i don't like france, but this game made me hate it a little less.
i will be including next to no spoilers in my review of this game, i will only give vague hints as to what my overall experience was with minor anecdotal inclusions for my favorite parts
let me just say that i have never once seeked the approval of any particular one person in my life until playing this game, and that man was kim kitsuragi; my favorite binoclard
the writing? beyond suberb--dare i say, divine. the gameplay? you're not playing this game for the gameplay; the gameplay is basically nonexistent. i'll level with you when i say this is a glorified visual novel, but that's not a bad thing, because it's a very, very good visual novel. that being said, the entire open world is really just a medium for all of your dialogue options with a couple of actual interactive things, most of which just open up more paths for you to take. revachol itself is a very wonderful backdrop for a wonderful game. just hearing about the technology of the modern age from other people gets me excited and engaged with the world of disco elysium, which--by the way--is a very interesting collection of comparatively archaic industrial revolution era toys, like radio stations that require listeners to constantly take calls from across nations just so you can confirm your password and access information. the politics, the history, the entire world just feels like it could really exist. you have so many different characters that each represent their own facet of the world, some of them reflect qualities off of each other in such a way that it makes you wonder what all of these people have gone through, how their lives have been and what made them the way they are?
underneath this wonderful gameplay and beautifully written story is also one of the most heartbreaking narratives i've ever been subjected to. you're a miserable person living in a miserable world, picking up the shattered pieces of your fragmented past to try and figure out who you are. it really blurs the line between you--the player--and them--the protagonist in a way that allows you to really form your own persona and fit into the shoes of this detective.
now, these are all of my genuine critiques, and you may have picked up on the fact that there was absolutely no humor to be found in any of this so far. it's honestly not even intentional. i'm reeling from finishing this game after 47 hours of playtime, and i can't help but already miss it.
the themes of despair, futility, and the overwhelming atmosphere doesn't just make for a good setting, it genuinely made me ask questions about my own real life. i hesitate to say it, but this game has, in some ways, made me a slightly better person.
when the whole world is filled with terrible people who curse and spit at you, you're encouraged to spit back. but if you hold your tongue and ask why they do it, you realize that it's rarely ever because they hate you, they just don't like whatever it is you remind them of. it might be so deep seated that not even they realize it. ignorance and bias play a larger role in people's interactions than they often like to admit, but it's crucial to break down barriers and put differences aside when two sides are forced to come together. physical appearance, class, ideologies and beliefs are the only things that set us all apart. obviously, all of us are humans. we make mistakes, we regret and despair over everything that we're faced with. but forgiving, forgetting, moving on from what we believed onto what we believe is the only way that progress can be made so that one day we might all be able to come together as humans instead of enemies.
but that's just my take on it, and while i do think it's impossible for everyone to truly put their differences aside, i still hold a pathetic hope in my heart that i could make the world a better place. that by forgiving myself and others, my children or their children might grow up with better ideologies than the ones that came before them so that they might be shaped into a better person than i am.
100/10
would glaze kim again
