Beginner's Guide to Disco Elysium

Disco Elysium is a unique sort of role-playing game, in that it doesn't play like other typical sorts of RPGs. With a gameplay system based around a much more abstract set of social skills, no combat whatsoever, and a fictional setting that bears many similarities to reality, but which is ultimately a little strange, it might not be the easiest game to understand right away. From the moment you click "New Game" and are greeted with strange voices talking to you about bizarre nonsense over a black screen, it's going to be an unusual experience that will take some time to fully comprehend. In this game, you play as a detective waking up with a massive hang-over and no memory of yourself or even the basic details of the world around you, but you quickly come to realize that you were sent here to solve a murder investigation, and thus, your main quest is to find out whodunnit, and along the way, also discover more about your past while giving yourself a fresh start to a new life based on how you choose to role-play your character. 

In truth, the game is not very difficult to get through, and its mechanisms -- while very sophisticated in terms of their technical implementation -- are relatively straightforward. It's not a game that really NEEDS a beginner guide, in other words, and in fact, I would say the experience is best enjoyed by just going into it completely blind and learning everything as you go, since that helps you to identify with the main character who is equally clueless about literally everything at the start of the game. But all the same, there are some things that I think might be helpful to know if you're not sure about what to expect or if you're struggling with everything early on, which I wanted to highlight just as friendly pieces of advice. Now as usual whenever I make these sorts of guides, I don't want to spoil things by telling you exactly what to do in terms of "pick these skills, go here and get this special item early, watch out for this NPC, etc," because I want to leave that room for you to discover things on your own as part of the journey, but here are some basic, spoiler-free tips that may help you get a better feel for the game and avoid certain pitfalls.