James Martin

Disco Elysium is one of my new favourites! Incredibly unique and compelling - with a beautiful art style, superbly written and incredibly engaging. Messing up is actively encouraged - making choices feels truly impactful and worthwhile, albeit on a more personal level - rather than following a simplified 'paragon' vs 'renegade' or similarly binary path. A complete focus on very personal stories & characters is paired with building a real sense of place with subtle visual effects, sound design and atmospheric music. So many RPGs illicit choice through an initial character class and skill selection - which then locks you into a fairly constrained set of parameters - manifested through combat. Here, the lack of combat and sense of freedom allows for something much more organic and interesting. I'm only 24hrs in and have been planning a second play through since about 20mins in!