Disco Elysium is the Best Game Ever Made

It is okay if you do not agree with me. I play Disco Elysium again every so often. Few things give me as much hope as its narrative of one man's redemption, set against a backdrop of a world that itself is in need of a redemption it still may yet find. UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRES DE TOI The above words are tattooed on my inner left forearm, just below the bend of my elbow. One day, I will return to your side", roughly translated. The grammar is odd to people not familiar with the game. Your proxy, Harry Du Bois, asks a question I think most of us ask ourselves at some point: is it too late for me? The city it takes place in is gripped by a similar anxiety. Communists overthrew the monarchy, and were themselves deposed by the combined might of international neoliberal capital. Everyone is waiting for Le Retour, or The Return. It means something different to each character who mentions it. To myself as well as some of the characters in the game, it means that the material conditions and opportunity for history to move forward into a more humane age will come again. Like Harry, the world will get another chance when Girl Child Revolution, the I in I will return to your side, does indeed return. Obviously, like many great works of narrative art with fictional settings, the game is really talking about our world. It's also talking to each of us. It's not over 'til it's over, as they say. Harry finds a new way to live in the wake of immense personal failure and grief. Depending on what skills the player has invested in, Harry's mind will speak to him to reaffirm his worth with the words: DETECTIVE. ARRIVING. ON THE SCENE. That line brings me to tears. The catharsis is unparalleled. Many games (most, even) are made to give you a sense of accomplishment. Few are the games that tell you you matter. That it's not too late.

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