Summary

Review

Unbelievable. My favorite game of all time. (I am so sorry Outer Wilds (2019)) I am still to this day in shock at how much this game was made for me. It is so goddamn hilarious. It is so Lynchian. It's so dark and real, but also so hopeful and bright. There's still time. Disco Elysium is real. And the worldbuilding?! Insane. Every detail is so delicious. I am at times desperate for any more information about this world and also completely content with the vignette we get of it through Harry's eyes. And isn't that so amazing too!? We are dealing with the biggest of human questions, but we never lose sight of the humanity at the core. The first death is in the heart, the second is at the credits.

Update:

At some point it came to me. I was thinking about Disco Elysium, as one does. And I realized that I think there are two keys to making good creative media. Two requirements for me to fall in love with something. I think you need magic and you need realness. Let's go through what I mean for each.

Magic is the special stuff. The family secret in the recipe. It's the love. Magic is what you feel when you taste someone's homemade cookies they made for you as opposed to something bought from a store. It's the creative twists you would never have expected. When something is magic, it can't be replicated. Not really. You can't put the lightning back in the bottle.

A great example of magic is the emotional climax of the game, the conversation with the Insulindian Phasmid. First, the sheer gall to put this behind an easily- failable check. The gumption. Every bit of this is spellbinding.

The other part of the equation is realness. Not, to be clear, realistic. Silly fantasy knights and dragons nonsense can still give realness, even if it's not realistic. What I mean by realness is the small moments of humanity. The feeling of connecting to another human being or some well-thought-out detail that . I think realness frequently hinges on the small moments over the big sweeping emotional beats.

One example of realness that comes to mind is the scene in Disco where you discover the body on the pier. It has no connection to your assigned case (despite what nonsense your Inland Empire might cook up), it's just a sad happenstance. After a little detective work, you can learn that the man that died is from the area and has a family. It's your duty to deliver that news. Your duty to start one of the worst days of this woman's life. You do your best, being as empathetic as possible, because it's the right thing to do. And when she asks how long he has been dead (seemingly several days) you lie to her and say that it couldn't have been long. Because you have to, it's the human thing to do to spare her that unnecessary pain. That's realness.

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