskaya mooka” doesn’t even mean anything in Russian, that’s literally just a random assortment of letters (and none of the other words translate directly to “depression” anyway)
To me Pentiment (created by fallout new Vegas writing head Josh Sawyer) is reminiscent of DE. It’s a murder mystery set in the Bavarian Alps but what it really captures is that sense of melancholy and longing that comes with human experience.
I need another video game with Disco Elysium's narcotic combination of mountains of well written, intelligent text, and talented, magnetic, immersive full voice acting. That's what really stuck with me. Kentucky Route Zero is the closest I've gotten in the writing department (and I wouldn't change anything about that game, like adding voice acting).
Watched this whole video before I noticed the view count. This was so professionally made, well written and superbly researched. I'm definitely going to have to read those books now. Thanks!
Honestly the most similar Disco Elysium made me feel to any type of work is the watch series by Terry Pratchett
Ooh, great comparison! I hadn't really thought of it at the time, but it definitely fits!
It might not be media, but I'd like to recommend visiting Paris. The events of 1871 were, after all, a very important inspiration for Martinaise's history. The Commune may be further in the past, but there are still some places where you can really feel their lingering impact. I didn't get to see the Pere Lachaise cemetery when I was there, which has a wall where many Communards were shot, but I saw the Sacré-Cœur basilica, which was built on the hill where the events of the commune began, to "cleanse" the city of the "unholy" ideas of the revolution. There's also one painting in the Musée d'Orsay in which the artist expresses his horror at seeing communards murdered in the streets, which I found quite impactful ("Une rue de Paris en mai 1871" by Maximilien Luce).
Totally agree. I went to Paris very recently and the thought occurred to me that disco Elysium just makes a little more sense now.
So true about "not to expect any of these things to fill in the hole in your heart because they were not meant to". Going into something expecting it to be "just like X" just sets unrealistic expectations and diminishes what makes it unique. While there are lots of similarities between Disco Elysium and Kentucky Route Zero, they are also incredibly different; even in just how the game is presented/played. DE is like other CRPGs just with no combat while KY0 is like a stage play as a video game, complete with acts, scenes and intermissions.
I AM THE LAW
Thought Unlocked: Bringing of the Law (Law-Jaw)
I AM THE LAW!!!
No trouble out of you ...
Great vid. I love Kentucky Route Zero. The first time I heard and saw Junebug perform "Too Late to Love You" was truly a special moment. I might have to replay the whole thing again.
for me, the special aspects of disco elysium are: 1. unique ways to play the game (player choices / role playing) 2. deep meaningful stories and content that you can't get without multiple playthroughs. including personified traits that speak (gives interesting psychological perspective compared to other role playing systems) 3. lots of themes, political and personal, that are done well 4. the music and art pulls it together nicely 5. humor
i dont think setting or cop stuff is anything more than a logical vehicle to try to pull off the above
bro, ive been saying this, in my first playthrough of disco i took conceptualization as main trait and focused my starting levels in upgrading inland empire and visual calculus, and i got mind blown as how it seemed as if i was playing as rust from true detective
I played and finished this game three times, playing the side quests every time. When I got sick of it, I read every book/author that the developers recommended. It wasn't enough, and these works in isolation cannot satiate a desire for 'Elysian' media. Why? Because Disco Elysium is itself a confluence of ideas. It has the humanity of Emile Zola's 'Germinal', the political intrigues of 'City & the City', and the glassy prose of Dashiell Hammett's detective novels.
The tragedy of it is there will be another thing quite like Disco Elysium. There might be a successor game or novel that provenes from the imaginations of Kurvitz or Hindpere one day, but who can say whether it will evoke the same feeling? The conclusion I came to is there is nothing left to do but celebrate this game through creation. Telling stories. Their purpose was to entertain us, and they succeeded. What comes after falls to us.
When it comes to games, the one that came really close to evoking that "Elysian" feeling for me was Planescape: Torment. I'm not sure if it's mentioned in the inspiration media by the DE devs, but it has a lot of similarities in it's plot, it's themes, even artstyle. But most importantly, that feeling you get when the credits roll, and you know, that something in you changed because of this piece of media that you've just experienced. Highly recommend.
Just scrolled down to see if someone else had mentioned Planescape: Torment before I posted something about it. Really enjoyed the video as is. To further the idea of other pieces of media that capture an aspect of DE that someone may be looking for Planescape is high on my list. It brings the incredible well written dialogue heavy rpg set in a weird city feel. You even have an amnesiac main character trying to figure out his past ( much of which is him having done bad things to people). The world is different, and it has its own things to say, but it has a heck of a lot to say. As a side note it was one of the big inspirations mentioned by the creative team, probably the biggest direct influence on what the game part of DE is shaped like.
It's absolutely mentioned by the devs as an inspiration. I have no idea how this video avoided mentioning it, unless they thought it was just low-hanging fruit, or something, in which case it still deserved an offhand mention.
last time i tried playing planescape i equipped a cursed dagger and immediately regretted it. gotta start over lmao. 💀
@@humancircuitry You can get it removed from certain shops, Mebbeth in ragpicker square being one I'm sure.
@@ganjaericco thank you, i’ll keep that in mind 🙏
Great, nicely paced and well edited video with some great writing to boot.
What you said about Disco being a deeply personal experience very much resonated. I've tried to do a second playthrough 3 times to discover some more aspects of the game but couldn't pull through, quitting at the end of day 1 feeling like a second playthrough will take away something from my first experience.
I highly recommend picking up a book the Strugatsky brothers from the dev inspiration list aswell. Roadside Picnic is their most well known and a good first read by them. Dead Mountaineer's Hotel has the most Disco vibes with it being a detective story with wacky characters. The Doomed City personally I think is their best book.
"Град Обречённый" действительно имеет так сказать немало общего с Диско Элизиум, первое что приходит на ум так это то,что в обоих произведениях мир похож на коктейль из множества культур ,да и мотивы будто провалившегося социального эксперимента,коммунизма и надвигающегося апокалипсиса очень похожи
@@sunlightedlordoflords9619 Fair point, a good amount of time has passed since I first read it but it's got a lot in common with Disco for sure. Much like Disco it can be very funny with excellent satire which is enhanced if you have some knowledge of Soviet history.
Why consume media when my life is just like Disco Elysium
Are you a cop? Or just depressed alcoholic?
A screen of KRZ, Harry, and Dale Cooper? Oh you have peared into my heart, I'll absolutely enjoy this in full
INLAND EMPIRE [CRITICAL: SUCCESS] This analysis whispers truths deeper than the Mariana Trench. Good job, Detective.
He site it officially as an inspiration. What he said in zero way means he doesnt like him. It is how artists think. Its a way of confirming to oneself that they have confidence in their own work. Picasso and many other artists sight direct influences as being inferior to themselves because they spend much of their life trying to catch up to these figures they admire.
Idk how I got recommended this with such low viewcount/sub count.....but the algorithm chose a gem, this was good!
A book that matches Disco’s love for vignettes into people’s lives and existentialism is Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. Jacob geller talked abt it! If anything, it’s more surreal and fantastical than DE. In both, the ending makes you cry.
I am so sorry but I was so ready for a “ah, you’re finally awake” Skyrim joke at the beginning XD
I'd like to recommend Cosmo D's little series of games (Off-Peak, The Norwood Suite, Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1, and Betrayal at Club Low)
They're a very strange and surreal dive into a set of uncanny but endlessly charming worlds, and the most recent game specifically really scratches that surreal RPG itch! Lots of great stuff in there, and not enough people talk abt them
Edit: So I finally got around to playing it, and yeah, anyone who enjoyed Disco Elysium should absolutely check out Betrayal at Club Low (plus the other games, obviously)! It takes a very clear influence from DE while also doing a ton of really fun stuff with stats and balancing status effects! It's incredibly fun and rewarding so far
I've been SAYING! I'm a huge fan of the Off-Peak universe ever since first stepping foot in that god damn train station, and it has this similar dreamy vibe, while not sparing you the harsh reality of its world. I really wish more people would play these games, listen to the music and engage with the universe because it's so unique.
@MissGunpowder Honestly! I started with The Norwood Suite and I've been singing the series' praises since! I hope they start getting the recognition they deserve, and I'm so excited to see what happens next
I get that comparing Disco Elysium to Planescape: Torment is kind of low-hanging fruit, but not even mentioning it, even in an offhand "of course you most likely know this one so I'm not going to go into exhaustive detail, but check it out if you haven't" sort of way, in a video like this seems like it must have been a deliberate omission. I can't help but wonder why you made it.
The amnesiac who learns who he is, is a rather fun inversion to character writing when done right.
^^This
Amazing, but the way you peppered Disco Elysium quotes throughout the essay is the cherry on top.
I've heard that Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a solid hit of that good disco shit
Wowww I haven’t read that book much less thought about it in years but now that you mentioned this, yeah that tracks. I actually wouldn’t mind revisiting the Yiddish Policemen’s Union now that I’ve played through Disco Elysium a few times.
For me it was all about the immersion the game grants.
For those looking, I recommend
Games by Black Tabby Games (Scarlet Hollow, Slay the Princess)
Life is Strange games
The Walking Dead games by Telltale
Other Telltale games
Games by Freebird Games (To the Moon, Finding Paradise)
Undertale
Sam Barlow's games (Her story, Telling Lies)
Emily is Away series
Thanks to ur video and the comments, I now have a solid stash of media to keep the Disco pangs at bay. Thank you!
great video, thank you!
yeah, the longing for disco elysium... truly, nothing fills the void. my main problem with most games and media is that it's rare to find such high-quality narrative, characters and in-depth politics in one "product". personally i don't care about settings and visuals that much, i'm 100 percent down with sci-fi, fantasy, honestly whatever, as long as the story's good, so the "second disco elysium" doesn't have to be a cop story, even a detective story for me
fallout: new vegas was my "disco elysium 0", the first game that showed me how complex and interesting politics in video games can be. i love it dearly to this day, even though i know this game as a back of my hand. it's flooded with people and factions too, with artificial differencies that divide them, even within their own groups. as jacob geller said in his disco elysium video essay: "although they occupy the same city, look at the same buildings, they live worlds apart". and i don't think i've ever played anything besides fnv and disco that gave me the same feeling of connection and disconnection between people and the same lense through i, myself, view the world. but there are close examples
kentucky route zero. obviously.
night in the woods is one of them. it's not straightforwardly political at first glance and it's nothing like fnv or disco elysium in terms of setting/genre/etc but its view on politics and economy is crucial for its themes and plot. the doomed area around, simple struggles of the working class, how this game's narrative allows you to savor small stories and experiences, rings very "disco" and very "kentucky" to me. and it gives similar feeling of hope and dread simultaneously, as disco elysium does ("at the end of everything hold on to anything", the pale, all the apocalyptic talk in both games, etc)
and not so long ago i've played pentiment. it's a bit weird to recommend it under a video about media that influenced disco elysium since pentiment itself was influenced by disco elysium (as its director josh sawyer says himself, he was the director and lead designer on fallout: new vegas too, by the way). and it's a veeeery loose comparison, the only directly similar things are, i guess, weird, narrative heavy dreams and talking skills (a very simplified version of them, at least), the unity of place and the detective nature of the game. but still, ignoring the medieval setting and flavor, it was my latest "disco-ish" experience. it's very well-written and it's an anti-mystery of sorts too, has lots of compelling characters and deep exploration of class\class struggle. if characters of disco elysium had very pronounced political beliefs that defined them (you can tell who's a leftist\a centrist\a fascist almost immediately in most cases), characters of pentiment talk in different FONTS that immediately show their social class. one font for peasants, one font for wealthy\educated npcs, one font for something in between, etc. this game places people in categories and yet, excels at showing their differencies, finding this balance between, again, connection and disconnection. but it's not disco elysium at all, of course. and it's a good thing it's not. it's just like you said: "find broadly what you liked about disco elysium and narrow it down"
i did. and it's a great ride so far, even though nothing itches the scratch in a completely right way. more like, adds to all the existing scratches, because now i have to long for pentiment too :)
this video just made me get the game again so I can replay on pc and, inspired me to finally watch twin peaks. great work and you got yourself a new sub!
Woah! This video is really good? Usually I brush off RUclips recommendations from smaller channels, but I am really happy I stayed and watched this. Excellent work, you should be proud of it.
Lmao, I finished disco and immediately went looking for more. I also first went and read the city and the city.
Nice to see I wasn’t the only one. Nice video dude!
Dino Buzzati's The Tartar Steppe is another good one!
Disco Elysium is the Dark Souls of video games
I'd also recommend a book from the steam list - "Germinal' by Emile Zola. It is similar to Disco in a lot of aspects, especially in the way they portray working class communities. Without shying away from thier weaknesses like violence and alchoholism but simultaneously with a lot of empathy, understanding and solidarity. Zola's views were pretty similar to those of DE writers, as "Germinal" is also very anti-capitalist (and there is a lot of politics, epspecially leftist infighting). Additionally it's a very well written book and some descriptions feel very similar to shivers checks.
> Spends the entire Twin Peaks section talking about communism, despite concession at the very beginning that Twin Peaks doesn't mention communism in any way
> Doesn't notice that Inland Empire is a direct Lynch reference
twin peaks is the only one i already had a connection to and holy shit its as good as DE for me. high praise for both works. very human very empathic *totally transcendent* works. maybe theyre about love
The Perikarnassian Church is about *love*! Anodic music is about *love*! I got love for my Perikarnassian posse, *love* is the relay out of death! WE DANCE!!!" He violently shakes the tape player, as if to see if he can break it.
If anything I'm grateful to DE for setting me up to consume all the related books/media I could get my hands on. While you're right that nothing really scratches the same itch perfectly, they all are great on their own merits. True Detective S1, the Wire and the City and the City fulfill the murder mystery aspect, while Germinal and Mieville's books do that for the politics/struggle under social inequality aspect. Mieville was also a great gateway to other New Weird authors like Vandermeer, and the Pale seems like something straight out of his short stories (crazy mind-bending worldbuilding concept explored through a matter-of-fact low level perspective).
Play Citizen Sleeper, you won't regret it.
this is a wonderful video essay. i loved what you had to say and it ripped my heart out
This is such a great video. I really hope more people wind up seeing it
this is really cool! i'm at the moment watching twin peaks for the first time and cooper & truman are really the best thing about it, and comparing cooper to harry caught me off guard but it really makes sense lol.
ah i saw the city and the city tv show before ever playing disco and never put two and two together
If you want another well written narrative RPG, I’d suggest a game called Roadwarden.
A Disco Elysium dealer makes a video for Disco Elysium junkies
i hope you make more videos like this you have a great skill at it, and i hope more people see that work, fantastic stuff.
Oh man. This is a beautifully written video.
Loved every bit of this video, great work! :D
in terms of vibes, I've always felt like "the secret knots" webcomic is a pretty decent match.
True detective is soo similar to disco
While incredibly different from Disco Elysium in basically every way, I personally think that Outer Wilds is a great game for someone who liked Disco Elysium. It’s incredibly philosophical, yet practically not political at all. However, the emotion impact which the two games have had on me are equivalent. One game, Outer Wilds, made me entirely make peace with the concept of nothingness and death, while the other game, Disco Elysium, helped me better understand why I always keep going. The games are so incredibly different, but equally impactful, at least in my opinion (you have to play the Outer Wilds DLC though, it’s a must for the experience.
It’s funny, in my friend group the ones who played Outer Wilds about a year and a half ago are the same who played Disco Elysium one year later, and I’m pretty sure all of us absolutely adore both games with all of our hearts.
Good vid, I really should reread roadside picnic
Nice guys is a great film that is very much focused on the comedic/political/detective elements of the game
Amazing
Shameless self promo - check out Rainswept (released a year before Disco Elysium) It won't scratch that specific DE itch, but it's kind of like DE + Twin Peaks + Broadchurch + Night in the Woods.
I mainly wanted to play a "detective adventure". I knew pretty early that nothing was going to compare to DE, so LA Noire was a good fit. Also went down the path of creating my own DE inspired TTRPG campaign, using the Powered by the Apocalypse framework.
That's interesting.
Disco Peaks ?! Sweetheart, my socks are on fire !!
Great video my guy. Although I haven't played or seen anything from this game, it seems really interesting. I love a game where your decisions can actually impact how the story plays out. Well, it's great seeing you upload again and I wish you the best on your next video idea; be it a machinima, video essay, or even a vlog.
Thank you my friend, its a bit of a niche topic on a lot of pieces of media that aren't all too popular. Still, I appreciate you sticking it out on this video, if just to watch randomly.
Beautiful.Great vid
I thought about making a post apocalyptic themed game based on disco Elysium, even though I suck at making games…
when you said that line about politics being how we choose to treat and care for one another? i just sat at my desk and stared into space for a minute. that hit. excellent video. 💖 will definitely check out a lot of your recs.
i probably should finish disco elysium
Any person who mentions People Make Games usually knows what they're talking about. Never knew much about Disco Asylum admittedly until these uploads, great stuff!
i, too, have been hunting for anything to bring even a fleeting sense of the passion that disco elysium awakened in me ever since i finished the game, and have found it in some odd places. most recently, angels in america part 2: perestroika. (a seven hour epic of a play, you should probably read the first part first, but perestroika is where we get the most potent disco elysium vibes. it starts with a soliloquy from a character called “the oldest living bolshevik” if that gives you an idea.) the plot and cultural context of the play is VASTLY different from disco elysium, but you have the political overtones paired with absurd yet compulsively likeable characters, earth-shatteringly beautiful prose in the strangest places, plus a series of visitations from spirits that almost resemble the skill check dialogue if you squint. angels in america is more far overtly gay than disco elysium, imagine if the homosexual underground side quest was.. the whole thing. (a win, imo.)
if you like harry as a protagonist i cannot recommend bojack horseman enough! the amount of times i read a line in disco elysium and thought "no way that's not a bojack reference"
dope, thx youtube algorithm
Kentucky Route Zero perhaps works better for us none-Americans. The country music, rural U.S. setting, the ranches, the cows, the truckers, they are a lot more romantic when the familiarity is absent, yet depicted just often enough for the struggles there to be understood.
It does make me appreciate the voice acting in Disco Elysium more, tho. It has good music but that's about it, most lines like most similar CPRG/adventure games aren't voiced, which might be a deal breaker.
phenomenal
Congratulations, this is great.
The City and The City has a similar feel to aspects of Disco Elysium, but it's not Mieville's best work. Personally, I'd recommend The Census-Taker.
Whenevr i see disco elysium i click
Try 'The Magic Mountain' by Thomas Mann
this is really good
If you loved Disco Elysium, I highly recommend Jodorowsky's movies and comics.
Great video, new subscriber.
European vs American economic suffering. Mmmm. Fantastic commentary.
When it comes to China Mieville, I think that Perdido Street Station is a far clearer influence than The City. Released in 2000, it's a unique and bizarre secondary world fantasy focused through a marxist lens, that doesn't just stick to the formula of "(insert historical period) + dragons/elves/wizards/vampires" It takes as much inspiration from the socio-politcial conditions of neo-liberal Britain of the 80s and 90s as from Victorian Gothic novellas and HP Lovecraft, not to mention tabletop RPGs. And like Disco, its very... not American.
But Mieville's character work isn't the best, Kurvitz et al. certainly did better with that aspect, with Disco a more powerful, character-driven work.
Agree completely! I read The City first but was really blown away by the world building of Perdido Street Station and the other books in his Bas-Lag series. Both are incredible and while I think The City is an easier introduction to Mieville in general, some of his other works capture that Disco feeling of wonderment much better for me.
Great video!
Great video. Thanks for the recommendations, and thanks for reminding me of Disco Elysium. I love that game so much. I've never had a piece of art affect me like that one did. Thanks.
Btw I threw the ball and was a sorry cop too lol
Jim Carrey?
Plenty of folks claim something didn't inspire or influence them when the opposite seems obvious: Tolkien and Volsungsaga/Ring Cycle (magical cursed ring, the one who kept it the longest was warped in form into a dragon); Shigeru Miyamoto and Alice in Wonderland (going through a hole to another world underground and mushrooms that make you shrink / grow); etc etc. Some folks just seem...opposed to the idea that x/y/z had an affect on them. I'm not sure why some have this discomfort, and some don't.
Ehh sometimes they’re totally telling the truth. Mortis Ghost didn’t play any of the MOTHER games until way after OFF was released. He did like it when he played it though
Baldur's Gate 3 is a great RPG.
But there is just a huge difference in dialogue and story. Disco Elysium is still the best RPG in my books.
nice work comrade
thinking you could do better is definitely inspiration inspiration to outcompete
great video....
i actually really love both DE and KRZ and played them roughly around the same time and always thought they were trying to tell the same thing. not favoring one side of politics or the other but just trying to display how hard it is to be alive for so many people, mainly because of how we are as people. both game's endings are very profound and stick with you for a while.
while DE is obviously the better game, with its choices, mechanics, etc, i gotta say KRZ had a much more emotional effect on me in terms of the bigger picture. maybe bc i'm utterly over politics in general bc that's all people want to fight about these days. KRZ seemed to have almost turn the very act of existing in this world seem almost like a cosmic horror (if that makes sense)
Loved the setting,loved the themes,absolutely loved the skill system (if you even call it that,I think it's extremely creative and imo it's something that transcends the skills system) but didn't give the shit about politics.If this game didn't forced you to take a moral stance at almost every single turn it probably would have been the best game I ever played
THE SONG AT 8:18?!?!?!?!?!
Great video 👍🗿👍
jacob geller would like to talk to you, he has a video about "finding disco elysium" in a way similar to this video.
he also elaborates more on caves and the themes in Kentucky Route Zero as well.
What is an “eastern european style of murder?”
This was a sloppy video. The writer was confounded by the devs saying that a work inspired them, and that they think it’s poorly done. Is inspiration to the author simply good things someone likes that they want to copy?
Plenty of similarities but DE is way more fantasy and sci-fi than the city & the city.
Gonna be honest, I liked the idea of a weird world, and detective game. But the politics of Disco ruined it for me. It just turned me off too badly lmao
politics?
me reading the communist manifesto
Nothing is truly like disco, the fact that we may never get another one because of capitalist assholes hurts me like nothing else
loved the video but kentucky route zero was hot dog shit. bar none the most miserable point and click adventure "game" I've ever played. don't meet your heroes I guess