5 Games Like Disco Elysium If You’re Looking for Something Similar

Disco Elysium surprised a lot of gamers when it was released by ZA/UM in 2019, garnering plenty of praise from critics and fans alike. And while you may be able to play it over and over for hundreds of hours, there are certainly still plenty of people that wouldn’t mind playing games like Disco Elysium that have similar features and premises.

With a gripping narrative, gameplay customization, and enough dialogue to rival a fantasy book series, Disco Elysium set the bar for what a point and click adventure should look like.

Below, we’ve listed four titles that are sure to appeal to Disco Elysium fans if they’re looking for something similar.

Kentucky Route Zero

When looking for recommendations on games like Disco Elysium, who better to trust than the developer of the game themselves?

Listed as an inspiration for Disco Elysium by ZA/UM, Kentucky Route Zero is a point and click adventure game that explores a network of secret cave highway beneath Kentucky.

While the setting itself is fascinating, the mysterious people who use it for traveling are just as interesting. Those people and the stories they have to tell are the focal point of the gameplay for Kentucky Route Zero.

Instead of choosing to focus on clever puzzles or challenges of skill to hook players in, characterization, atmosphere, and storytelling take center stage, as the sole purpose of completing the game revolves around the narrative.

Divinity: Original Sin 2

While Disco Elysium and Divinity Original Sin 2 may not seem like they’re all too similar at first glance, these games have a lot more in common than simply both being RPGs.

Both titles place a heavy emphasis on rich writing, as conversations are rife with detail and complexity. Branching stories accompany those deep scripts, making for hours of different storylines to uncover and explore.

The main thing that is different in Divinity: Original Sin 2 is that there is actual combat.

Like most RPGs, the game has you choose abilities you’d like to grow to fit your combat style. As your character’s skills grow, so too do the encounters, resulting in gripping strategy-driven skirmishes.

Anyone who loved Disco Elysium’s story but is looking for a bit more challenge and actual combat should give this one a shot.

80 Days

Loosely based on the works of Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days, this interactive story takes place in 1872, as players follow ambitious adventurer Monsieur Phileas Fogg’s journey around the world.

Across the 80 day quest, the game visits a myriad of well-known places and landmarks, provided branching paths and distinct dialogue prompts depending on the choices that were made.

Alongside the conversations, the choices that are made in 80 Days affect the overall plot, allowing for multiple playthroughs and plenty of secrets to be uncovered.

The tone of 80 Days is a lot more cheerful, bright, and optimistic, making it a perfect pallet cleanser for anyone that might feel a little macabre after playing Disco Elysium.

Planescape Torment

Dungeons and Dragons has been an inspiration for many branching narrative-driven games in the industry, especially when it comes to RPGs. That statement rings true for Planescape Torment, a game that transports players into a terrifying world full of enemies to beat and NPCs to interact with.

While that sounds like a fairly basic setup, its premise surrounding the consequences of the rebirth of the protagonist, The Nameless One, are fascinating.

Every time The Nameless One dies, someone in the multiverse dies to fuel his resurrection. Upon rebirth, the character has little to no recollection of his past life, featuring a completely different personality than the one before to boot.

The consequences of the choices that are made, the deaths, and the personality shifts aren’t the only overlaps you’ll find in comparison to Disco Elysium, as each dives into themes of depression and existential dread.

Pathologic 2

Wanting a little more of the darker elements on display in Disco Elysium? If you said yes, and just can’t get enough of horror, Pathologic 2 is the next logical step in what you should play next.

The story of Pathologic 2 is creepy and fascinating, as the fictional town of Town-on-Gorkhon represents a mix of 1917 Russian culture and ancient traditions that are weird and superstitious.

You’re thrust into this odd town in the shoes of a surgeon called Artemy Burakh, tasked with helping eradicate a strange illness at the request of his father. When he arrives, nothing is as it seems, and he barely escapes with his life.

The only way to get out is to figure out what is causing the people of Town-on-Gorkhon to go sick and be crazy.

The catch is that you must solve this pandemic in the span of only 12 days. How you accomplish this task is up to you, as the game allows you to loot, murder, mug, steal, and barter to accomplish your goals.