D&D-skewering, Disco Elysium-inspired RPG Esoteric Ebb had me trying my best to be a cleric while my Intelligence stat kept telling me to become a wizard-king
Waking up in a morgue in the updated demo for Disco Elysium-like RPG Esoteric Ebb, the first thing I did was check out the other body lying in there with me. It's hard to tell what's a brand new interaction compared to my run through Esoteric Ebb's original demo versus pre-existing stuff uncovered by a fresh character build—I went all in on Intelligence and Wisdom this time.
While I couldn't determine a cause of death, I did discover that this guy didn't have insurance: He was marked as a viable candidate for some good old fashioned D&D-style resurrection magic, but nobody had done the deed.
«He clearly did not have an RF. A Revive Fund,» my Intelligence chimed in, calling to mind the interior adventuring party/Greek chorus of Disco Elysium's personified skills. «Nor did he have family members with enough ready cash. Or maybe he was just an unlikable fellow. Who knows?»
My altruistic Wisdom suggested I revive this man with a valuable third-level spell slot, which the more pragmatic Intelligence immediately shot down. How will I get anything done if I try saving every lost life I come across? More ominously, what if they don't want to come back? Either way, it's a moot point for the demo. I'd have to pack on way more levels than this preview had room for and find a scroll of Revivify out in the world to boot.
But the interaction is illustrative of everything that's got me excited about Esoteric Ebb, evidence that it's not just crying «Disco Elysium» for attention from a hungry RPG community, but that it can back it up with the thoughtfulness, charm, and dense, replayable design that Disco's legacy calls to mind. This body, one of the first things I saw in the starting room, is a potential game-spanning mystery, an «ooooh, I gotta come back for that» little tease that'll have me making tracks for the morgue the second I unlock Revivify in the final game—even if it's just to quicksave, resurrect the guy to find out he's an ungrateful asshole, and promptly quickload.
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