Part 1: 8:07-8:21: Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There

Let’s begin.



These are the three base archetypes we can pick to start. As someone who tends to gravitate more towards the INT/PSY skills, I like none of these, as I don’t think putting 1 in any category is a good idea.



Instead, we’ll be creating our own archetype.



We’ll be going with this archetype. We have 12 points to work with, and we can put anywhere from 1 to 6 points in any category. I generally don’t recommend going higher than 4 or lower than 2 if you don’t know what you’re doing, though.



The reason for this is that your stats don’t just impact your starting skills, but also your growth; you can only put points into a skill up to a certain degree. This degree is determined by your initial archetype. So since we have two points in Physique, we can only put two more points into Endurance. This is going to heavily limit what skills we see, especially closer to the end of the game, but for now this is fine.

As for this screen, it’s asking us to pick a “Signature Skill.” This isn’t too complicated. It just means that we get a free point to put into whatever we like. It also raises the cap for all skills in that category by one (I didn’t actually realize that latter bit until just now, and if I had I probably would have chosen, say, Physical Instrument instead of wasting it like I do here).

Now, let’s go through each skill and see what they do.



Logic is our basic reasoning skills, though it also affects our ego. Also, don’t worry too much about the supposed negative consequences of having too high a stat. We’ll see some of that, but we won’t be nearing max with anything and the effects will be a lot subtler than this makes it out to be.



Encyclopedia fills our brain with trivia.



Rhetoric is what got you that solid B minus in high school debate class.



Drama helps us lie and sniff out lies.



Now we get into the granular. Conceptualization lets us… see art? Okay?



Visual Calculus is a bit specific, but really cool. It lets us reconstruct crime scenes.



Volition is basically our sanity, our voice of reason. It controls how many Morale points we get, which is good because if we run out of those the game ends.



Inland Empire is one of my favorites. It’s your hunches, the whispers in your head—but also your imagination. It will give life to the inanimate.



Empathy allows us to feel the emotions of others, useful when you think someone’s being false or performative.



Authority is our inner fascist. It craves respect and deference. Well, that's a bit reductive. More broadly, it's our sense of power dynamics.



Esprit de Corps… look, it lets us “understand cop culture,” all right? I really don’t want to spoil what this one does. It’s too good.



Suggestion lets us try to charm and manipulate.



Endurance controls the other health resource, aptly named “Health.” We’re only going to have two points in it to start. It’s how much we can take, basically.



Pain Threshold increases our pain tolerance, which will eventually turn us into someone with masochistic tendencies—like LPing Disco Elysium!



Physical Instrument is our strength, used when diplomacy has failed. Or when a door needs busting. Either/or.



Electrochemistry makes us want the good shit. It increases our knowledge of various vices.



Shivers turns us into Batman! We will hear the city streets cry out to us!



Half Light is our fight-or-flight response, and lets us sense the ominous direction the wind is turning.



Hand/Eye Coordination is exactly what it sounds like, and is important for shooting.



Perception is how attuned to our senses we are.



Reaction Speed lets us think quickly and come up with daring moves or witty lines.



Savoir Faire is basically our style.



Interfacing is how in touch with machines we are, but also how nimble we are with our fingers, allowing us to pick pockets and locks.



Finally, Composure is how well we can keep a straight face and not let the world break us down. Its main purpose, though, is reading body language.

We’re going to make our Signature Skill Inland Empire (because I didn’t quite understand all of what the Signature Skill does) and move on. It’s not terribly important anyway.





ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN: Ever.










LIMBIC SYSTEM: You wouldn’t like it if I told you what’s back there. Why do you think you had to bludgeon yourself into oblivion? Or did you not sense yourself—marinating? Poured so much over yourself… Got a bit *carried away* did we chef?



This is our first passive skill check, or “black check.” Black checks are pop-ins from our various thoughts. It's not actually random, despite its name tying it into the other kinds of checks, which do have an element of randomness: here, the game just adds 6 to your current score in a skill and then gives you a success message if it was high enough to pass. Less frequently you’ll get failure messages, too. This one is for Inland Empire, as you can see. Passing a black check will occasionally give us new dialogue options, as well.











Chapter 1: 8:07-8:21: Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There



Your eyes open, and the only thing burned into your brain in that moment is a desperate cry for escape from the pounding of its own shell.





It’s too much—the light, the cold, the pain, all wrapped up in a cacophonous sensory overload that exacerbates the hangover.

These green orbs are places where we can make observations about the environment.






Examining the tape player will let us pick up the empty cassette case. Not worth much on its own.



You should probably put on some pants.



Clothing can offer skill benefits. While these trousers reduce our Savoire Faire by 1, they increase our Electrochemistry.



We can also get “thought” orbs that will appear around our head.





The cold air streams in through the broken window. You feel an overpowering urge to figure out what happened here, even sans shirt.




This is an active check--a White Check, to be more precise. The number next to the check is the number we need to roll, which adds our current stat onto it (in this case, Visual Calculus, which is 3.)



Hovering over the check will show its likelihood of passing. Even if we fail, however, we can retry any White Check by simply putting a level into the relevant skill. I’ll go over levels when we gain some experience. Also, as you can see, snake eyes or double sixes are critical failures/passes, respectively. The chances of either of them are about 3%, apparently, though I have no idea how they arrived at that math (edit from the future: 1 in 36! Duh! ). Getting one is just an automatic fail or pass, it's not special or anything.



We passed!









We gained 5 experience for solving the mystery of the shoe through the window. We will gain a level every 100 experience, which will allow us to do one of three things. The only one that is immediately relevant is putting points into a skill.

Also, we gained a task. Completing these objectives will reward us with experience and generally help us make progress.

Finally, you may notice that time has passed. Time will only pass during dialogue, never during movement. This allows us plenty of time to explore, though we should be wary of long conversations.



You see a filthy blazer on the… bed? It’s disgusting, but you’re freezing, so it’ll have to do.

The Disco-Ass Blazer gives +1 Esprit de Corps.



Wait, what’s that hanging from the fan?





Somehow, you feel that there is a 58 percent chance of this going horribly awry, and reconsider this course of action. You choose to pull on the fan’s switch first.

CEILING FAN: The blades come squeaking to a halt. It should be easier to reach the tie now.
YOU: Grab the tie.



Changing various factors will change the odds of passing certain checks. Here, we gain a +3 because the fan is stopped.

SAVOIR FAIRE: [Medium: Success] You swoop up and catch the tie… snap! It’s released from the blade. WARNING! WARNING! The necktie is no longer contained.

The Horrific Necktie gives no apparent benefit. Immediately apparent, anyway.






Your head is still pounding. Maybe the bathroom has something to help you.



We pick up the White Satin Shirt, which increases Conceptualization by 1 and reduces Suggestion by 1.



MIRROR: Hot water sprays from the base and steam covers the mirror. You cannot see yourself, just the outline of a man.




MIRROR: As you slowly reach your hand toward the surface of the mirror...










BEHOLD









Check fails.




Check fails.



Again, any White Checks we fail will remain in the world until we get another skill point and re-attempt them.




Having attempted to defeat “The Expression” to no avail, you decide it’s probably past time you pick up that other shoe and figure some stuff out. Like everything.



What adventures lie in store for you in this beautiful world brimming with possibility?!