Last week we were a little busy with Halloween fun, hence the brief post. This week I’m back to share what we’ve been up to.

Disco Elysium

Isometric hard-boiled detective game, you say? Deeply philosophical internal reflections? That sounds like a perfect way to wind down! Welcome to Disco Elysium, a 2019 role-playing game developed by ZA/UM. The visuals are oil-painting inspired, and beautifully rendered.

Set in an alternative universe and fascinating geo-political landscape, you play a detective awakening to a terrifying hangover and an inability to remember anything. Anything? Any. Thing. The first job is piecing together enough clothing to make yourself decent, searching through your trashed hotel room. Did someone break your window? Is that your shoe on the other side of the broken glass?

The game utilises a point and click approach and that, together with the isometric view it evokes a strong nostalgia. I am instantly transported back to the late 90s and flashy PC magazines loaded with shiny demo discs. The dialogue sets this game apart. Almost every interaction you have with another human (or yourself) is fully fleshed out and detailed. Even if it goes nowhere, the conversations give you a fascinating insight into the city of Revachol, disgraced former capital of the world.

The game is built around the role-playing mechanism, with dice rolls deciding the outcome of certain decisions and events. It’s always tempting to chance a low probability roll, but the consequences can be fairly dire if you are low on health (or morale).

We’re only a few hours in but firmly hooked. If you’re looking for a riproaring action game, this is not it. But a thoughtful, well-paced, intriguing detective fiction? This is the game for you.

Heretic

I do not have a natural affinity for horror. Precisely why I elect to make a horror film every year is anyone’s guess, but they do play on my imagination quite a bit. Thrillers are a different story, however. Heretic is firmly in the psychological horror/thriller space and the best horror film I’ve seen in quite a long time.

Heretic centres around two young Mormon women on a mission who respond to a call for more information about salvation. What starts as a thought-provoking conversation about theology quickly spirals out of control. Hugh Grant gives a tremendous terrifying performance. His ability to effortlessly charm plays perfectly into a psychopathic character. He casually mentions things with a smile, leaving you to parse if he actually said what he just said.

It’s hard to say much more without spoiling the plot, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and was struggling to work out how it would all end. An excellently crafted horrifying experience.

The PC Saga

After cancelling my Alienware order, I am no further forward on the PC front. I held off in anticipation of the Intel 15th generation processors after the fraught 13th and 14th gen, and…they’re disappointing. There are some efficiency gains, but they struggle to compete with older models. It’s not what you want to hear. It’s a bizarre situation to be considering buying a processor several years old in the hopes that it doesn’t burn itself out.