Disco Elysium – The Final Cut

While Disco Elysium’s release in 2019 was preceded by no hype or media momentum, the game made up for it with its quality, resulting in very positive media impressions that drew players’ attention to the experience. which won many awards at the annual awards ceremony, The Game Awards. In addition to many awards at other ceremonies, the game recently received the Final Cut version, which offers many additions and improvements to the gaming experience that we had the pleasure of reviewing and sharing with you our impression of it.

Impressive Storytelling and Mystery

As your consciousness floats in complete darkness, you hear a strange voice breaking the long silence and asking you to end your sleep. This voice begins its long dialogue, trying to prevent you from returning to the world, only to get into an argument with you about the meaning and value of life, which ends with you waking up in a depressing and chaotic hotel room. Who are you? What are you doing here? These questions are asked, but you don’t know the answer. Disco Elysium doesn’t try to grab your attention gradually and slowly, but surprises you from the start with all these questions and more. You play the role of the investigator who took drugs and drank so much alcohol that he not only forgot his name, but also everything he knew about… the world around him! Which adds another question: Why did he do this? Why is he trying to destroy himself?

A Detailed and Engaging World

The latest is set in the western part of the city of Revachol, that unfortunate city that lost its status after the dismal failure of the world revolution. What brings you to this run-down town is that you will be given the task of investigating the crime of hanging. A security guard behind the same hotel where you wake up and you will investigate this crime in the company of Detective Kim. Kitsurage from Section 57, but don’t expect the case to be easy. The city’s residents don’t like the police and the situation. There is tension in the city, the union is on strike and some want to return to work. The longer you look at this case, the clearer it becomes what a predicament you’ve gotten yourself into.

Unique Artistic Style

The story is very interesting and the mystery surrounds it from all sides, and we are not just talking about the case. The game’s story consists of several levels, and the case you solve is just one of these levels. It’s clear that careful efforts were made to write the story. A long and detailed story has been built around the game’s world, covering: the revolution he witnessed, the wars that followed, and the great losses that followed in the short and long term. There are also the political orientations that some characters follow and the philosophies that other characters believe in, and all this leads to us getting a homogeneous mix that makes the game world more interesting with every piece of information you learn about it. We forget that there are many surprises and unexpected developments in the case that keep events interesting and, in some situations, lead to funny and sarcastic interactions between you and Detective Kitsurage.

Engaging Dialogue and Gameplay

The game features a unique artistic style and colors that add variety and vibrancy while preserving the dark character of the city of Revachol. What’s also nice is the way the characters you talk to are represented with their own artistic drawing, which gives you a first impression of these characters. Some drawings give you the feeling that the character is disturbed or crazy and perhaps indifferent. You will actually feel like you are watching an artistic painting and not a video game. As for the audio aspect, the game presents disco tunes that accompany you a lot of the time, but it presents a number of other tunes depending on the situation and it can be said that these tunes serve their purpose and nothing more.

Disco Elysium is described as an RPG and investigation game, but we prefer to describe it as a point-and-click game with RPG elements. The reason for this is that the gameplay experience is mostly dialogue, although movement and exploration are also required. The missions you get are solved by… Talking to the relevant personalities and getting the relevant details from them, and sometimes you have to collect and find some supplies and maybe interact with them. At the beginning of the experiment you will choose your personality type between the thinking, sensitive or physical type, and each of these types initially has its characteristic traits that give it an advantage in certain aspects. The Sensitive is able to understand the emotions and feelings of other personalities and can advance to the answer from here, while the Physical can defeat you to extract the answer.

Deep and Meaningful Dialogue

Unlike many RPG games, you don’t develop hit points, flexibility and other things, but rather your sense of territory or the ability to assert your authority and other new ideas used in intelligent ways that match the nature of the game Game. You can also wear different costumes that increase your… your skills in some aspects, and there is also the ability to develop certain ideas, which gives you a permanent increase in some skills, but you don’t know which skills will be developed, as you develop these ideas.

Engaging Characters and Choices

As mentioned, the majority of the experience is spent in dialogue with the characters, and we can’t remember the last experience where we enjoyed dialogue in this way! The characters have amazing depth, and each character you talk to will discover what sets them apart from others in terms of ideas, beliefs, and other details. Some are stupid and can be rude and simple in their language, while others are already tactful and poetic in their choice of sentences and sayings. The beauty of the game is the great freedom it offers when engaging with these dialogues, because it is not only a means to solve the case, but also a means to learn more about the game world. Characters can mention any historical event or use a popular saying in any dialogue. You can also express one of your beliefs or ideas. Here the game gives you the opportunity to ask about the meaning of this saying or request that you be informed of the details. This event also leaves you with the opportunity to ignore what is being mentioned or even act as if you know what is being talked about. If you ever get curious, you can talk to the same character again and ask questions to get answers.

Intriguing Gameplay Mechanics

Part of the identity of the investigator’s personality is his strange investigative method and his unparalleled skills. This is about the dialogues that take place in your head. When you talk to a certain character, another conversation can begin between your assertiveness and authority, telling you that the person standing in front of you does not show the police officers the respect they deserve and that you need to impose your authority on him in order to improve your observational skills with the ability to assert authority, indicating some of the character’s actions that reflect this, to hear your physical abilities. She suggests that you hit the person you are talking to to find out who the leader is. Many similar and interesting dialogues will happen that will make you think deeper and about others than choosing a method. Helpful in solving problems.

Freedom of Choice and Skill Development

There are many dialogues that require you to have a certain level of skill to complete them, and your level of skill required determines your likelihood of success. Here you need to develop the required skill or wear clothing that increases that skill. There are dialogues that you can try to complete again after you have sufficiently developed the required skill, and there are other dialogues. You can only try it once, and you have to be careful beforehand, but the game generally doesn’t force you to take a particular path, and the missions that might force you to make only one decision are mostly Side missions.

Enhanced Version with Voice Acting

The Final Cut version expands the game to include full voice acting for all characters. This is a very important addition and adds additional depth to the characters, giving them their own dialect and speaking style. Some are very quiet and speak slowly, while others speak nervously or barbarically. The voice acting was really perfect and wonderful. Additionally, by adding more side missions that focus on different political visions, this version of the game also features Hardcore Mode, a difficulty mode in which your decisions make your trials final. For example, you cannot refuse a certain mission and then accept it again from the same character, and some decisions can be fateful in this case.

Aesthetically Pleasing Writing

The last thing we need to talk about is the aesthetics of the writing in Disco Elysium. The sentences and the terminology have a wonderful poetry and selectivity, especially in the dialogues that take place in the mind, but this means that the game requires a high level of creativity and knowledge of the English language and intermediate knowledge will not be enough, especially since there are some scientific ones There are terms that are used very frequently and it is unfortunate that the game does not currently offer Arabic translation of texts. It took us 22 hours to complete the experience, during which we completed some side missions, and the game’s content is excellent. You may need to complete all missions in around 35 hours or more. Disco Elysium is a wonderful experience especially for fans of stories and investigations, as it presents a story of a high level of writing with interesting and deep dialogues. Unprecedented, with many surprises and unexpected complications, making it one of the best storytelling experiences we have ever tried.