I feel like I'm missing something about Disco Elysium. When games feel like they should've been a different piece of media (e.g. Gone Home, which feels like an audiobook slapped on top of a walking sim), they usually justifiably get criticized for that. But somehow this game was received very warmly, even though to me it just feels like a book (or perhaps a play script) that for some reason ended up being a video game.
The premise is the following: you play as an alcoholic detective with amnesia, who tries to solve a murder case with his partner and simultaneously retain his memory. It's very much to the point and keeps you involved with the main character while he's discovering the world around himself at the same time as you.
However, very early into the game you start to understand that it mostly involves talking to people around town, and A LOT of that. While I do like good dialogue in video games and it makes sense for you to talk to everyone since you're a detective, with each passing moment it feels more and more like you're just reading dialogue instead of playing a game.
Now there are choices in these dialogues, some of which are locked behind your skill points and split into two skill checks: you just need a certain skill level to say this (fair enough) and a random dice roll in order to be able to say/do something (complete bullshit). These dice rolls for me have sucked all of the life out of the game since you usually have a "choice" between rolling the dice or screwing around for 10-15 minutes instead, working on a harder solution to the problem.
On top of these dice rolls that completely screw up the game's pacing you need to sit through hundreds of lines of dialogue with tens of characters throughout the world and sometimes literally just wait in order for the main character to obtain a "thought" that allows for you to progress the dialogue further with a certain character.
For me the game just fails to maintain tension that is usually associated with good detective stories and just continues to lose my attention the further I go into the game.
However, if you are in the mood to read a lot of dialogue (which is often very political) and solve a mystery inside of a walking simulator – sure, go ahead! It's just not my cup of tea, I would prefer Return of the Obra Dinn as my go-to detective game any day of the week.
The premise is the following: you play as an alcoholic detective with amnesia, who tries to solve a murder case with his partner and simultaneously retain his memory. It's very much to the point and keeps you involved with the main character while he's discovering the world around himself at the same time as you.
However, very early into the game you start to understand that it mostly involves talking to people around town, and A LOT of that. While I do like good dialogue in video games and it makes sense for you to talk to everyone since you're a detective, with each passing moment it feels more and more like you're just reading dialogue instead of playing a game.
Now there are choices in these dialogues, some of which are locked behind your skill points and split into two skill checks: you just need a certain skill level to say this (fair enough) and a random dice roll in order to be able to say/do something (complete bullshit). These dice rolls for me have sucked all of the life out of the game since you usually have a "choice" between rolling the dice or screwing around for 10-15 minutes instead, working on a harder solution to the problem.
On top of these dice rolls that completely screw up the game's pacing you need to sit through hundreds of lines of dialogue with tens of characters throughout the world and sometimes literally just wait in order for the main character to obtain a "thought" that allows for you to progress the dialogue further with a certain character.
For me the game just fails to maintain tension that is usually associated with good detective stories and just continues to lose my attention the further I go into the game.
However, if you are in the mood to read a lot of dialogue (which is often very political) and solve a mystery inside of a walking simulator – sure, go ahead! It's just not my cup of tea, I would prefer Return of the Obra Dinn as my go-to detective game any day of the week.