The world of Revachol and the characters populating the run down streets of Martinaise are some of the most interesting things to emerge out of gaming in 2019. I like good writing in games and tend to prefer strong stories over skill based gameplay. Disco Elysium is not only a well written in comparison to other games, it clearly stacks up against writing in other kinds of medium - having actually literary ambitions and the chops to deliver on them.

There is a deep set melancholy vibrating through the core of Disco Elysium. Its world is broken by the promises of a still born revolution, crushed by laissez-faire doctrine and only held together by human tenacity. The same melancholy is found in the game’s protagonist, whose past forced him into a bender so great it wiped his memory. He is a sad and sorry character in a sad and sorry world. The game’s soundtrack is at times a sad, droning, hum that blankets the world in fading yellow.

Yet the game still had me coming out of it hopeful and energized. There is the possibility of redemption, for the protagonist and perhaps even for the world. The game holds up a mirror and asks you to reflect. Through its myriad of choices, Disco Elysium offers a path of hope and connection. I don’t really know how much of this is down to the way I played the game, because the game really does give you the option of pursuing wildly different paths, especially in terms of how your character perceives the world. But I feel that the game’s underpinning morals and theories actually has something to say about the world and there is an ever present humanity to the characters (often expressed or interpreted through your partner Kim) that cuts through any awful choices and steers the game clear of nihilism or centrism.

I hope that Disco Elysium becomes one of those games - the ones we constantly refer back to, that spawns off shoots and new terminology. I want a world where games dare to be explicitly political. I want games with actual world building and literary ambitions. I want more of this and I hope it’s not just lightning in a bottle.