Samantha Béart (who plays Karlach in the game), Theo Solomon (Wyll) and Dave Jones (Halsin) were asked how the success of the game had changed their lives and careers.

Okay listen I don't want to sound rude, but I'm not that surprised. Maybe Karlach deserves a bit more recognition but while both Wyll and Halsin were both fine and perfectly adequate, I can't say that either was the kind of memorable performance that gets you tons of new roles. Though it's also in part due to the script and direction of course.

You're not alone, it's a complaint I've heard plenty of times before. I don't personally agree with it, I actually think the ending of the game is pretty perfect. But it's why I tend to say that Disco Elysium claiming to be a "detective game RPG" on its store page is straight up misleading. This was never a whodunnit. And whether you enjoy the ending or not depends on how well that has become clear to you during the cause of the investigation.

Or, in a sense it kind of is a whodunnit, but the case is actually Harry, not the murder. The game is in large part his story, and using that to deal with larger themes of loss, being stuck in the past and finding hope in the midst of nihilism and doom. These themes permeate the whole game... Hell, the Pale is a case of the past quite literally consuming the present. It's why I think the communist vision quest is the most appropriate, but I won't spoil it further in case you opted for another one.

The whole arc on the island was incredibly beautiful and well laid out, at least I found it that way. First you have the Final Dream. Perhaps the single most impactful moment I've had in gaming. It's written and acted to perfection, and it's where the whole game kind of clicks into place. Harry is laid bare, you realize that literally everything he's done has been from the lens of winning Dora back, you learn of his neuroses and his way of speaking in trees. You hear the "death blow" of the aborted child. It still blows my mind how Kurvitz managed to distill the whole pathos of the game into three little words to close out the dream. "See you tomorrow".

And then, the killer. For me, it was again a perfect choice. Remember, this was not a whodunnit, this was never about the murder mystery. This is a story about Harry, and the killer is the Ghost of Christmas Future. After having gone through the dream, you're faced with the logical conclusion of Harry: The Deserter. A man so utterly consumed by his past, by his failures and his losses that nothing remains but pure unadulterated bitterness. Unable to let go and move forward he is a black void of contempt.

And then, at the darkest hour, as you're faced with a grotesque mirror image of what's to come - a light. After all the trials and tribulations, after all the doubt and the resignation to the mundanity of it all a miracle unfolds out of the reeds. A proof that even on this depressing, perishing world, even in the face of all that nihilism there is unknown wonder hiding just out of sight.

There is hope.

The depressed cynic in me says the billionaires will just find new tax havens and other embezzling ways around it. But it's a good initiative and I pray it actually leads to something tangible.

So Piefed absorbed a lions share of the lemm.ee refugees it looks like?

So as someone who has obsessive-compulsive tendencies but definitely not OCD I would define it as such: OCD is when your general functioning is noticeably and demonstrably impaired by your obsessive-compulsive behaviour.

I can get stuck in loops sometimes and I can get hung up on things, but I've seen people with actual OCD around when I've been at my psychiatrist's clinic and it's different.

Yeah, I believe Warren Spector has said before that the premise of Deus Ex was literally "what it every conspiracy theory was true", and not really anything deeper than that.

I'll take anybody but MBS at this point.

Pyro only isn't really possible without glitches or summons since Queelag is fire immune. But Sorcery+Pyro "spells only" should be fine. Enemies tend to be resistant to damage types, not general "magic", so if you can switch it up you're all good. Dukes archives shouldn't be a problem if using Pyromancy.

First your regular articles, and now an in-depth interview. And you dare suggest your not a proper gaming journalist?

Love your work as always.

I'm not convinced it's even worth my time, much less money.

Lemmy.zip opened up piefed.zip as well.

Get ready for some media overreactions!

This is the second really positive review of the game I've read the past few days. I might actually slot it into my backlog now.

Pretty terrible article honestly.

With Alpine locked to the bottom of the Constructors' Championship, he wants short-term progress soon.

Having two strong drivers delivering consistently can have a significant impact – as Williams are seeing with their experienced line-up of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

This narrative that it's the driver lineup making the difference is disappointing, especially from formula1.com. Gasly is a good driver and it's not like he's been raking in points. Alpine isn't last because they have a bad second driver.

Secondly, he wants the team to take advantage of sweeping changes to the aerodynamic and power unit regulations next season – and the arrival of Mercedes power, which is widely expected to be among the best, if not the best, engines next year.

Bringing on someone with Bottas' experience could help on both counts.

Maybe? As far as I understand it drivers have very limited impact on the development of the car these days. Plus, literally everything is new next year.

As far as I know Finland has the world's strictest driving licence, so I'm actually surprised to see it posting worse statistics than Sweden here.

It also needs to be said that the game has an absolute fuckton of missable content that is absolutely crucial to picking up the point of what the writers are trying to say. Disco Elysium really is just like they wrote a book, scattered the pages across a room, and then put blind faith in the player finding all the important ones on their own.

Like, I've seen so many people completely miss the Final Dream just because they didn't want to take a nap in the flak tower. That scene with "Dolores Dei" is like, the denouement of the entire game. And the devs made it so easily missable. Completely psychotic behaviour, hah.

I just finished Mankind Divided earlier this month. I think it has higher highs than Human Revolution but suffers from being the planned "middle game" in the trilogy. It has better gameplay than HR, some great levels and some really good side quests. Also a really well executed apartheid theme that played out really well.

I definitely recommend you playing it. It's not gonna be OG Deus Ex, but it's a good game.

Collins? I think she'd be an amazing pick!

I agree with you about the yuck about the weird sexual fixation the shooter had, but I liked what that did for his character and the story.

The Deserter is an image of what Harry will become if he does not change, so for him to be hung up on a woman felt completely natural narratively to me and perfectly appropriate for him in his role as the Ghost of Christmas Future.

Every single person that I've ever told about Lemmy has not only refused to join, but outright chided me for having recommended it to them. Every. Single. One.

I have a hard time believing that since it implies every single person you proposed Lemmy to was already aware of it. The reaction I personally tend to get is "...what? Huh. Never heard of it".