One ofDisco Elysium’s greatest strengths is its revolutionary approach to skills. Instead of living on a character sheet as cold, lifeless numbers, the skills inDisco Elysiumare fully developed characters. Each represents a voice in the main character’s head, barging their way into conversations to offer advice. Though the external plot is incredibly engaging, the detective’s inner life is equally compelling.
Disco Elysium’s Thought Cabinet mechanic deserves just as much recognition. Whenever the main character happens upon the seed of a new thought — perhaps by reading a book, or even by feeling the wind on the back of his neck — the player can choose to have him mull it over. After passively thinking over the skill for hours, he has the option to internalize it and gain a unique mechanical advantage.Disco Elysium’s unique approachto portraying a character’s inner thoughts deserves to be seen in more RPGs.
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More Than An Avatar
The Thought Cabinet mechanic works especially well because it reinforces the reality of a character’s inner life. Even adventurers think about things other than adventure from time to time, and this mechanic gives players an opportunity to consider that. The result is a game built on systems that feel more true to real life.
By combining storytelling opportunities with mechanical advantages, the Thought Cabinet alsoengagesDisco Elysiumplayersthat are normally less invested in the story of a game. Mechanics are often a more powerful motivation for these players because they’re easily to quantify. The Thought Cabinet gives them something to sink their teeth into without sacrificing a story’s integrity.
Communicating Lore
Thethoughts available inDisco Elysiumare strongly rooted in the fictional world of the game. Though they reflect political or philosophical beliefs that exist in the real world, names like “Mazovian Socio-Economics” or “Revacholian Nationhood” incorporate those ideas as background lore about the world of Elysium.
This makes the mechanic an excellent way for players to learn more about any setting. RPGs have spent decades communicating lore through a series of dusty tomes that somehow only contain two paragraphs of information. The trope is unexciting, easy to ignore, and only speaks to a world’s history. The Thought Cabinet forces players to engage with the current political reality of the world they’re inhabiting, which has much more immediate implications.
Room to Grow
ThoughDisco Elysium’s Thought Cabinet was incredibly intriguing, it didn’t feel fully fleshed out. It was easy to miss many of the events that allowed the main character to begin ruminating on thoughts, and the limited number of spaces for internalized beliefs meant that there wasn’t much room for trial and error. Considering thatDisco Elysiumtakes place over a single week, there simply wasn’t enough time for players to fully explore many of the available thoughts.
It would be great to see other designers iterate upon the Thought Cabinet because the mechanic deserves room to grow.Disco Elysiumdeveloper ZA/UMdid an excellent job of showing what it can look like over a short period of time in a world whose history closely reflects our own. Applying the idea to a sci-fi or fantasy setting could yield interesting results, especially in a game whose timeline spans years rather than days.
Converting to Tabletop
Even if more video game developers were to incorporate versions of the Thought Cabinet, it could take quite some time until those games are released. Tabletop RPGs are capable of incorporating mechanics more nimbly, giving designers and Game Masters a way to start playing with the idea.Dungeons and Dragons 5ecould be a great place to begin. Its mechanics are fairly modular, giving DMs room to try out new ideas without breaking the game. Feats are underutilized in fifth editionDnD, making them a rich resource of mechanical effects that could be gained through the Thought Cabinet. With a little bit of reskinning, a Dungeon Master could easily add the system to their game.
RPGs have been evolving for decades, andDisco Elysiumrepresents a landmark achievement. The unique way it blends storytelling and game mechanics is sure to have an impact on where the genre goes next.
Disco Elysium: The Final Cutis available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Stadia.
