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I’ve been excited to write this post for a while now. I first discovered the video game “Disco Elysium” on June 24th, 2022. By June 29th, after about 5 hours total play over a few days, I was writing in my journal “This game is blowing my mind.” After 70 total hours of play, 20 hours of videos and blogs from the community, and 10 hours of writing and reflection, Disco Elysium has become one of the most meaningful and impactful experiences of my life.

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Over time, I will attempt to conduct a detailed analysis of many of the qualities of Disco Elysium as a video game, narrative, and set of intellectual arguments. Disco Elysium (DE) is a remarkable work of art with many impressive details and entertaining moments to describe. DE is also an intelligently written game that teaches some of its wise insights through explicit dialogue between its characters while teaching other subtle lessons through implicit qualities of the play experience. There are potentially limitless avenues to many broader topics in science, philosophy, and politics.

In the rest of this essay, I would like to answer the simple question “What is Disco Elysium?” This question has many solid answers, including one that is hidden inside the game itself. I will explore several possible answers while introducing the basic structure of the game.

Because of the very meta- or self-reflective nature of DE, I will keep all of these sections light on spoilers so that readers can get a faithful description while only lightly changing their first-time experience. This means I won’t be able to directly comment on the most notable parts of the story, but I can still have a good time dropping subtle nods for fans without ruining anything major for readers.

For this intro, I will describe the game’s basic story, intended audience, and overall meaning. My future posts will be detailed analyses that assume the reader is familiar with the game’s overall experience and doesn’t mind any more spoilers or going deep.

Although Francis Bacon was only able to read books in his day, I believe he would understand completely my desire to fully chew and digest this game. Look no further than the following image from the game’s promotional trailer before its release in October 2019. Here we have our first answer to the question “What is Disco Elysium?” It could just be marketing puffery, but indie gaming studio ZA/UM knew even then that Disco Elysium is a special video game unlike any other, calling it “The role-playing adventure of a lifetime."

For New Players

If you would like a 2-minute experience of the game’s colorful art style, I recommend the following fan-made non-canon music video. As the video description puts it, it’s a “Personal love letter to Disco Elysium. Mild spoilers.” The artists do a fantastic job of browsing through most of the cast of characters, with a light-hearted tone that befits the game. For experienced players, relax and think about all the good times we’ve shared.

Disco Elysium’s Story in a Nutshell

Disco Elysium is a single-player detective role-playing game. It’s about the story of a male police detective named Harry that we, the players, will guide through conversations, physical challenges, and personality growth. We will make choices that will help or harm Harry in carrying out his tasks.

Immediately after starting, we are paired with our detective partner, Kim Kitsuragi. He is a sharp, disciplined individual and an all-around good detective. This makes him a fascinating contrast with Harry, who is a hot mess and wildcard. Kim will be consistently present and help us solve challenges and make enjoyable scenes.

The game begins with Harry waking up in a hostel room after an ungodly alcoholic bender without any recollection of who or where he is. The introductory scenes have a few weird, disorienting twists to keep the player questioning their reality.

At the start, we are introduced immediately to two important yet very different mysteries.

First, we are told that there was a murder nearby, and the body has been at the crime scene for days. It seems that our character came to this part of the city on behalf of his police force, the Revachol Citizens’ Militia, to investigate the murder. Harry is just as surprised as we are to learn that he’s been assigned to this case. As matter of fact, Harry is just as surprised as we are to learn that he’s a police detective.

While we’re meeting other characters and learning a bit about the environment, we are presented with a second mystery. We are suddenly forced to realize that we don’t know our own name! I have spoiled this simple fact in this essay, but that doesn’t make it any easier to figure it out in-game. The seconds tick by uncomfortably as we are forced to play it off smoothly. I never realized how much we take for granted the simple act of being the most knowledgeable witness to our own name and life story, until Disco Elysium forced me to role-play as an alcoholic amnesiac who must smoothly dodge simple questions while panicking inside about whether he can make it through life.

To begin unraveling these two mysteries, we walk Harry through buildings and streets in search of clues. We can interact with the environment to open doors, use machines or tools, and pick up objects.

We can also talk to other people through a conversation-tree interface. For each person, we can choose dialogue options to take philosophical and political positions, try risky challenges to use our skill and influence, or question others on the murder case and reality. The 2 mysteries pose an interesting offsetting relationship, because we can ask people simple questions about life (“Where are we?”) which will give us much-needed information. Unfortunately, asking strangers embarrassingly revealing questions (“How does time work?”) will also make Harry look like a naive lunatic and hurt his chances at seeming like a competent police officer.

As we begin unraveling these mysteries, we will find clues and learn information from citizens, many of whom have unique and beautiful life stories. We will also learn more about the society everyone lives in, which includes the fictional city Revachol in an alternate universe which has an uncanny resemblance to an impoverished capital in a Eastern European, post-communist country. Life in this city is sad and strange, yet deeply recognizable to us.

The game unfolds as we follow up on tasks and discover many new ones. Some of these tasks and objectives are required to solve the essential mystery, but the majority appear to be completely optional, player-driven, and entirely missable. This leads to the story having a choose-your-own-adventure quality, where each player experiences the events in the sequence that makes the most sense to them, while making choices that twist and bend the story in a desired direction.

By the end, we will have hard evidence and answers on several details of the murder mystery, some ideas for our personal values on many philosophical and artistic questions, and a pounding hangover of open-ended questions about what it all means anyway.

If you would like to learn more about the mysterious events that occur in Disco Elysium, I recommend stepping into this world, becoming a detective, and seeing if your mind is up to the task.

Alternatively, you can wait for my future blog posts where I will tell stories of the unforgettable moments from my playthroughs. There are several events that are deeply meaningful and cry out for further interpretation. Luckily, I am here to answer the call.

Who is Playing Disco Elysium? (Intended Audience)

DE does not appeal to generic gamers and seems designed for a specific, mature audience in many ways. It helps to understand some of its features that make it a polarizing, selective experience.

Relative to other games, DE is annoying and challenging to understand and play skillfully. Although the overall skill system is explained well through some small challenges at the start of the game, there are still an absurd amount of invisible mechanics, hidden tasks, hidden skill effects, unexpected item effects, and vague descriptions. Many new players may be turned off by the confusing outcomes of their choices if they don’t have previous experience in RPGs or puzzle games, where you use sly deductions and experimentation to figure things out. These experiments and intuitive guesses will be way harder for players in DE. These features reminded me of the Dark Souls series in terms of how short pieces of information in item descriptions or journal entries may be critical to fully understanding the story. On the other hand, this makes DE a spicy hard challenge for players who are used to breezing through other RPG games or puzzle games. Be prepared to put your mind to work.

Even if you master the skill-based parts of the game, DE is designed to be a frustrating and embarrassing gameplay experience. Many games have their difficulty calibrated to give players an enjoyable experience with challenges that slowly escalate while letting the player feel like a hero for winning. This is absolutely not the experience in DE. Losing and embarrassment is an ever-present experience, even if we play our hand as strategically as we can. Because of the way that luck and randomness is woven in the gaming experience, DE will use disappointing experiences as part of its narrative to make us understand bitterness and regret. This is done masterfully to help us empathize with other characters, but it is a grueling experience that requires wisdom to fully appreciate. I expect that its effect resonates as meaningful (instead of painful) for people who are old enough to have some serious setbacks in life and can personally understand why it sometimes feels futile to try big things, why pessimism and fatalism are attractive.

DE also deals with subject matter topics that are wildly inappropriate for young people and safe to discuss only among a tiny subset of mature adults at least 25+ years old, if not older (I’m 30 years old at the time of playing DE). For starters, there is plenty of discussion and detailed imagery on drug use and alcoholism as well as their long-term effects. You get a range of choices from “entertain every vice” to “completely sober,” but the experience may be deeply uncomfortable for people who do not understand that life (or who understand it too well). Expect similar profanity in terms of language, sex, and violence.

In addition, the city is impoverished and tragically cruel, and several characters have pitiful stories for us to discover. These will move even the coldest hearts to gasp at the endless potential for human misery, and they might be outright traumatic for many people and probably most teens. These emotionally charged episodes sneak up and surprise the player in an overwhelming sense of adversity. This emotional roller-coaster will probably appeal to people who can tolerate and deeply understand a wide range of their own emotions. For those who have this thrill-seeking behavior, prepare to be deeply touched by the profound emotions many of these characters will have. Some of these moments will be etched into my memory forever.

The heavy reading and intellectualism of DE may appeal to people who have many intellectual interests and who even enjoy non-fiction in philosophy, politics, or psychology. Several of the characters in the game are written to be representatives of particular ideologies, and they each have their own interesting way of passionately justifying their beliefs in their righteous cause. Throughout the game, you will get many opportunities to ponder difficult moral questions in the face of high-stakes situations, and you have the option of listening to as many points of view as you’re willing to stomach. If you are an adult who has previously read or written long tirades on political history, poetry, nihilism, rock-and-roll, or anything else really, then you’ll have more fun playing DE and recognizing all of these ideological systems (AKA discourses or memeplexes). This is an especially enjoyable experience for people who have attempted to build their own life by choosing personal goals and values. You’ll recognize your own journey in many of the in-game characters who are trying to do the same.

Players who are experienced with D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) will recognize the influence on the dice-rolling mechanics, role-playing options, and overall alignment system. There will also be a few special moments on using role-playing and dice-rolling in life. Players who have enjoyed playing other RPGs will find Disco Elysium to be a fresh take on the genre. The skill and talent system share some similarities with other RPGs while having some interesting takes on the functional implementation of conversations, clothing, tasks, and other tropes.

Finally, I would like to mention all of the great people producing fan-made content online on DE. The large and interesting community that has built up around the game is a gem. Much of this content is follow-up content, as in you would want to see it after having an initial play-through. This gaming experience does not stop once you’ve completed the story once. As others have shown, the self-reflection and analysis have the potential to go on endlessly.

Disco Elysium appears to be quite popular as a topic for deep dive analyses in the length of 20 minutes - 2 hours. There is a rich community on YouTube built around analysis and critique of the game, with many different presentation styles. DE is a wellspring of experiences and ideas for writers and content-creators to explore, or anyone who likes following their curiosity wherever it may take them.

What does Disco Elysium Mean?

Finally, we get to the end, where I try to explain some other ways that Disco Elysium is a massively meaningful work of art for all of us. I would go so far as to say that it is a cutting-edge example of story-telling on par with the greatest graphic novels, Netflix series, and conventional video games.

Let’s just explore this interesting phrase “Disco Elysium”. “Disco” refers to a genre of music from the 1970s that served as a cultural watershed or mixing pot. In the broad cultural meme of disco, we see a blend of artistic surrealism, impressive mechanical innovation, drug overuse, and dated optimism. To be brief, disco is what you see and hear in the song "Moonlight Feels Right" by Starbuck. This song and album cover are a good representative for this aesthetic.

(For clarity, the characters in-game seem to know what disco is too. Sometimes they have very different ideas or names than us).

Second, “Elysium” is another interesting word to look at more closely. According to Merriam-Webster, Elysium refers to a concept from ancient Greek and Roman mythology for the afterlife. Elysium is generally treated as a heaven, with the idea that spirits in Elysium get to relive whatever they were used to doing in life for eternity, while living in bliss. The Wikipedia page for Elysium is bursting with information on this classical symbol. We can contrast Elysium with the Greek legend of Sisyphus, who lived in an afterlife where he relived the same futile task again and again while regarding it as hell. It’s worth mentioning that the philosopher Camus controversially interpreted the legend of Sisyphus as an experience not of pure misery but of pure joy. This same puzzling question - are we in Heaven or in Hell? - is at the heart of playing Disco Elysium.

As a result, the combination of these 2 terms would suggest that Disco Elysium is like being a spirit in an afterlife, one mixed up with dated music, technology, and cultural values. This prototypical description fits the game in many ways.

We, the player, are in a sort of hell playing this game, because we have to suffer the long-term results of Harry’s choices, which are choices we are completely innocent of and can’t be responsible for. Most games let you start the game as a blank slate, and you get to accumulate wins and pride as you beat the game. In this game, you start as an aged addict who has already ruined many things, including his body, years of his life, and several relationships, and you do not get a chance to avoid or correct any of these mistakes. Instead, we have to see how these choices play out and do our best to adapt. DE teaches us that it sucks having to live a life we believe we did not choose, and it feels like it’ll never end. We feel trapped and limited, like we’re facing the exact same dilemmas again and again. Even when we try to make meaningful change for Harry, we are often thwarted by bad luck or other forces (larger or smaller) outside our control that are using us to meet their interests. Trying to be different and hoping for a different outcome can hurt even more than just not trying in the first place. In the darkest moments, we will be mocked for foolishly believing we have meaningful control and autonomy. For anyone who lives with dreams of self-actualizing and becoming strong, DE will put the confidence of your convictions to the test.

In addition, the society in DE is in a sort of hellish afterlife, where the same ideas and ideologies are in eternal battle and play with each other. You learn that this world’s history has been shaped by politics, religion, gangs, technology, and many other systems of thought. Many characters are proud supporters of their causes, and they each have their own fascinating supply of concepts and buzz-words to try to coherently explain their rigorous attachment to their beliefs and interests. There is no topic so trivial that it does not have thousands of words and followers eager to show you the way. (At one point, I learned more than I ever have on pinball machines because it came up in DE.) Sadly, this means the society in DE has stagnated in an interesting way, where individuals are not truly able to be creative and collaborative with their ideas. Instead, they embody ideas that are intoxicating to inhabit, and this leads them to have predictable patterns of talking points, activities, and conflicts. Because there are so many distinct and contrasting ideas, they form large islands of believers with significant intellectual space between them that is difficult to bridge.

There are some interesting hopeful moments where characters bravely use their ideas to enact positive change. One character learns to use art to bring awareness instead of random chaos. Another character, deep into the elaborate rituals and hierarchies of a drug gang, finds religion and now has a completely different lifestyle and obsessively religious perspective for himself. They’re both shocking examples of how even very distant ideas can sometimes be connected and brought together. These examples are not just true in the world of DE. Through the abundance of its examples, DE does an amazing job of reflecting the atomized character of our society and the myriad ways we each participate in discourse. If you’re still here reading this, then this very blog is an example of how advanced our society has become at facilitating connections between distant people over esoteric ideas. I thank you for letting my story into your life.

Why You Should Play Disco Elysium

I want to end on a positive note, using a point of view I found after beginning my 2nd playthrough of Disco Elysium and taking a fresh look at what I have learned.

Playing Disco Elysium is like being in heaven. In its universe, Disco Elysium takes place in a terribly sad story, where Harry has a tragic past, the political landscape is cold and heartless, and the mysteries are not going to be easy to solve. However, for me in my universe, Disco Elysium is none of those things at all. It’s just a really complicated and unique video game. I get to live and die as Harry as many times as I want, even starting the game over completely if I so wish. I get to explore a sad world with jaded people while carrying minimal responsibility over someone else’s sorrows and failures; the characters in this game know nothing of the errors and regrets I truly carry inside. I get the freedom to choose how I want to play Harry, either going for skills and decisions that seem repulsive and unnatural to me, or choosing to exercise the skills and talents I most enjoy using. I am presented with high-stakes crises that push my comfort zone, but I get a chance to take a breather and slowly make the choices I believe are right. When I fail, I get to experience the consequences in a contained universe that will teach me to be patient and persistent in mine. Even when I fail, I get to progress. Harry’s suffering becomes my joy.

The result is long periods of time where I can be in communion with the best parts of my psyche, like my encyclopedic talent at recognizing references to ideas from culture and history, my poetic and dramatic flair for an entertaining story, and my savage thirst for putting my brain to work solving a good mystery. When I am in a flow state while playing Disco Elysium, the material limitations of my reality melt away while my spirit is transported to another realm. My desires, thoughts, and skills weave seamlessly together as I watch the colorful world go by in pursuit of answers.

Whenever I am weary from trials and in need of rest, I can take my mind to Elysium to be among the gods of my dreams.

If this essay has enchanted you into making your first steps into Elysium, or if this essay has left you confused and questioning the nature of your reality, I dare you to take a risk on a strange video game. Roll the dice and just see what happens.

Whether you ever play this game or not, Disco Elysium has become a part of our shared reality.

Summary

In this essay, I’ve found several good answers to the question “What is Disco Elysium?” The following is a non-exhaustive list.

1. The role-playing adventure of a lifetime
2. One of the most meaningful and impactful experiences of Mauricio’s life
3. A single-player detective role-playing game produced by gaming studio ZA/UM
4. An extended community of content-creators and commentary on the game
5. An afterlife, mixed up with dated music, technology, and cultural values
6. A chance to escape into another world and exercise your favorite skills and choices
7. (A secret meaning hidden inside the game)

Because Disco Elysium has such a broad array of experiences and meanings, it’s challenging to attempt a basic introduction like this. I personally found this essay to be a fun challenge and stretch of my abilities in trying to explain a complicated story while assuming an audience with almost no shared background.

In future posts, I will continue analyzing Disco Elysium as a video game, narrative, and set of intellectual arguments. There are so many creative avenues to go down once I relax the constraint of no major spoilers.

At the top of my list, I can’t wait to discuss the leather jacket guys. 🧥👋