I really don’t think so.
They have always been very clear that this is not a combat game, but instead one driven entirely by narrative. There’s no trailer showcasing action-laden scenes or other combat gameplay.
It would really surprise me if there was a larger chunk of people buying this spontaneously “on accident”, not realizing at all what kind of game it is, and then downvoting it for that.
There are games/developers that have failed to get across what type of game they actually are and those indeed result in a fair bit of downvotes, but I really don’t think that will be the case here.
It is very hard to say how this game will play, but it is very easy to say how it won’t.
One of the aspects I enjoy in an RPG is customizing the skills my character and then seeing the payoff in the game’s combat system. It looks like I’ll still be able to customize my character’s skills in the form of personality/traits, but instead of seeing a payoff in the combat system, I’ll see it in a conversation system. I’m not saying I’m 100% gung-ho, but I’m interested enough that I want to buy the game.
Another aspect I enjoy in an RPG is customizing the look of my character in the form of equip-able loot, and it looks like there will be some form of that in this game.
On Twitch, cohhcarnage did a 3 and a half hour stream of the final build this morning:
Actual gameplay starts about 10 minutes into the stream. He spends a couple of minutes looking at the character creation and he quickly scans the different skills. It seems like the character builds will offer some quite interesting choices. I watched about 15 minutes of him playing in the starting room and I’m more interested than ever in playing.
From the character creation, it seems like there are a lot of different ways you can approach the game, so it appears there would be a good deal of replayability.
Andy K: Having just sunk 16 hours into a preview build, I think Disco Elysium definitely has a shot at being the, or at least one of, the year’s best games. It’s one of the most impossibly deep RPGs I’ve ever played, and the writing is fantastic—if a little indulgent at times. What makes it special is the sheer number of skill checks in every interaction and conversation, with more permutations than I think any single human could ever realistically see. It’s a role-playing game in the truest sense, allowing you to shape your alcoholic detective in a terrifyingly dense variety of ways. I’ll hold off on proclaiming it GOTY until I get my hands on the review code, but for now, it’s a very strong contender indeed.
Jody: I thought Torment: Tides of Numenera was going to scratch that Planescape itch, but it kept repeating scenes, characters, and themes from the original only in a different setting, like one of those cover versions that takes a song you like then turns it bluegrass or whatever. Disco Elysium is another RPG with gleefully lurid writing about an amnesiac so it’s close enough to Planescape to scratch that itch, but being a detective game makes it feel like its own thing. Basically, I agree with Andy. Unless it suddenly adds tedious boss fights or something it’s got Control beat for my personal GOTY.
The official launch date is Oct 15 but you still can’t purchase it anywhere that I’ve seen (Steam, Greenmangaming)… does that strike anybody as unusual? I’m eagerly anticipating this and wanted to get it and play a lot of it before The Outer Worlds launches on the 25th - they better not screw with my schedule!
This is a long stream, and I only watched the beginning because I don’t want spoilers beyond the first couple scenes. But Kinchica does a nice job showing off what the game offers in its opening moments… and I have a hunch it will tell most everyone whether they are going to love or hate this game.
I’m trying to watch this but she stops every 10 seconds to talk about Zelda or talk to her streaming audience, so it reminds me why I prefer the focus of a YouTube video than the rambling of a Twitch Stream.
I didn’t watch much because I wanted to avoid spoilers, but I wanted to grasp the overall “feel” of the game, and it does remind me of Planescape Torment a lot, more than any other game since. As soon as I realized that, I closed the stream and I’ll just wait to have the full experience as unspoiled as possible.
Agreed, most of the time I prefer the focus of a prepared video. The only advantage to this is that she is dwelling on the possibilities of the early moments of the game. Where the others I saw were “Get on with the plot.” And in this case, I don’t want to know much of anything about the plot beyond the meeting his sidekick. But I am all for soaking in the style of the different possible answers, etc.
Yeah, agreed. As much as I worry this will be more of a visual novel than a “game” (which is a minor concern, but it’s one I am feeling) every time I’ve watched someone talk to another character I’m super interested in the dialog choices and the responses - it’s really impressive writing and very enjoyable! I don’t want to know much more myself, for that matter, so I will refrain from watching any more, but I watched a dialog between Cohh’s character and a woman from the very start of the game and it was incredible.
