Disco Elysium is a unique and stylish isometric RPG from indie studio ZA/UM. After garnering universal acclaim with its well-written story and clever approach to RPG elements, the title went on to win over a dozen awards. Now, just over a year since its launch, players will get an opportunity to return to the rain-damp streets of Disco Elysium's Revachol.
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is a free expansion/director's cut of the original game, which was announced at the 2020 Game Awards. The changes in Final Cut range from minor technical adjustments to huge gameplay expansions, but ZA/UM is avoiding spoilers for the new content at the moment. Nevertheless, here's everything new that players will find in the city of Revachol in March 2021.
A Living City
One of the most exciting features coming in Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is the addition of new and expanded characters. Critics and fans alike have praised Disco Elysium's characters, who range from the wonderfully bizarre to the cuttingly satirical. Personalities such as slimy union boss Evrart Claire and straight-edged, reserved cop Kim Kitsuragi help to bring the city of Revachol to life. However, the problem with packing a game with interesting characters is players will always want to see more of them.
While chances are that the new characters will live up to the well-written standards of their fellow Revacholians, some may hope that some of Disco Elysium's intriguing but less-developed characters will also get a chance to shine. Figures that hint at their mysterious backstories, like union lawyer Elizabeth Beaufort and the enigmatic Crab-Man, could really benefit from allowing players to step a little deeper into their personal stories.
Another major feature in Disco Elysium: The Final Cut will be extremely helpful in letting players connect with these characters. While Disco Elysium did have voice-acting for important lines, characters, and conversations, the Final Cut edition will be fully voice-acted throughout. Revachol is such an interesting mix of cultures, creeds, and personalities that players are sure to encounter all kinds of surprises when some NPCs get a voice for the first time.
Diving into Politics
While fully-voiced and brand new characters will add a lot to the world of Disco Elysium, they won't be the only addition in The Final Cut. ZA/UM has revealed that the new edition will also feature new quests for players to embark upon. In particular, the new content will revolve around the political compass which the amnesiac main character develops over the course of the game.
There are four political ideologies in Disco Elysium that the main character can align themselves with over the course of the game: Communism, Fascism, Moralism, and Ultraliberalism. These ideologies develop slowly based on the players' choice of dialogue and action, and once they reach a certain level, a prompt will ask if they want the main character to adopt one permanently. In the original game, these ideologies would lead to alternative dialogue options once players committed to one. However, in Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, it sounds like there will be entire quests dedicated to embracing these ideologies.
To give the game world the space it needs for this new content, The Final Cut will also expand the map of Disco Elysium. A whole new area will be added to the game, allowing players to explore a never-before-seen district of Revachol. To bring the new area to life on consoles, The Final Cut will also add enhancements to graphical options, as ZA/UM has announced that the PlayStation 5 will be able to run Disco Elysium: The Final Cut at 4K and 60 frames-per-second.
Disco Elysium was one of the surprise hits of 2019, and although there have been hints that ZA/UM is working on a new project, it's great news for fans that the studio has decided to add one final layer of polish to the game that brought it into the limelight.
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut will come out in March 2021 for PC, PS4, and PS5, and in summer 2021 for Switch and Xbox Series X/S.