About the game
Disco Elysium is a role-playing video game developed and published by ZA/UM. The game takes place in a large city still recovering from a war decades prior to the game's start, with players taking the role of an amnesic detective who has been charged with solving a murder mystery. During the investigation, he comes to recall events about his own past as well as current forces trying to affect the city. Inspired by Infinity Engine–era role-playing games, particularly Planescape: Torment, Disco Elysium was written and designed by Karelian-Estonian novelist Robert Kurvitz. It features a distinctive watercolor art style, and music by the band British Sea Power. It was released for Microsoft Windows in October 2019 and macOS in April 2020. An expanded version of the game, subtitled The Final Cut, will be released for consoles in 2021 alongside a free update for the PC versions.
Disco Elysium is a non-traditional role-playing game featuring no combat. Instead, resolution of events are done though skill checks and dialog trees via a system of 24 skills that represent different aspects of the protagonist, such as their perception and pain threshold. In addition, a system called the Thought Cabinet represents his other ideologies and personality traits, with players having the ability to freely support or suppress them. The game is based on a tabletop role-playing game setting that Kurvitz had previously created, with him forming ZA/UM in 2016 to work on the game. Disco Elysium was well received by critics, with it being named as a game of the year by several publications along with numerous other awards for its narrative and art. A television series adaptation was announced in 2020.
