I was already intrigued by this Disco Elysium-inspired, D&D-based RPG where you play as the world's worst cleric, but its demo blew my expectations out of the water

pcgamer.com:

Esoteric Ebb seemed like a game tailor-made for me, and that left me nervous. An irreverent, dialogue-focused RPG proudly announcing its Disco Elysium inspirations⁠—my mind jumped to all those soulslike games I've gotten my hopes up for that just don't quite have the FromSoft magic.

After trying the game's second draft demo, I'm happy to report that my fears were unfounded: Esoteric Ebb has that spark⁠—not merely an imitation of our 2019 game of the year, but using that familiar format to go on its own RPG adventure.

You play as the world's worst cleric, already maybe the dumpiest of Dungeons & Dragons' classes. Sorry, cleric fans, but the ecclesiastical fantasy just doesn't do it for me, though their healing magic is always welcome. As Obsidian design director Josh Sawyer once quipped, echoing the great Ronnie Coleman, «everybody wants a cleric in the party, but ain't nobody want to main one.»

All of which is to say I kind of appreciate being forced into that role by the game, building out and reconstructing this archetype in a new way. Even though your class is set, you still have freedom to choose the cleric's stats and play them any which way, maybe leaning into that «world's worst cleric» bit by giving them booboo Wisdom and cranked up Strength to be a bully-priest, or maxing Dexterity and Charisma for a more flashy, self-involved man of the cloth.

Esoteric Ebb adapts 5th edition D&D to Disco Elysium's style of exploratory, dialogue-focused RPG, and the retrofit works. Your attributes talk to you in the manner of Disco's skills, but you're rolling D20s now instead of Disco Elysium's bespoke system of 2d6 rolls. Even with the changes, Esoteric Ebb nails the slapstick, jittery feeling of your first run through Disco,