Sometimes you pass a skill check, sometimes you don’t. You don’t get to complete all the quests. that are not good you cannot change his past. There are no giant maps featuring quest tasks with a straightforward, “Hey, here’s your treasure, right there, look dude right here, I’ll put a glowing arrow over it.” You learn things about your player-character H.D.B. There are no easy answers in the world, even to questions like, “What’s the 2021 Game of the Year?”* And what I appreciate about Disco Elysium – The Final Cut is that it does not pretend, even in the gaming world, that there are easy answers. Life, in and outside of this game, is difficult, and it’s comforting to just feel a game admit it. #DISCO ELYSIUM SWITCH REVIEW DRIVER#There’s the cross-country truck driver who avoids slipping back into a drug habit by teaching himself about poetry, a villager who lost her husband to the sea she fishes in every day, the bar manager who tries to take pride in his establishment even when the local mob keeps wrecking the place every weekend, and then, of course, there’s H.D.B. Disco Elysium knows that you, and everyone you know, is having a hard time. It’s like when you’re having a hard time, and someone says, “Just get over it.” Yeah, uh, that didn’t help at all, thanks. Perhaps it’s because of the game’s heaviness that I found myself, perhaps strangely, more hopeful after playing it. During the pandemic, we have all found needs for new limits and new boundaries, but we have also been able to relish the relationships that give us a sense of grounding and peace in a world of confusion. could rely on in a way that he had not been able to in a very long time. Unlike surrounding strangers and even peers from H.D.B.’s own precinct, Kim does not speak cruelly to or about him. What I found so special about Kim is that he is not just patient with H.D.B., but he is kind. He is serious with a wry sense of humor, ever focused on the task at hand, sober- a perfect foil to H.D.B. One of my favorite parts of this game was H.D.B.’s relationship with his partner, Kim Kitsuragi, a citizen’s militia cop from a different precinct that has been assigned to co-investigate. In Disco Elysium, it may be developing H.D.B.’s interpersonal skills to better pass a D&D-inspired dice roll check during a conversation. In my world, that can be making smart choices as I navigate the pandemic. Life is made of chance, but there are ways to prepare for what life throws at us. The occasional *good* day where nothing seems to really go on fire. Even in the game’s (and our world’s) exceptionally troubled universe, however, there were bright spots. Disco Elysium is now much closer to the wavelength of grim reality and non-stop grief upon which we all operate.ĭisco Elysium – The Final Cut is a dark, sad game. The past two years have wrecked the world and our definition of life as we knew it. I reflected about how this game was received in October 2019: heralded as strange and revolutionary, and also condemned for its dark tone. This pain is not just personal, and not even just local, but global. learns of the world, the more he can understand why he drank himself out of remembering. This year, I felt constantly buffeted by bad information (the news, a simple attempt at looking for memes on Instagram, text messages I received, text messages I didn’t receive, emails, so many emails). Other days, it was just another hand pushing me under. Like H.D.B., I had to get back to the grind when I wasn’t ready, when I was scared, when I was unwell. We eventually learn this troubled detective’s initials are H.D.B. For the last few months/years, I’ve felt a little (or more than a little) crazed, desperate for connection even while fearing contact, and thoroughly overwhelmed on a day-to-day basis. An amnesiac, depressed, alcoholic protagonist talks to his hideous necktie and neighborhood hooligans as he tries to solve a crime he can’t remember even being assigned… As absurd as it is to think, “I get that guy,” I do. Disco Elysium – The Final Cut: 2021 Game of the Year I’m glad I waited to play this version, Disco Elysium – The Final Cut, because no other game has resonated with me so deeply in Year 2 of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indie studio ZA/UM released a heavily updated edition of its inaugural game for various platforms over the course of 2021. Why My 2021 Game of the Year Isn’t Even From This Year
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