In summary, this game really feels like it boils down to: what if Disco Elysium but D&D flavoured fantasy? The mechanics, the writing, even the focus on polictics all feel very Disco, and personally I found that delightful.
Story 5/5 - This game is very funny. I genuinely laughed a lot and inflicted more than a few out of context screenshots on my spouse. The overarching narrative was a fun little mystery, with a lot of little subplots to follow up on if one desires. The Cleric (who you play as) is kind of a pathetic mess of a guy but in an enjoyable and even interesting way. Character relationships and interactions are well done. And I felt that the game had some genuinely thoughtful writing relating to both politics and gender.
Mechanics 4.5/5 - The gameplay feels very in line with what I remember in Disco Elysium, but with a D&D dice rolling flavour to it. And like Disco and unlike D&D, everything takes place in dialogue, including combat. I found this very enjoyable considering the quality of the writing. The only thing that frustrated me sometimes is that there is no dialogue log that you could go back and look at, and sometimes I would remember pertinent information was said (for example the location of something), but not exactly what was said. And if the info didn't get written in the quest log (not everything does) then I would have no way to double check it short of reloading an old save.
There's also a time mechanic, with the game taking place over a few days and time passing as you click through dialogue. Initially this made me rush and worry I wouldn't have time to do everything I wanted, but it turns out there's ample time to follow up on all quest threads. The difficulty with the passage of time is not really with doing as much as possible, but rather with managing your time well, as some characters/locations are only accessible at certain times of day.
Art/Sound 4/5 - If I'm being honest the art style isn't really my cup of tea, but it does the job well enough, and I'll give it credit for being cohesive acrross different parts of the game - 2D, 3D, UI, etc. But the music! The music is phenomenal. It's pretty unique and maybe not what you would expect, but it works really well. And the credits song is a total banger.
Overall - 5/5 - I loved my time with Esoteric Ebb and am considering a second playthrough to see how it feels with a different build. Luckily, the game is short enough that the prospect of multiple playthroughs isn't too daunting.
