Discworld Elysium

Part Disco Elysium, part Monkey Island, part Planescape Torment, Esoteric Ebb manages successfully to thread its own path. Frequently witty, occasionally downright hilarious, sometimes surprisingly serious and insightful, the game always manages to be charming as ♥♥♥♥!

Spoiling any encounter, or memorable interaction (of which there are many) would be a great disservice to you: Esoteric Ebb is designed to surprise you at every opportunity, and make you reconsider your choices (you even gain extra XP for changing your class or political allegiance).

This is very much a slow burn, and I admit, the game did not click with me right away. Once I got into it, it was hard to put down, and I lost many hours exploring, talking to colourful NPCs, and struggling with the various choices presented to me. Even when not playing Esoteric Ebb, while doing household chores or taking a walk, I'd find myself thinking about the choices I made. This is one of those games that gets under your skin, and stays with you for a while.

As you can see from the screenshots, this is an aesthetically-pleasing game. The stylish art direction is cohesive, with 3D models closely matching the character art. The pastel-hued environments often look like Moebius panels brought to life. The analogue synth music is often minimalist, but adds a touch of weird atmosphere to the cool fantasy setting. The UI is elegant, and doesn't get in the way.

There is certainly a lot more 'game' here than I expected. Like Disco Elysium, it's primarily a dialogue-driven game, however there are many spells I have not used in my playthrough, and even a couple of quests I skipped because I just had to know how all this all ends. I want to revisit some of the combat encounters, and will definitely be replaying this game as a different archetype; I am already looking forward to not failing every single Strength check.

Narrative combat is frustratingly hard to do right, and requires more work than just lazily importing D&D rules and slapping them on top of basic-ass turn-based combat. Every encounter in Esoteric Ebb is unique, surprising, and unpredictable. This is not just clicking on monsters and hoovering up loot, this is real ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ art!

Esoteric Ebb is a high-effort labour of love, made by a small group of friends. It punches way above its weight, and I am still incredulous that all of this is all essentially one man's vision of what a narrative RPG can be. I mean, even OG Disco Elysium people like Esoteric Ebb, it's that good!

I can't wait to see what Christoffer Bodegård will do next, although it must be quite stressful to try and top Esoteric Ebb. I sincerely hope we won't have to wait another 8 years for the sequel, as I can't wait to explore more of the Esoteric Coast. For now, a replay will be enough.