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I think of the best things about Disco Elysium releasing and being amazing isn’t just that we all got a great game to play, but that it’s encouraging other developers to experiment and create gems like Esoteric Ebb. It’s a similar sort of adventure with a gameplay structure that follows in some of the same footsteps as the ZA/UM piece, but with Christoffer Bodegård doing something also totally original and equally entertaining by encouraging all sorts of D&D elements. It’s clever and entertaining in so many ways, regardless of how you choose to portray The Cleric on this journey.
Players, after a comprehensive character building session, start Esoteric Ebb as The Cleric. They were assigned to investigate The Tea Shop that Blew Up. But this wasn’t a simple act of vandalism against a particular individual. It’s tied to the current political climate ahead of the very first election in Tolstad, and our previous progress on this quest led to our avatar waking up with amnesia, no equipment, and only the ability to Cure Wounds. The Cleric needs to spend five days investigating alongside Snell, a goblin assistant, and the voices in our avatar’s head tied to the Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Strength, and Wisdom stats find out what’s going on and potentially save the city.
Part of what makes Esoteric Ebb such a delight to play is the commitment to make it feel like we’re going through a tabletop campaign and shaping both The Cleric and the narrative. This starts with a comprehensive character creator that involves assigning points to your Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Strength, and Wisdom stats, your background focus, and two proficiencies. What’s helpful about this is that you can see the lore, uses, and role for each stat, with Bodegård flat out spelling out what The Cleric will be like if they have a high or low value in that stat. (Pre-built options are available, in case you want to quickly jump into the adventure.) It’s possible to spend so much time here determining who you are, and I really appreciated it.
Once you get into Esoteric Ebb proper, the Disco Elysium similarities become more apparent. This is an adventure and you can avoid the main quest to explore other plot threads. But it is a situation in which many voices in our character’s head will discuss the situation and choices at hand, there is loads of political intrigue about, and it is very easy to get caught up in the mystery of what happened to The Cleric and that tea shop attack. At the same time, while it can be quite dramatic and socially poignant, Bodegård also offered the opportunity to meet some hilarious characters and enjoy some absurdism.
What I also appreciated is, while Esoteric Ebb does feel like Disco Elysium, the D&D influence Christoffer Bodegård incorporated also ensure it feels unique. Some of this involves references throughout the script and character background elements that reference the actual behavior of roles like clerics in campaigns. But the other elements involve actual gameplay. You will roll dice (sometimes multiple ones, depending on your build) to determine your success when it comes to certain actions. When this happens, we’ll also hear commentary from the stats that might help establish what happens for successes and failures. You’ll gain first, second, and third level butts and prepare them to use them. While we start with Cure Wounds, we get ones that can influence investigations (Charm Person or Speak with Dead) or can affect the environment or ourselves (Barkskin and Aura of Vitality). There are feats as well, which affect The Cleric’s performance.
As a result, there’s a replay value to Esoteric Ebb that feels like it invites someone to return to the adventure and try new things. Even if someone went with the exact same build, the fact that the dice rolls determine success and the nature in which both conversations and encounters can go made me feel like I wasn’t always seeing the full story and every possibility. There’s so much there that immediately after I got through a run, I wanted to go again and see what would happen if I chose to pursue different paths.
Esoteric Ebb is an unexpected delight that pairs elements of D&D campaigns with Disco Elysium, which turns out to be a perfect fit. There’s an absurdist element that’s delightful, but the social commentary also feels quite apt and deep at the same time. The execution of the RPG elements also means that feels like there’s always more to explore, which I appreciated.
Esoteric Ebb is available for PCs.
Esoteric Ebb
Esoteric Ebb is an unexpected delight that pairs elements of D&D campaigns with Disco Elysium, which turns out to be a perfect fit.
