Mostly no, but it’s the closest I’ve found so far. That makes it worth the journey. Lately I’ve been on a quest to find games like Disco Elysium. Exactly like Disco Elysium, in fact. Which is impossible. The things I like about Disco Elysium are:
- No combat
- Intense character personalization through dialogue
- A world that is meaningful
Disco Elysium is the only game that has ever moved me because the character is so believable and the amount of customization through dialogue is so extensive. (Just listen to the protagonist sing this song, if you need evidence of this character’s depth).
Gamedec delivers on the three points above. No combat – check. Intense character personalization through dialogue – also check, but see note below. A world that is meaningful – check, and I’ll add that Gamedec’s metaverse world of virtual realities and how those virtual realities intersect with the real world is actually really interesting.
However, it’s on point two that the game has some problems. Namely, that there is often a disconnect between your actions in the game and the timing of how information is released:
And even beyond these concerns, insights about these cases don’t seem to be doled out in proper order, with drips of information leaking out before you’re supposed to know about them. You can encourage a witness to tell you more about a character who you’ve never heard of before, only to realise later that you were supposed to learn about them by peering into some books or other clue paraphernalia that are in another area or room.
My take? This is a technical issue which can be fixed. I’m enjoying it a lot, even though I agree with the problem above and the new vocabulary that gets introduced is a lot to take in (sometimes incomprehensible). I want another game like Disco Elysium, dammit, and Gamedec is close enough – with a customizable character, a compelling world and a lot of love put into its crafting. It does have some problems, but I recommend it.
Read another review here.
Basement Whatever 