BEST OF 2020

Game of the Year: Disco Elysium

Discover your true self in this inventive RPG.

Disco Elysium - The Final Cut

A groundbreaking detective RPG

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Gritty, gorgeous, and deeply contemplative, our Mac App Store Game of the Year is a breathtaking meditation on systemic inequities, tough choices, and what makes us who we are.

Disco Elysium is set in a world much like our own, but far enough away to provide fascinating perspective. It holds a mirror to our many foibles, offering you the chance through brilliant role-playing to process your feelings about hot-button topics like religion, racism, and misogyny.

You play Harry Du Bois, an amnesiac detective tasked with solving a mysterious murder. But you don’t simply uncover clues and chat up locals to navigate this intricate tale: You create a new identity—and confront the wreckage your former self left behind.

There’s no avoiding it: Getting answers means working with a colorful cast of miscreants.

Trading the combat common to the genre for persona-oriented growth, Disco Elysium’s inventive skill system changes the way you think. Forget Strength and Dexterity—here you invest in Intellect and Psyche. Your skills shape how you interact with the world and, in turn, how it interacts with you.

Do you upgrade the power of suggestion to plant ideas into others’ heads? Or buff your physique to intimidate suspects? The way you deal with other characters—the local union boss, a couple of cryptozoologists out in the cold looking for something called phasmids—alters the arc of the game itself.

There’s no right answer to how you handle the thought-provoking subject matter. But one thing is certain: By the end of this bold, innovative adventure, you’ll be a different person than when you started.