Disco Elysium – The Final Cut (PS4)

Disco Elysium is not your average role playing game the punters of today would expect to see and this is a good thing and a damn miracle they decided to port it onto consoles to share this experience with other people.

These days sadly popular role playing games are afraid to try anything new or actually embrace playing a role in interesting settings.

Copying success for safe profit means we get action games usually with some sort of vague choice wrapped up in a satisfying 30 second game loop with a story that cribs from the usual chosen one destined to save the world from a crisis.

This is fine if done well. But this is not interesting. Is it different? What happened to the weird and experimental stuff that actually draws you in?

DE is a different game.

You are not the sexy chosen one that the world adores and your tale will not end with you saving mankind. You are a weird mess who needs to do their job and solve that damn murder.

This is easier said than done as your detective has hit rock bottom of his career, social standing and general physical condition.

With the help of your very patient Detective partner you will (eventually) attempt to untangle the strange circumstances of a lynching whilst trying to find or reinvent yourself.

You can build your character up via ROLE PLAYING choosing to solve your problems with police work. Or throwing the book at them or punching them in the face. Or going with your gut. Or just trying to lie bullshit and cruise your way through the affair relapsing in a haze of drink and drugs.

The many voices in your head of your broken Detective will steer you certain ways suggesting things following the themes of the skills you have chosen.

These are all entertaining even when you do not succeed.

You will be provided with tools and equipment that will help with your dice rolls and make life easier for you, some found by exploration and immersing yourself in the strange fictional world of the game. Mr Torch and Mr Crowbar will be very good friends to you in the streets.

This game is more of an interactive novel where dice rolls (some repeatable, others ONE OFF PERMANENT CHOICES) can decide your fate. But do not let it deter you as the game has an atmosphere that will draw you in.

This is a very old school game in which you are encouraged to explore as much as you can, speak to everyone and make a damn fool of yourself.

Fantastic voice acting and narration as well as the incredible music from British Sea Power will draw you in as you scramble for change, drink to become powerful and attempt to both debate the politics and talk bullshit about Disco in a very strange world.

This game is not pretentious in actually embracing the concept of the fictional universe having equally a strange set of shades of gray of politics and history but their own characters openly embracing it.

Along with the fantastic world building based on a table top game the developers designed and played out when developing you will find yourself drawn deeper into this new world.

Don’t get salty if the game calls you out for being boring trying to be apolitical thinking over a sandwich. Embrace the flaws you fool.

I feel the only things you can truly be critical about with the game is the issue with renting a room in the Motel and being railroaded into having to scavenge spare change to avoid being accidentally locked out (you need to sleep to end the day being a chapter) and the clothing being tied to statistics.

Yes the controls are clunky but show me a Isometric old school RPG game ported on the PS4 from the PC where things are not awkward. The limitations of the console should be known to anyone looking for these games on the console. It’s wonderful we’ve got the option for this now.

The developers have even extended support long past finishing the game with Final Cut which is above and beyond the call of duty for them. It is PS5 port friendly too.

This will be my 2nd copy as I have played the game to death on my PC and get the itch to return every few months.

Disco Elysium is a good RPG. It is a fantastic indie alternative to the usual samey brands if you are tired of being a space or fantasy god and want something different, something Disco.