Which one has better writing?
Definitely Disco. It’s just so different and unique. When I started it I thought it was gonna be a D&D inspired game (because of the stats checks and everything), but it’s its own world. And what the devs did great was to throw you into the skin of an amnesic character, so that you discover this world alongside your character – from the universe they created to the mechanics they implemented. It’s a known cliché that the main character is amnesic or thrown into a world they don’t know so that everything can be explained to them, thus to you. But in Disco, nothing is explained. You just stumble around, like the alcoholic amnesic detective, and make things up as you go.
Outer Worlds didn’t really stick with me. It’s a liberal critique of capitalism gone wild, that’s all. It’s not a critique of capitalism, it’s a critique of capitalism where the workers literally belong to their employers. I think people think it criticizes capitalism because it takes place in the future and it’s sort of a dystopic future for us, but I didn’t really feel the link between today’s capitalism and this future’s capitalism.
What are the ideologies of the various anticap factions you help? There isn’t really any, and you end up helping them because both the city and the rebels need the same thing but there’s only one of that thing. That’s the framework that takes place on each planet.
Also Disco actually names communism. Outer Worlds never dares mention it.
Thanks for the in-depth answer.
It’s a liberal critique of capitalism gone wild
That makes a lot of sense, since the friend that recommended it to me is a bit of a lib.
Disco is leagues above Outer Worlds. Outer Worlds is a very luke warm clique story
disco elysium probably but i have played neither (LOL). i played the intro for outer worlds and it didn’t strike me as a game for which writing was the focus.
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Outer Worlds is good, but Disco Elysium is on a whole next level. It’s absolutely incredible.
I’ve played through both. Disco Elysium has far better writing.
I know I’m a month late to this, but Disco Elysium by far.
The Outer Worlds is pretty forgettable. I thought it was fairly enjoyable, and I did feel compelled enough to 100% it, but the writing is nothing spectacular. The politics especially leave something to be desired, it sort of presents itself as anti-capitalist but really, it’s nothing of the sort. It’s more “anti-corporatist” (ugh) and even then it never really firmly picks a side. Nothing’s really ever anyone’s fault, everyone is more or less well-meaning, so the best option is always to be a fence sitting centrist and attempt to compromise. What saves it is that it has some pretty good groundwork mechanically, and there’re fun characters and side-stories scattered throughout the world. But I found the main campaign to be really quite shallow, even insultingly so at points.
Disco Elysium, meanwhile, is one of my favorite games ever, and easily the most well written game I’ve ever played. I could seriously go on for days about how fantastic it is. Almost every single character in it is layered and interesting and enjoyable to interact with. The protagonist is absolutely batshit. It has pretty much the best companion character of any game I’ve played. The role-playing mechanics are revolutionary. The setting is odd, unique, and mysterious. The best part about this game, though, are the political undertones that permeate every aspect of it, subtle enough to not be bothersome but pronounced enough that you really feel them. The devs hit a perfect tone here, a lot of leftist media to me feels like it’s preaching to the choir a little, but not Disco Elysium. The tone is actually very reminiscent of casual online left spaces, with a lot of subdued humor that only lefties will fully appreciate. And it’s a Marxist game in the truest sense, the most striking part about it to me is how cohesive the whole thing is, everything just fits together perfectly. At times, it feels to me like a work of critical theory in video game form, there’s so much to analyze and appreciate about every aspect. I’ve played through the game 3 or 4 times by now and I still feel like I could play it 3 or 4 more times and come away having learned something new each time.
Anyway, I’m going to stop gushing about it now. It’s a great game, I think any leftist should give it a shot.