Disco Elysium, which topped our list of the best videogames you can play today, is debuting on consoles this year in a Final Cut version that's also coming to PC as a free upgrade. Some of its additions are more significant for console players—controller support, for instance—but there's also plenty for those of us on PC, as Studio ZA/UM writer and narrative designer Justin Keenan explained to Push Square in a recent interview.
Among the additions are four new sidequests, each focusing on one of Disco Elysium's political philosophies. "We've added a few new things for players to discover here and there," Keenan said, "but the heart of the new material are these political vision quests. These are four mutually exclusive quests, one keyed to each of the game's four major ideological alignments."
Keenan goes on to explain that these quests had been planned for the original version of the game, but didn't make the cut. While he describes them as not having "a major bearing on the game's main storyline" that doesn't mean they're insignificant. "Some introduce you to new characters, some come with new items, others permanently change your UI or some other piece of the world."
The other major addition to the Final Cut is full voice-acting. The original version gave many characters distinct voices, but only for some of their dialogue. Now it's going to have actors performing every line of dialogue, including those of your skills. Obviously, in a game with this much writing, that's a lot of work. "We actually have three VO directors working full-time with dozens of actors to get all one-million-plus words fully voiced," Keenan said. While not everyone wants to hear Cuno's every line shouted at them, full voice acting is a boon for players with players with eye problems that prevent them from being able to read huge amounts of text on screen, so it's wonderful they're putting in the effort.
And, as they used to say on ads for knives: but wait, there's more. "The art team has also added tons of nice new details to the world itself — new animations, new or improved character portraits, new sound and lighting effects."
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut will be out in March. I'll definitely be replaying it, though whether I commit to four full playthroughs to experience each political vision quest remains to be seen. I mean, I might. Disco Elysium is just that good.
