10 Best Disco Elysium Thoughts

Disco Elysium isn’t any stranger to the surreal. As a dialogue-heavy RPG, your decisions and the individuals you meet can open up many alternatives for brand spanking new ideas to pop into your head like little morsels of contemplation, ready so that you can internalize in your Thought Cupboard.

Not like typical RPGs, Disco Elysium’s gameplay is not about mix-maxing your stats, as Ideas provide you with nothing greater than minor stat bonuses. What makes them essentially the most attention-grabbing is that they provide a ton of perception into Detective Harrier DuBois’s psyche earlier than the case.

With that stated, we’ll be rating Ideas based mostly on not simply their usefulness, however how effectively they encapsulate the absurdity and philosophical messages of Disco Elysium.

The Downside and Resolution sections of every Thought are excellently narrated by Lenval Brown and his smooth-like-butter voice, so we’d advocate taking a hearken to their descriptions.

I’ll admit that whereas it wasn’t onerous to search out my prime Ideas, it was troublesome to rank them as a result of they’re all so well-written, so some rankings relied on gameplay bonuses as tiebreakers.

WARNING: SPOILERS!

12 Homo-Sexual Underground

Not Beating The Allegations

Possibly you need to *cease* obsessing about your personal — and different individuals’s — sexuality? Feels prefer it’s about time to do this. You’ve got considered this for *eight hours*?! Not solely do you have to cease, you need to inform Kim you’ve got stopped obsessing about different individuals’s sexuality too. I am positive he’d recognize it. Except you already bought him killed since you have been obsessing about your sexuality. (There is no means of telling from inside your mind, however in your personal sake, please say you did not.)

Disco Elysium is stuffed with minor moments that make the sport shine much more. Harry beneficial properties this thought simply from a small dialog with the Smoker within the Whirling-in-Rags, and begins obsessing over it for eight entire hours. Aside from offering small character moments, this Thought is totally ineffective.

It provides you no stat bonuses, nor does it have an effect on the gameplay or story in any respect – it is simply there to take up area in your Thought Cupboard AND waste eight agonizing in-game hours to internalize, furthering the absurdity of obsessing over different individuals’s sexuality.

It even would not provide you with any main revelations, both. Once you speak to Kim, you’ll be able to ask him if he is a part of the Homo-Sexual Underground. And since he is so bored with Harry’s shenanigans, he provides him a simple reply, giving no additional clarification.

Regardless of this Thought’s uselessness, it did give the fandom some particulars into Kim’s private life, endearing him much more to the fandom. This opened up so many potential fanfics between Kim and Harry (not that canonicity has stopped anyone)

In addition to, it is a bit out of pocket for Harry to only straight up ask Kim if he is homosexual.

11 Superior Race Principle

We have Reached Aggressive Racism

Every thing is calm within the eye of the racestorm. Your thoughts is lucid and vibrant. The mindbending phylogenetics seem extra distant and, to be truthful, a bit ridiculous. The good Race Thriller has cleared up. All that is left to do is to verbalize your ideas.

Simply when informal racism is not sufficient, Harry can acquire this thought from speaking to ultra-racist Measurehead, who unabashedly (and hypocritically) proclaims that he’s racially superior regardless of the numerous contradictions in his racist rhetoric.

However Measurehead’s racism is barely humorous as a result of he’s usually innocent within the sport, and also you get to beat him up if you happen to move a Bodily Instrument verify.

In the event you do resolve to subscribe to his race theories, nonetheless, that opens up a path for Harry to turn into a Fascist, which hurts your Morale if you happen to fail the passive Volition checks, as the sport actively discourages you from being a horrible individual.

If you need Harry to obsess over the ridiculousness of race-science and eugenics, then I assume this Thought is for you.

10 Magnesium-Based mostly Lifeform

Magazine It Up!

Some individuals say magnesium would not actually do something and also you simply must give up. What can we inform them? … We inform them: HELL NO. You are about to turn into a magnesium-based lifeform. The age of the primitive carbon-man is finished. Not should mankind depend on slow-working background radiation to take us additional into our genetic future. That is the period of guided evolution, and magnesium is the important thing. You’re the first of your species. The subsequent step in human evolution. A sophisticated magnesium proto-man who mags it up, drinks it down, and sniffs it sideways!

Magnesium is an pharmeceutical merchandise that you’ll find within the city of Martinaise to heal your morale. It retains your Morale up, ensuring that you do not disintegrate on the smallest inconvenience.

One of many wilder Disco Elysium Ideas, Magnesium-based Lifeform turns into unlockable once you ask Cuno concerning the magensium in his shack. That is when Composure and Endurance encourage you to additional Harry’s drug habit and alcoholism.

This Thought makes Harry extra composed and extra well-adjusted, however that is solely as a result of he is furthering his drug habit to stage himself out, a lot in order that internalizing this Thought has him genuinely believing that he’s turning into a magnesium-based lifeform. Disco Elysium’s Ideas are actually wild.

9 Ace’s Low

(Not) Too Gradual

For the remainder of the world the Ace’s Low is *just a few cool Revachol* factor, politically impartial. In Revachol it nonetheless holds revolutionary connotations. Additionally, have you ever checked out Lieutenant Kitsuragi’s *garments*? He wears a bomber jacket, similar to those worn by aeostatic brigades. And people cargo pants appear like they may match instruments for hotfixing your burning aerostatic… you need to ask him about this.

Elysium’s model of “up excessive, down low.” After capturing down the corpse and Kim provides you a celebratory high-five, you’ll be able to select to gesture for a down low, which he, in fact, goes to reciprocate.

Not solely would this second endear Kim to the participant, nevertheless it additionally opens up alternatives for Harry to kind a a lot nearer friendship with him, including a bit little bit of hope and positivity to Harry’s depressing alcoholic life.

Lieutenant Kitsuragi is indisputably the very best character in all the sport, and even the most effective supporting characters in any sport. He is been an actual pal and accomplice to Harry, and this second solidified their relationship for me.

This Thought is helpful once you need to create a stronger bond with Kim, which might come in useful within the late sport, particularly through the Tribunal.

8 White Mourning

It is About The Ex-One thing.

…and the little man will get smaller and smaller as you rise above the doll home world. You see him out within the snow, on the streets, within the store on the nook, and, lastly, in a matchbox home. Sitting by the window, white flowers on the window sill. You’ll be able to scent them from up right here: it is terrible. A white mourning. A contemporary dying. Divorce, or one thing comparable. All you are able to do is put extra distance between you and him, make him smaller. Make him much less *you*.

A painful reminiscence washes over you, and also you faint. The sport provides you a faux game-over display the place you speak to your Historic Reptilian Mind.

This occurs all since you learn a observe that your “ex-thing” left behind. And what did the observe say?

Oh, nothing wanting a love letter, that is what. About how Harry has a “huge soul,” or how a lot pleasure he gave her, or worse but: “kisses, kisses, kisses.”

The ache of a misplaced love like that’s means an excessive amount of for anyone individual to deal with, and with Harry’s already fragile psyche, reliving that breakup virtually sends him to an early grave.

The self-pity, the emotional turmoil that Harry goes by way of even passes to you, the participant. You are feeling his ache, and to avoid wasting you from it, the sport enables you to distance your self from Harry by letting you zoom out only a bit extra.

The little man is nothing greater than pixels on a display. He isn’t you. You aren’t him. Snap out of it.

7 The Bow Collector

Every thing Is Interconnected.

It is early within the morning. The world is darkish blue. The sparks gentle her face. A fragile composition of triangles. The road appears to develop longer, like in a dolly zoom. And there is one thing within the air as you stand there and wave again on the form rising smaller and smaller. One thing that has *at all times* been there. An excellent see-through world. The tenderness you are feeling. The ghost of Revachol between you, carrying your indicators. The holy messenger.

Considered one of Disco Elysium’s greatest facets is the attractive prose written for the narration. They’re extremely descriptive and immerse you into Harry’s psyche.

The Bow Collector is a thought that provides you extra perception into Harry’s life earlier than the case, earlier than he was depressing, again when he was nonetheless along with his ex. It describes the morning rituals that they had collectively as he would stroll together with her daily to work.

For Harry, this was a constructive reminiscence regardless of his tragic heartbreak, however occupied with it’s extremely painful for him. Actively occupied with it reminds him of how a lot of a screw-up he’s, which lowers his Authority and Hand/Eye Coordination as his efficiency plummets. However as soon as it is internalized, the answer brings Harry some readability.

The Bow Collector is a Thought for gamers who need to study extra concerning the sport world not by way of looking for information by way of Encyclopedia ability checks, however by way of Shivers, which supplies Harry a eager, instinctive reference to Revachol.

Regardless that it is a ability that does not do a lot throughout gameplay, Shivers makes Harry extra related with not simply town, however the individuals in it, displaying the participant snippets of Revacholian life.

6 Wompty-Dompty Dom Centre

You are at dwelling, silly cop, not with the artwork crowd. You hate them, everybody hates them, even they hate themselves. It is nauseating — an trade constructed on sprezzatura and glowing wine. And, let’s be sincere, tax evasion schemes. The Wompty Dompty Dom Centre is the center of this unholy symbiosis of esthetics and tax optimization, and now that you’ve got internalized it – you’ll be able to have a chunk too!

This Thought is ideal for know-it-all nerds who need to vainly show to themselves simply how a lot they know. So long as your Encyclopedia ability is comparatively excessive (6 is a fairly protected quantity), you’ll be able to acquire rather a lot with out a lot effort.

In the event you’re going for an mental construct for Harry and need to obtain passive revenue from being a smartass, then the Wompty Dompty Dom Centre is the Thought to place in your Cupboard.

You may have loads of cash available, and the additional XP acquire additionally hastens gaining ability factors that you simply would possibly must both stage up your different abilities or reset White Checks.

5 The Jamrock Shuffle

You are A Detective. Detect.

In a means, sure. You *are* treasure looking. Most officers from Precinct 41 do what is named the Jamrock Shuffle — cracking open containers. Most of them are from Jamrock or Coal Metropolis, the poorest elements of Revachol that additionally overlap with the community of royal catacombs referred to as Le Royaume, simply beneath the streets. As kids you’ll all go underground, hoping to search out treasure, and are available again with a rat’s tail or a used needle. That playful curiosity should nonetheless be in you. Who is aware of. Possibly someday the Orbe de Montagne, the Holy Scepter, and the Cocaine Cranium will all be yours!

It is like the sport has turn into self-aware, rewarding gamers for, effectively, taking part in a online game.

Any RPG participant would curiously wander round opening containers, whether or not or not they’re imagined to. You probably have a ok Bodily Instrument stage or have the suitable device for the job, no lock can stand in the best way of this grasp investigator.

That is an especially helpful ability for any participant who loves opening issues. Not solely that, it provides a bit little bit of world-building perception into the opposite members of Harry’s precinct.

4 Jamais Vu (Derealization)

You Ought to Know This

Jamais vu. The other of déjà vu. Not *already* seen, however *by no means* seen. Every thing that ought to be acquainted seems unusual and new. Like some half-forgotten day in your childhood, solely *now*. That is the sensation you’ve got been having. And for who is aware of how lengthy? You must go and ask Joyce Messier about this — what world are we in? That is the elemental query.

This Thought happens early within the sport, significantly if that is your first playthrough, as most gamers would desire a fast understanding of the world.

Each terminology, each place, title, and idea appears unfamiliar as a result of the sport’s world is just like ours but completely different on the identical time. Harry’s amnesia-induced jamais vu permits the gamers to ask questions concerning the world with out breaking immersion.

Jamais Vu is essentially the most useful Thought because it provides you 1XP for each orb clicked, encouraging you to actively exit and work together with the world, accumulating sufficient XP to make up for the ability level price after which some. This Thought is crucial for any first-time playthrough.

3 Apricot Chewing Gum Scented One

Every thing Makes You Assume Of Her

August 2nd. Early late summer season. You are getting off the streetcar in Le Jardin, east of the river. Her father and mom are center class. The nylon of her little jacket rustles subsequent to you, in the dead of night, like autumn leaves. Her heels click on on the pavement. You are strolling as much as the gate in entrance of her dad and mom’ home. She takes out her chewing gum and also you kiss her. A sense like electrical energy flows by way of your entire physique. Instantly you realize you’ve got entered a very completely different world.

In his teetering sanity, Harry can do some fairly loopy and unusual issues, together with sniffing random previous chewing gum wrappers whereas digging by way of his soiled ledger. However the infinite potentialities of strange acts that Harry might do is exactly why we love taking part in as him.

What makes this thought stand out is that such a random, minor act might set off a deep reminiscence of his previous. He remembers all the pieces about that second when his ex-something as soon as chewed gum. The anger of no matter betrayal he feels makes him extra alert to his environment.

It is a Thought that’s simply missable, and such stunning prose written for a small Thought makes Disco Elysium all of the extra deserving of its accolades.

2 The Precarious World

At all times Will Be A Loser

How *not* to lose? It’s unimaginable to not. The world is balanced on the sting of a knife. It is a sport of frayed nerves. You are pushed on by numbers and punitive measures: ache, rejection, and unpaid payments. You’ll be able to both play or you’ll be able to crawl underneath a ship and waste away — flip into salt or a flock of seagulls. Your enemies would *love* that. Or you’ll be able to combat. The one approach to load the cube is to maintain on preventing.

This can be a harmful Thought to analysis, as Pink Checks mechanically fail when you internalize this thought for 4 in-game hours.

The lasting impact is not actually defined effectively in-game, nevertheless it principally broadens the vary of your vital successes and failures, tightening the margin of error you may have for any ability verify.

Take into account that ability checks are basically invisible cube rolls within the sport, and if you happen to hover over a ability verify, you’ll be able to see the components that the sport makes use of to find out its success price.

Not solely is that this ability doubtlessly helpful in rising the chances of success, however it additionally loudly proclaims the thesis of the sport: profitable or shedding would not matter so long as you retain attempting.

It actually ought to be a motto for anyone who understands the purpose of the sport. Within the face of existential dread and life’s agonies, one ought to discover consolation and hope in residing for the current.

1 Volumetric Shit Compressor

Get It Collectively

Weird scientific information from Revachol West immediately, the place a police officer’s shit has been noticed at a stress of round 495 giga-decimals. These metallic hydrogen ranges of shit-togetherness have been thought to exist solely on the middle of collapsing stars, not legislation officers. It stays to be seen how lengthy the shit-singularity lasts.

When Kim tells Harry to get his shit collectively, it would not actually be a Disco Elysium second if the half-sane detective hadn’t taken it actually.

As a police detective and the lead investigator of a homicide case, your shit must be collectively, and whereas internalizing this thought, you compose your self simply sufficient to carry out the post-mortem with out puking your guts out.

This can be a essential (and hilarious) Thought for any playthrough. The outline is hilarious, and it makes gameplay a bit tolerable by providing you with further White Checks and a rise in endurance.

It additionally makes a (very) minor change within the dialogue for assembly the phasmid on the finish of the sport. See for your self.