There is only one word that accurately expresses what I feel when I play this game: delight. Pure, unadulterated delight. It's like the game is winking at me, every time a dialogue option veers into completely unexpected places, or a joke surprises me into laughing out loud, or an astonishingly witty line brings a grin of appreciation to my face that just never leaves. Even the depressing parts that squeeze your heart are breathtakingly real. How can you not fall in love with someone that makes you laugh and feel emotions so easily? The game and I are in this together. We've bonded. It's too late to go back now.

In case you live under a rock and don't know about literally the best ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game to come out in 2019, let me introduce you: Disco Elysium is a story-driven cRPG where you progress not by fighting battles but by navigating excellently written conversations. In this regard I'd say the game more resembles an adventure game: you explore the world, pick up items, talk to people, talk to them again after things have changed, and you try to overcome obstacles by using out-of-the-box thinking. The rpg elements come into play with the unique set of skills (and I'm not joking when I say unique) you can invest in, the dice rolls (completely transparent and 100% based on luck) that can come up during dialogue, and of course the bread-and-butter of all good rpg games worth their salt: about a million quests and sidequests that give you that sweet sweet exp and a sense of completion as you methodically scratch them off the list.

The plot of the game is about an amnesiac detective trying to solve a murder case and that's all I'm going to say on this matter. No, I'm serious. I don't want to spoil anything for you, not a single first impression. In fact I've already said too much. Frankly I wish I could borrow a leaf out of our protagonist's notebook and erase all memory of this game from my brain, just so I could experience that bewildered sense of wonderment I felt when I first realised how truly weird and unique this journey I was embarking on was. Suffice it to say, this is a very very very VERY well-written game. This isn't hyperbole. You're in good hands.

My only word of advice to new players is to forget everything you know about playing rpgs. Don' try to optimise your build or savescum and reload every time something doesn't go perfectly according to plan. In fact Disco Elysium encourages a truly transgressive philosophy for a videogame: failure is an option. Failed rolls can still progress the game, they offer unique dialogue branches, hell sometimes failure is actually preferable! So don't try to "win" the game. Play the game. Experience it. Be free.

Also if you ever get tired of reading, take a break and come back later. There is a LOT of reading involved (I mean, obviously, kinda that's the whole point of the game) and it would be a pity to speed through it because of burnout. Because content-wise Disco Elysium feels massive. It's not, not truly, the world map is hardly that big compared to other games, and yet it feels big. This is because there are about a million things to do and interact with and talk to in every square inch available. I've spent literally hours in one single area of the map. There's also an "open world" element in play since you can travel to (almost) everywhere in whatever sequence you like. It's like the opposite of a ubisoft game: instead of a huge empty map filled with generic identical encounters, you have a medium sized map filled with entirely unique encounters to explore. I know which kind I prefer to play.

And improving on the amount of content is the surprising replayabilty of Disco Elysium. You wouldn't think a plot driven game where there is one single mystery with one single answer would be as engaging the second time, and yet! This mostly comes from how much your skills affect the dialogue and narration, giving you different lines and encounters you didn't even know you were missing. My first playthrough was a high Intellect, high Psyche one (which was an absolute blast even though I was such a weakling my tie literally killed me in the first five minutes, I very much recommend it) so for my second playthrough I went for the opposite skills and was surprised by how fun and new it all felt. Plus let's be real, there's no way you're gonna find everything on your first go. There's always a dice roll to fail in new and exciting ways!

I've extolled the game's virtues long enough so let me just reiterate the main point: Disco Elysium is not only a great and well-written game, it's also a unique one. It's the best thing I've experienced in years, and I sincerely hope it starts a new trend for clever, witty, passionately made games. Do yourself a favour and give it a go.