What am I playing? (Feb. 5)
Disco Elysium is funnier than it has any right to be.
Disco Elysium
Recently I began streaming video games again (follow me please, twitch.tv/superchevybiko) since I have a lot more free time and like the entertainment and interactive aspects of streaming. It reminds me of the old days of having my brother watch me, or vice versa, as I played Zelda: Twilight Princess or Skyrim late at night. Those days are long gone, but Twitch helps me restore that feeling a bit. I recommend you come through and watch me on a Tuesday or Thursday.
The first game I played on stream, and will be playing until I finish it, is Disco Elysium.
Disco is an RPG that’s a lot less like Elden Ring or Cyberpunk 2077 and way more like Dungeons and Dragons and the older Fallout games. It’s very dense in terms of dialogue, world-building, character motivations and details that seem to be hiding around every corner. It’s less about “Who do I shoot next?” and more about “Who do I speak to next?” and “How do I solve this problem?”
The core gameplay takes me back to old Sam and Max point and click games from the PS3 era, opting for a way more grounded and gritty setting steeped in politics and alternative history instead of cartoon rabbits and dogs. For example, the main character has to figure out how to get a dead, hanged body down from a tree while preserving the crime scene.
The player controls Harry (I think that’s his name? He doesn’t even know what it is), a detective who just woke up from the world’s worst hangover with a bout of amnesia in the fictional town of Martinaise, Revachol. He’s forgotten who he is, what his job is, how he’s supposed to be a detective and where his belonging’s have gone. The player is trying to re-learn everything about Harry, including his political leanings, dark past and alcoholic tendencies all while trying to solve a murder committed by the local union. Due to the amnesia, much of the game isn’t spent being a Batman-like detective since you’re trying to find things like your gun, badge and notes on the case.
While the objectives the player needs to complete are at the forefront, giving the player something to do, the artwork, characters, political history and conversations make Disco Elysium worth the time. The dialogue, mostly in the form of thoughts formed by Harry’s ego and inner dialogue, is deliciously funny when it needs to be and succinctly dark and matter-of-fact in others. Harry might stop and look at a piece of anti-cop graffiti and form his own ideological take, and it’s up to the player to choose how Harry reacts. My Harry is a mad feminist that leans far left and is focused on getting his shit together. If you look up other players’ experiences you can find players turning Harry into a right-leaning fascist or spineless centrist that’s mad the game isn’t rewarding them for being so smart and balanced.
I cannot stress this enough - this game’s voice acting, dialogue choices and branching paths are so meticulously detailed and placed in seemingly innocuous areas that end up leading to some of the funniest moments I’ve experienced in any video game. It forces the player to make Harry into a real person with real opinions based on his interactions. Sure, you can skip over the optional conversations about communism, the elite class, or racial tension, but why would you when it can lead to Harry saying something hilariously racist or too on-the-nose?
The best part about Disco is that as the layers of Harry’s life peel back and the murder case begins to unfold, your every action counts toward something. There aren’t very many non-impactful conversations as they all impact either Harry’s psyche, the outside world at large or Kim, Harry’s co-detective on the case. If the player desires, you could spend hours badgering the citizens about their point of view while forgoing the murder case altogether. It’s a playground with tons of stories, psychoanalysis and political commentary hidden in every interaction. Still, it manages to balance its serious discussion with cutting, blunt humor.
The voice acting, which was added to the game at a later date, is excellent and makes each line of dialogue punchy and meaningful. Raspy voices in Harry’s mind, hippies lugging cargo in large vans and lovelorn bartenders all have excellent performances attached to their well-written words.
If you don’t like to read or listen while gaming, this game isn’t for you, but I would still recommend giving it a shot. It’s much, much different than many popular games at the moment and it deserves its cult following.
Played on: PC
Recommended for: Avid readers, point-and-click players
Monster Train
Roguelikes are like casinos with no money, which sounds like a good thing but it is not. Yes, you are not losing money after the initial purchase but you are losing sanity each time you start a new run in whatever game it is, be it The Binding of Isaac, Hades or Slay the Spire. In exchange for not draining your pockets, the roguelike genre steals the player’s sanity, leaving them with dreams of how their last run could have worked, what items they should try next and why the Balatro shop didn’t give them a good item all afternoon. I’ve made a video about this before, you can watch it below.
This game works about the same way. For those uninitiated, you start with a chosen faction with its own unique champion and set of cards, complete with defense and attack values and special abilities, before fighting enemies in turn-based combat. After each fight, the player chooses a branching path to travel down, offering different rewards depending on which path they choose. The goal is to complete a certain amount of battles without losing all of your health.
But, Monster Train is more metal than Slay the Spire, another very popular card-based roguelike. The art is more thorny and fantastical, including a cast of cannibalistic ghouls, giant Hulk-like plants and cute imps that can be sacrificed. The player’s goal isn’t as simple as beating the big boss or getting to the end of the tower to fight your dad - you are helping the denizens of Hell itself return to their home after being kicked out by what are essentially angels. You are controlling a train with the Pyre in it, which is used to restore the flames of Hell so you can gain control of your home again. When battle occurs, the angels enter the train, going up floor-by-floor to destroy the Pyre and stop your journey. It’s a bit demented - in a good way - and makes the game feel a little more like a reverse-tower defense game as the player is defending more than they are attacking.
What sets it apart from Slay the Spire and other deck-builder roguelikes is the variety of builds and decks to be made. Playstyles change significantly, with one faction meant to tank damage, another meant to aggressively attack the enemy and another focused on debilitating status effects meant to slow the enemy down. Factions can supplement other factions with spell cards as well, which provides even more variety in playstyles. The game is also tough as nails after the first couple of successful runs: enemies will steamroll your first floor with massive damage on the first turn, other times they will skip floors if they are not defeated immediately.
Each run leaves the player with a choice - be overly aggressive or overly defensive? Is it worth it to leave the Pyre unprotected near the top level? Or is it more worth it to overload the first floor with allies to stomp enemies as soon as they enter the train? The action is complimented by smooth animations and grunts from the human-like angels and the wronged devils. Monster Trains sets itself apart with these little stylistic choices as well, leaning into over the top visuals and humor rather than a gritty aesthetic. It’s worth at least a few hours of your time.
Why am I talking about it now, though? The game originally released in 2020 and has been on PC and most consoles since then as well. Unfortunately, I was informed that the game was on iOS (as of Sept. 2024) by my brother and my life hasn’t been the same for at least a month.
Don’t do roguelikes kids. Not even once.
Played on: iOS
Recommended for: Roguelike enjoyers, Magic the Gathering players
Mortal Kombat 1
I am no stranger to Mortal Kombat 1. At all. I have played this game more than any other game since it came out in 2023. I have competed in multiple tournaments. I am constantly defending this game online from a weird hate campaign that is implying that no one is playing the game (an assumption based solely on entrance numbers for competitive tournaments). I love Mortal Kombat. It is one of my favorite video game series of all time.
Still, I actually hadn’t touched the game for a little over a month despite entering a tournament in March. I loaded up the game, picked a newer character I wanted to learn (Noob Saibot) and proceeded to get my ass kicked to high hell for, like, two hours.
Don’t get it twisted: I don’t consider myself bad at Mortal Kombat or even below average. I’m nice, dammit. My Scorpion has made grown men turn their PS5 off. I know what I’m doing - but I am rusty. My first serious session back was a test of patience - trying not to mutter to myself about how my opponent is a scumbag in between texts to my brother about how much of a scumbag they are. My combos were lacking, my defense was nonexistent and I was impulsive with my decision-making. After several losses in a row, including the additional gory insults that the Fatalities, Brutalities and recently added Animalities provide at the end of matches, I was fuming. Not only was I humiliated, I was literally mutilated.
I had to find a way to stay calm and make my mind still for the next match. I took breaks, I meditated, I vented and I practiced before going back into the fray a couple of days later. I still got my ass kicked, but I was able to learn more than before since I was not seeing blood the entire time. The game’s new replay feature, which lets players take control of recently played matches in order to practice, also let me see why some moves were more effective against me than others. Fighting games, specifically competitively, are more about staying calm than anything else.
I’m proud to say that my losing streak has ended. I still have a long way to go in terms of practicing character matchups, learning how other characters work and tightening up combos, but I have made a huge improvement.
Now, let’s just hope I’m ready for Texas Showdown in March.
Played on: PS5
Recommended for: Fighting game players, gorehounds