https://x.com/JamrockHobo/status/1799090939966947689 Bonus question: what game would you consider as COMMUNIST as disco elysium?
I dunno, maybe the Pathologic games or something like Outer Wilds. It's just so incredibly rare in the videogame business that people with real interest in the world and things other than videogames come together and are able to make a game like Disco Elysium on their own terms, which probably also explains why the studio imploded so fast after it released. It's simply not compatible with the industry. And really, even classic "rpgs with good writing" like Planescape Torment feel like pathetic nerd scribble in comparision. Disco Elysium really is the only game that I'd consider to actually have writing that'd stand up to actual literature.
That's a good point. All of my other examples, save maybe parts of Morrowind rely on visual or thematic storytelling over literary. Elden Ring sneaks it in via like...wierd correspondences between lighting and a statue you saw on the other side of the map 5 hours ago that combine to make a meditation on Hemingway.
As good. Morrowind, Elden Ring. Homeworld, The Longest Journey.
As Communist, Red Faction Guerilla.
If by "as good" we mean the writing? Nothing. The closest I've played is probably Witcher 3, and that's still a distant second. The other game everyone brings up is Planescape: Torment, but I haven't played it.
Other than DE the most communist game I've played is probably Victoria 3.
I dunno about the second one but the only other game I’ve ever played where the writing wasn’t absolute drivel is Pillars of Eternity. It’s quite good IMO
As good (writing): Morrowind, Fallout New Vegas, Shin Megami Tensei II, Deus Ex
As communist: none.
Not as Communist, but I am really getting back into Alpha Centauri. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m0aEO7CrxM
Alpha Centauri is a great game, but the way the Chinese faction is portrayed is racist as shit. Human Hive 
Yeah, I always had a problem with that faction. Because that faction is supposedly "Maoist", but it is really just "authoritarianism" for the sake of "authoritarianism". No greater goal than repression and no freedom.
This game absolutely deserves a remaster, but the IP is split up in a way where it will probably never happen 
I have that game on CD somewhere at my parent's place. My dad never throws anything away, so I'm very sure of that.
I used to replay it over and over as a kid/teen.
Red flag as a kid: I ALWAYS picked the fascist faction. Kid logic "why cooperate when you can dominate?"
I always ALWAYS hunted the religious weirdo lady down and made sure to exterminate all of them. Nothing feels better than telling that self righteous piece of shit whatever the comm line is something like "Bible thumpers like you have no place here" right before you send a nuke and cause the UN and everyone to condemn you. But at least I owned Jesus lady
An atheist fascistic utopia 🥲
Outer Wilds
Honestly to get something "as good" in the same way you have to leave the realm of games.
In the domain of shows, I think Andor was not really as good but at least in the same ballpark. The domain of books has a few more possibilities: Babel by R. F. Kuang, October by China Mieville, Iron Council by China Mieville, The City and the City by China Mieville (the setting is very similar to Revachol), and The Dispossessed by UKLG.
Disco Elysium fans are always like "it's like literature" yeah so what you're looking for is literature, motherfuckers
It's hard to directly compare games like this unless they're in the same genre, but Outer Wilds is what came to mind immediately.
Grim Fandango is similarly strong on the writing and vibes
garfield cart
Not particularly communist, but the only other old-school-CRPG-genre game I truly enjoyed is Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Not as meta-comedy, but the astounding writing and voice acting has lived on in my mind for decades. There is one quest where you can kill a billionaire factory owner and side with factory the unions, and a couple other quests to disrupt explicit capitalist conspiracies.
On top of the astounding writing, they also overcommitted and re-wrote every single dialogue for if your character is drunk or otherwise exceptionally bad at speaking... I may go attempt a full low-Int re-run, now.
Outside the genre, there are games I prefer, but probably largely specific to me. Victoria 3 is great and exceptionally communist if you play it correctly.
I don't know man, the gnomish conspiracy still wigs me out. The fact that they made antisemitism correct in this game is a choice.
I don't think they "made antisemitism correct", but I admit the game is strongly based on generic fantasy tropes of the time, and they do fail to scrutinise the problematic part of gnome tropes. That minor part could've been handled more tastefully.
Still, almost every race in that game is shown to partake in exploitative conspiracies. It's a largely equal-opportunity conspiracyscape.
The protocols of the elders of zion are literally true except worse in the game. It's by no means equal. The gnomes are fully in a conspiracy that fully runs the industrialized world, and to maintain their power they engage in stuff that is right out of an antisemitic pamphlet.
The elves are not a stand in for an ethnic group for which they inhabit all the worst stereotypes. The closest is a read of the orcs as stand ins for exploited ethnic groups under capitalism and colonialism, which given the orcish depiction as stupid but strong is itself racist. But at least the Orcs aren't universally evil.
I'm not much of a gamer. I was ready to give up on video games altogether before I played Disco Elysium.
Undertale, BG3, World of Warcraft sometimes, OSRS, SM64, OoT, FF7. They aren't like Disco Elysium, but DE doesn't have a monopoly on devs who worked really fucking hard to make something hand crafted and awesome.
SM64
this SM64?
Yep, that SM64
It's not as good, but sometimes when I play the original Dishonored game it feels like I'm in Revachol.
While there's issues with dishonored 2, the option to play without powers means that the level design needs to accommodate it, and so I find the level design of 2 fantastic compared to 1
I stan Pathologic 2
outer wilds, BG3 getting up there too but i haven't finished it yet
My favorite part of BG3 is how when you make a big decision that has immediate consequences, the game just stops for a second as if it was a DM thinking about what to do next.
Ico
To understand how different Ico is the first thing you need to know is that it's a PS2 game that shipped in a cardboard box.
It's followup was Shadow of the Colossus which gets more attention, but I prefer its weird first game because it's just so weird. Won't be for everyone but it's an experience.
I suppose it relies on visual storytelling. Which might not be what anyone is looking for given that the focus of conversation here seems to be literary storytelling. But still.
Didn't expect to see these games mentioned, but yeah. Agreed. Games with a narrative content and execution like nothing else I'd ever seen or played before.
It's one of those times where a studio clearly decided they were making art and stayed absolutely focused on making art. Money and even "game" were clearly secondary and it showed at times in how weirdly experimental it was, it even still is.
I can only think of games that I liked as much as DE, and for similar reasons. The one I come up with is actually Portal 2. In that while I enjoyed the gameplay, the writing is actually what I think about when I think of that game. Playing those two games really was like going on a fun journey, if that makes sense.
Cruelty Squad inhabits a similar wavelength of vibes
Entirely different genres but as far as games as good hands down the original Homeworld 1.
I get shivers every time I hear Adagio for strings.
Hitman Blood Money of course as well and similarly I can't not think of the church massacre at the end whenever I hear Ave Maria.
Planescape: Torment is pretty solid.
I really enjoyed Hades
I didn't think I'd enjoy Hades as much as I did and then it consumed a solid month or two of my life. Phenomenal game
I mean, Disco Elysium had really interesting mechanics and an amazing story. So I wouldn't be opposed to another game with similar mechanics, or just more Disco Elysium...
Click to Ten is pretty great in terms of dialectical comparability to Marxist ideas
I think DE commits to its premise in a way few games do, but there's dozens of other games I'd rather play at any given moment. It's a very cool and very smart game, but I don't find myself having fun playing it. But comparing it to the games I find more fun seems like comparing a novel to an amusement park, so I don't really know.
I found Pentiment, while a much smaller game, to be quite well-written and ultimately deal with similar themes of loss and a world that is changing toward an uncertain future. Both settings have a sense of mourning for a time and way of life that is already past, and just clings on here and there in the backwater.
It's also absolutely gorgeous with great attention to detail in how the characters are portrayed and speak and how that relates to their age and social position. In general, the game is a bit of a love letter to the early modern period (go figure, it's Josh Sawyer) and it is rather charming to inhabit a pretty well-realized rendition of that; to see what everyone is eating, what they wear, what their lifeways are.
So if you want some more of that rather wistful coziness that Disco has, it's pretty good for that. Also it's also a detective game, but like Disco, that sometimes takes a backseat to the setting.
I’m not really a gamer but old school RuneScape is the goat for me.
RE:village!
As good as? Nier Automata. It's one of the few games I would tie it with on quality. As well as super mario world
I do think Disco Elysium is an excellent game. With that said, my heart has always belonged to different types of strategy games. Disco Elysium wouldn't be in my top 10 favorite games. Basically, I view Disco Elysium more as a story than a game. While stories can be greatly entertaining, they are not the main reason why I play games.
Tetris 😉
Tabletop, DnD, board games, and minecraft. Also Animal Crossing.
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