Esoteric Ebb

Arguably the second best cRPG after Disco Elysium. This is not a bit. Play this game.

One of the very best TTRPG experiences in video games. Only issues I have is no voice acting and sometimes it gets a bit long winded.

I bought this because it was pitched as a “Disco-like, TTRPG-turned-CRPG.” After 2.2 hours, I refunded it. The problem isn’t simply that it’s difficult. I love games like Fear & Hunger. The problem is that Esoteric Ebb feels actively hostile while doing a terrible job communicating that this is the kind of experience you’re buying. It borrows the visual language and dialogue structure of Disco Elysium and the terminology/aesthetic of D&D, but in play it felt like neither. Combat was the biggest issue for me. I could possess actual weapons and still routinely have no basic option to simply attack an enemy with them. Instead, encounters gave me a handful of authored checks/actions while enemies repeatedly damaged me. My character’s supposed tools frequently felt irrelevant because I could only do whatever specific actions the encounter had decided to offer. That is basically the opposite of what I enjoy about tabletop RPGs. In D&D, if I have a mace and there’s a monster in front of me, I can say “I hit it with the mace” and the rules resolve that attempt. Here, having the mace does not necessarily mean “attack with mace” is an available action. Meanwhile I gradually exhausted my spells, hit dice and other resources, accumulated fatigue, and could not find a way to long rest. I spent most of my playtime exploring both major areas available to me, talking to NPCs and trying different approaches. The only NPC I could even ask about somewhere to sleep explicitly refused me. Eventually I was resource-starved, repeatedly getting destroyed in encounters, and still had no clear idea how I was supposed to progress. Maybe this particular combination of opaque progression, RNG, resource attrition and deliberately restrictive encounter design is exactly what some players want. That’s fine. But I desperately wish the store page and reviews had communicated what kind of game this actually is. If you’re coming here because you heard “Disco Elysium meets D&D,” do not assume that means Disco’s failure-forward design combined with tabletop-style freedom. For me, it felt much closer to playing a campaign with a DM who only permits a few prewritten actions and thinks repeatedly screwing with the player is the joke. I genuinely wanted to like this. Character creation had me excited immediately. Two hours later I was furious and refunded it.

총 플탐 15시간 디스코 엘리시움이랑 거의 비슷한 게임 세계관만 판타지라는 점이 다르다 개인적으로는 디스코 엘리시움보다 재밌게 함 정치에 진짜 아무 관심도 없는데 디스코 엘리시움은 너무 딥하게 다룬게 내 맘에 안 들었었음 그래서 한번 유기했다가 엔딩 보기도 했고 esoteric ebb는 비교적 덜 나오기도 하고 정치가 그렇게 크게 중요한 내용은 아니라서 좋았음 근데 내가 반 예능식으로 내가 왕이 될꺼라고 나한테 투표하라는 선택지만 골라서 그럴 수도 있고 그리고 디스코 엘리시움은 스탯상으로 꽤 짰던거로 기억하는데 esoteric ebb는 한두개 빼고는 다 두루두루 높게 찍을 수 있어서 좋았음 주사위 리롤할 수 있는 아이템도 존재하고 게임적으로는 마법사를 정말 좋아해서 재밌게 했음 발더스3 하는 느낌도 들고 좋았다 세계관도 마음에 들었고 스토리도 막 드라마틱하진 않지만 슴슴하게 재밌었음 근데 스탯은 지능말고 딴거 찍는거 추천함 난 파이어볼 날리고 그럴 줄 알았는데 그런 느낌의 공격적인 마법은 거의 쓰지 않더라 전투 자체도 별로 없는데 거기서도 보조적인 역할만 하는 느낌 마법 횟수가 제한되어 있는데 그걸 회복시켜주는 아이템이 많아서 굳이 싶긴 하더라 그래도 정말 재밌었음 디스코 엘리시움 재밌게 했으면 강력 추천 총점: 5/5

basicamente uma campanha de RPG sabor disco elysium bom

I came to the city of Norvik to solve a crime. Unfortunately, my stats had opinions, the locals had manifestos, every bad idea had a dialogue option, and the dice kept turning my failures into better stories than my successes. Somehow, this is the most competent I've ever felt playing an idiot.

The game presents an interesting world to explore, tons of NPCs to talk to, all kinds of things to read and read, but punishes the player for exploring in the early game with Exhaustion levels that reduce all stats and health until you learn how to sleep to long rest, which the game doesn't bother to explain to the player. First 2 hours were very fun but I just started skipping dialogue to find a damn bed. Either reward players for exploring in your RPG or don't, but don't pretend to reward them while punishing them with poorly explained mechanics. As a longtime D&D player and DM this game had a lot of cool ideas but the non-tutorial of the most critical mechanics is incredibly harmful to the entire experience. Wish I could give a better review, may update when I get over the frustrating early game. Or may not if I drop it entirely.