ESOTERIC EBB Review

Having well and truly entered the era of "Disco Clone" games, we''ve begun to see the release of more and more games that are inspired by Disco Elysium and attempt to reproduce at least part of its unique gameplay and overall vibe. One such game is Esoteric Ebb, an RPG that officially launches tomorrow, March 3. Unlike Rue Valley, another "Disco Clone" we tackled a few months ago, which plays more like an adventure game than an RPG, and whose Disco-like nature lies mainly in the mental state of the protagonist, Esoteric Ebb clearly follows the Disco formula in a more straightforward way.

To be precise, the similarities between Disco Elysium and Esoteric Ebb are so numerous that I believe you will eventually become bored reading the phrase "another similarity with Disco Elysium is..." and variations of it in this review. Indeed, at times, engaging with Esoteric Ebb and comparing it to DE is somewhat reminiscent of the meme "okay, you may copy my exam sheet, but change the answers a bit." However, this is not stated as a negative—quite the contrary!—nor is it something that the game's developer wants to hide or avoid.

Despite the similarities, let's start with an obvious difference, which is none other than the setting. Departing from purely contemporary settings, the action in Esoteric Ebb takes place in a strange world that combines a Late Medieval and Fantasy setting with certain elements of modern reality ("post-Arcanepunk" is a definition I read and liked in terms of characterizing the setting). The character we control is a Cleric, a government agent in the service of the god Urth, who is tasked with investigating a strange explosion that occurred in a Tea Shop in the city of Norvik (inside and under which all the action in the game takes place). The explosion occurred five days before the first elections in Norvik's history, and the city authorities have their reasons for wanting the case solved before the polls open.

These five days leading up to the election are also the time frame in which the game's plot unfolds. There is a clock in the UI that shows the time and day, with the minutes advancing each time we read "new" dialogue. There is a clear similarity here with Disco Elysium, which also had at its core a crime that needed to be solved, a "government agent" as the protagonist, and a time limit of a few days. Those who may be worried about this time limit in Esoteric Ebb can rest assured knowing that the 5 in-game days are more than enough time to complete all the quests and explore every inch of Norvik.

The in-game elections serve as a vehicle for yet another clear similarity with Disco, the political factor. Esoteric Ebb is an EXTREMELY political game, and this political nature permeates every aspect of the world, from the in-game lore and worldbuilding to the NPCs and dialogues. In fact, "what will I vote in the election" is one of the questions that torment the protagonist himself, with several humorous events directly related to it. There are in-game versions of liberal parties, environmentalists, nationalists, communists, as well as a party of "Arcanists", and even the option to promote our own candidacy as a God-Wizard-King! The game itself even keeps a "score" for the faction we identify with most through our choices in the corresponding dialogues (a corresponding "score" is also kept for our character class, as this is also determined exclusively through choices in the dialogues – ANOTHER element reminiscent of Disco Elysium).

The parties and broader political history are only a small, minimal part of the lore that the game attempts to establish, which (once again, as in DE) is EXTREMELY detailed. During the game's dialogues, we encounter terms, words, names, and places that add entries to our Journal about the history of Norvik, the tribes that inhabit it, the other regions/states around it, the gods who have risen and fallen over the centuries, past military conflicts, genocides, mass migrations, and other important violent and non-violent events that end up influencing the "present" in Norvik and which are described with truly remarkable detail.

In the first picture of this review, you can see a special thanks to Dungeons and Dragons, which is no coincidence. Esoteric Ebb gives off 100% the vibe of a huge DnD session, and this feature is also applied to core gameplay aspects. Our Cleric character has the classic DnD Character Attributes (Strength, Intelligence, Charisma, etc), which are defined during the initial character creation phase and enriched along the way through leveling (we typically earn XP during dialogues and by completing quests) and by wearing the appropriate magical items. Obviously, in yet another similarity to DE, these attributes "converse" with the protagonist in his mind and participate as internal monologues and skill checks in dialogues, with varying results.

As a DnD-inspired RPG, the game also features combat, which is rendered in a distinctly "Disco Clone" style – imagine the one and only "battle" in DE, but taking place more than once and against a variety of opponents. The battles are limited in number and fully scripted in their occurrence, meaning that they will take place during the plot and at specific points in the world rather than being random encounters or following the logic of "let's farm monsters in the dungeon for XP." They also have a "Roll for Initiative" phase to determine the order of action of those involved. However, as probably expected, these battles are still conducted exclusively through skill checks in dialogues, which correspond to various attributes and which we must succeed in order for the battle to have a successful outcome. The protagonist also has an HP gauge, and if it reaches zero during combat (but also outside of it), there is a serious possibility of an inglorious game over. Of course, we can heal by consuming items, resting, or using spells.

Special mention must be made of the game's spell system. As a Cleric, our character has magical abilities that allow him to cast offensive and defensive spells of various levels or learn new spells by acquiring the appropriate scrolls. These spells follow the logic of the Sorcerer class in DnD and have finite charges (which can be replenished by praying at specific shrines, by using the Rest function, or by using consumables), and can be used either during combat or to facilitate exploration.

Does the game have any clear negatives? It depends on how you look at it. Some possible negatives are rather subjective, such as the rather "lo-fi" graphics style and the complete absence of voice acting, which didn't bother me personally, but I have to point them out for those who care about these features. Other possible negatives are similar to those that could be pointed out in Disco Elysium, such as the fact that the game has too much back-and-forth walking from area to area, while the rudimentary fast travel system that speeds up the process somewhat is unlocked quite late in the game. By the same logic, the sheer volume of in-game text that the player is required to read during dialogues can also be pointed out, which once again didn't bother me that much, although in the later stages of the game, I did start skipping quite a few dialogues in order to get to the climax of the plot faster.

Another negative that could be pointed out is the occasionally unfair RNG – imagine rolling two dice for a skill check, needing one of them to roll above 5 to succeed, but rolling a 1 and a 3. But then again, in such situations, I simply ended up laughing at my luck rather than feeling frustrated. And, like in Disco Elysium, failing a roll does not necessarily mean a "bad" plot development or missing out on content, but on the contrary can lead to a humorous scene or further development of the Lore, events that we would not have experienced if we had succeeded in that particular roll.

I was also slightly disappointed by the fact that, after the game's ending, we don't get any kind of ending slide or other screen that recounts the long-term results of our actions in Norvik during the game. We interact with so many interesting and well-written NPCs, complete so many quests, have clear choices on how to approach the ending, VOTE IN THE ELECTION, and generally determine the world state of the city to a huge extent, and I think it would be nice to have some clear indication of the extent of our influence after the ending or the fate of the companion NPCs etc, but alas. I understand, of course, that the developer may want to keep this specific information aside as material for a future sequel, which is a perfectly valid goal. Finally, an objective negative is the existence of certain bugs in the review version that have not been fixed at the time of writing, which are not game-breaking and will likely be fixed within a few days with a patch.

My initial playthrough lasted about 25 hours, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It is clear from all of the above that Esoteric Ebb is a game that does not hide its similarities to Disco Elysium, but at the same time differs from it enough to be considered "its own thing." And this own thing is truly awesome. The individual RPG elements of the gameplay, both those that are "Disco-esque" and the more original ones, are implemented in a well-rounded and entertaining way, its lore is deep and well-written, most of the NPCs are equally well-written and memorable, its humor is clever and at times hilarious. I was already impressed with the game after playing the demo at a Steam Fest several months ago, but even I didn't expect the final result to be of such high quality.

It may not quite reach the heights of Disco Elysium in terms of writing, and the Cleric protagonist may be a rather wounded and tormented individual in his own way as well as a thoroughly likeable character but he doesn't quite reach the hall-of-fame levels of manliness of the titan that is Harry Du Bois. However, Esoteric Ebb is undoubtedly the most complete "Disco Clone" released to date, and overall the game that manages to scratch that incredible Disco itch in the best way possible. Given that it is expected to be priced at a dirt-cheap $25 (with an extra 10% discount in the first few days), fans of Disco Elysium and unique RPGs like it should check it out ASAP.

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