Disco Elysium, developed by the ZA / UM team for PC, won well 4 awards at the last The Game Awards including the award for best fiction. Indeed, Disco Elysium can be beautiful, dark, dirty and fun at the same time. But it's also very stressful. One false move and you'll find yourself in a world of pain as it prevents you from continuing certain themes.
To try to avoid, at least in part, your moral knockout, we've put together a list of tips to avoid making too many mistakes.
The best useful tips for Disco Elysium
Here are some of the best tips that are going to help you advance quickly in Disco Elysium.
| Tip | Description |
|---|---|
| Time | Watch the clock, actions affect skills and hints. |
| Trash Bag | Buy the yellow bag, highlight objects and collect cans for money. |
| Apartment in the condo | Explore northwest building, rooms, money, side quests. |
| Talk to Joyce | Meet her at the dock, source of money. Beware of accepting advanced money. |
| Don't waste skill points | Save for white tests, backtrack in conversations, wear bonus clothes. |
| Other ways to unlock checks | Explore alternative options, talk to people, complete thoughts, increase possibilities. |
| Check your thoughts | Manage thoughts, eliminate negatives with points. Elimination is permanent. |
| Cross the river on Wednesday | Bridge south accessible Wednesday, explore fishing village for resources. |
| Stay awake until the wee hours | Character awake until early morning, individual actions when Kim sleeps. |
| Click on small circles | Observe colored circles, they may reveal valuable thoughts and objects. |
| Investigate corpse early | Explore corpse at the start, provides key information and guidance for main quest. |
Time matters (sometimes too much)
In the bottom right corner of the screen you will surely have noticed the clock. This marks the time of day in Disco Elysium, but it doesn't work as expected. The timer advances every time you interact with objects, your subconscious or other people. It does not advance in real time and there is no definite rule but generally about a minute is spent for every 1 to 3 dialogue choices.
However, time is an important factor in the game and, depending on the time, you will receive positive or negative modifiers to your skills. Some clues will become inaccessible if you wait too long and Kim Kitsuragi, your faithful colleague, will not be able to give you valuable advice late at night. Walking will not move time forward as collecting items will. Just be aware that when someone or something gives you a hint, it won't always be available.
The trash bag
Shortly after starting the game, you will have the option to purchase a yellow plastic bag . It is located west of the lodge, next to an unnamed NPC on the stairs of the boardwalk. You won't be able to interact with the character, but you can carry the yellow bag which will come in handy.
It will be an equippable item in one hand just like the flashlight and will help you highlight new items in the surrounding world . You can collect recyclable bottles and cans and can visit Fritte (a convenience store located east of the Whirling-in-Rags Hostel) to drop them off - each bottle will earn you 10 cents and we guarantee that the world of Disco Elysium is full of bottles and cans to recycle!
The condo apartment
On the northwest side of town you'll find an apartment building whose entrance is an unmarked door, just above the pier where Joyce is located. This building includes numerous apartments and is linked to a number of side quests such as Cuno and Martin Martinaise. Inside, in addition, there will be rooms and hideouts to explore and you will also find cash very useful, especially in the early stages of the game.
Talk to Joyce
Make sure you get to know her. She is available most of the day and can be found on the dock west of Whirling-in-Rags in a small boat. She too, like the trash bag and the apartment building, will be an excellent source of money, at least in the early stages of the game.
Initially, she will give you $130 so that she can pay for the damage caused to the lodge. However, in the later stages of the game, be very careful about accepting his money because you might damage certain abilities, especially if you choose a not very friendly approach. By finding your badge, you can solve some problems related to this phase.
Don't waste your skill points
The vast majority of skill checks in Disco Elysium will be white. It will mean that you can test them more than once, even if it will be necessary to spend a skill point to unlock failed tests. This means that it will not be convenient to spend points on a particular skill before a white test occurs.
Also because there will always be a small chance of passing it (about 3 percent) without investing more points. You will always, or almost always, back out of white-marked conversations before forcing. To increase your chances of success, be sure to wear all the clothing that grants you bonuses first. If you don't have one, you'll want to invest a skill point to give yourself a better chance of success with the second roll of the dice.
Look for other ways to unlock checks.
There are also other ways to unlock the white mark dialog and move on. For example, talking to relevant people, finishing certain thoughts or discovering clues can greatly increase the chances of passing a check. Hovering over the white text will help you better understand how to behave and what to say without spending skill points.
Check your thoughts
Keep an eye on them. In Disco Elysium, your thoughts will be a limited resource in the sense that they can be used, on certain occasions, only once. Some thoughts will provide you with unnecessary bonuses, others will reduce your skills, while some can reap huge benefits.
Having a certain thought instead of another could make a big difference, so it is advisable to spend, on occasion, a skill point to remove a negative thought. With the removal of negative thoughts, additional space will be freed up to possibly insert another positive one, even if it must be remembered that the removal of a complete thought is permanent!
Cross the river on Wednesday
There is a bridge across the river south of the starting point of the game. Initially, it will be inaccessible, but from Wednesday morning it will be possible to cross it. On the other side of the river you will find a fishing village with many useful things: cash, bottles, cans and a place to sleep every night. We don't want to anticipate surprises, but we just recommend that you explore it thoroughly. Your exploration efforts will certainly pay off.
Stay up late at night.
Your colleague, Detective Kim, will go to bed before midnight. Your character, on the other hand, can stay awake until the early hours of the morning. This will be a good time to be able to perform certain actions. Most conversations in the game benefit from having Kim by your side to bounce ideas off of.
However, some things will be easier if you are left alone, such as lifting objects or resting on the bench to advance your thoughts in solitude. Always remember that most of the checks will be repeatable and if you can't pass them yourself, you can always, or almost always, try again with Kim's help.
Click on the small circles
The small colored circles that appear in the world of Disco Elysium will often not be of much use. But sometimes they can be very important. They can lead you to inner monologues or even fully developed thoughts that will help you in your research.
Sometimes they can even make objects appear that were not visible before . There is even a thought that will give you XP every time you click on the "observation bubbles" and with 100 XP you can unlock another skill point. Our advice, therefore, is not to be impatient and carefully observe the surrounding world.
Investigate the corpse in the courtyard immediately
Many of the main activities included in Disco Elysium will not be able to be completed in a short time. You will need information, superior skills or certain items that can give you bonuses. However, it is advisable to start the game from its key elements such as the corpse in the courtyard .
Tackling the main quest gradually will give you hints on what to focus on later and some preliminary information will help you gather clues through side quests that will eventually help you resume the main investigation in other aspects.
Time in Disco Elysium, as we have already mentioned, advances only when you investigate objects or talk to the different characters and it will never seem enough, but don't get discouraged. Take a good look at every little detail you'll find along your way: there will be a lot of small objects that, at first, you won't pay attention to, but later they will be very useful. Try to go back to the places you have already visited: you will be surprised how many details and links you initially missed or that were simply not highlighted because you had not yet unlocked the right thoughts.
How many endings does Disco Elysium have?
You have a 10-day in-game window to solve the mystery in Revachol. This is more than enough time to collect clues and find out who the killer is. It is practically impossible not to reach the end, unless you die during the game, of course. In Disco Elysium, there is only one ending considered to be the right one, although the way the final scenes play out varies depending on whether you meet certain requirements.
If you reach the end of the game and are missing something necessary to pass the last check and talk to two crucial characters on the island, you will simply be prompted to restart and try again . There is no final failure state.
Although not part of the main denouement, there is also a secret path where you can help Cuno if you work to improve your relationship with those who are not at their best. Spending time in the thought cabinet will help Harry develop the way you want him to, and while time doesn't advance as you walk, fast travel certainly makes it easier to move around.
What to do in Disco Elysium?
In Disco Elysium, set in the fictional Revachol of the Insulindian islands, the player assumes the role of a detective in the Revachol Citizens Militia (RCM). The city, scarred by poverty and corruption after a failed communist revolution, is under Coalition control following a capitalist intervention.
The detective is sent to investigate a murder related to a dock workers' strike. However, after an emotional breakdown, the protagonist falls into a prolonged binge and wakes up with amnesia in his messy motel room.
The game takes place in the Martinaise district, where the detective must collect clues to solve the crime and reconstruct his own identity. Throughout the plot, the complex political and social history of Revachol is revealed. The player faces crucial decisions that affect the development of the story and discovers multiple endings depending on his choices.
Disco Elysium offers a unique experience, combining elements of role-playing, rich narrative and exploration, and stands out for its deep focus on the psychology of the main character.
We hope these useful tips about Disco Elysium have helped you advance through the game efficiently. We leave you with some articles that may interest you:
