10 Video Games That Deal With Difficult Themes

7. Disco Elysium

Disco Elysium Harrier Du Bois
ZA/UM

Disco Elysium is one of those very rare RPGs that when it claims that you can build your character from 'the ground up', it means it. Literally, from the existential ground up.

Your character wakes up from a bender so intense that he's forgotten even the most basic elements of existence. We've all been there. I don't remember this sentence I just wrote.

Disco Elysium is one of few video games you'll find that replicates the mechanics of a traditional tabletop game. It also takes the 'good cop/bad cop' dynamic to the very extremes whilst also forcing you to question your own moral, ethical and political beliefs.

Y'boy can be a staunch communist, interested in the proletariat...whilst the incredible 'Internalised Thought' system forces you to confront the problems inherent in that system (here's a secret: there are no problems). Whilst another version of y'boy could be a vehement racist fascist. Some of the conversations had in Disco Elysium, if you find them, may turn your stomach to a violent degree.

Nothing in this game is easy. Much like you're asked to do with your character in Disco Elysium, you may also be rebuilding yourself from the ground up by the end.

Contributor

Johnny sat by the fire, idly swirling his brandy, flicking through the pages of War and Peace, wondering whether it was pretentious to write his bio in the third person.