spoiler
Overall I fucking loved it but there was a few parts of the ending that felt a bit anti-climatic. I get they wanted to structure the story is such a way that even players who fucked the investigation up could find the killer, but it is weird that there’s really no way to really solve the case before shit goes down and then you just, find the guy. But I guess that feeds into the narrative that no single person is really in control of much outside of themselves.
Also didn’t like there wasn’t a “I’m turning I my badge” option for Harry (if there was one I didn’t see it). That seemed to fit the best into my RP. But idk maybe Harry wants to sober up entirely before he makes such a decision. I did get Kim to agree to be my partner tho which made me happy. I also also expecting as sort of “trial” at the end where my psyche makes an analysis of what kind of cop I turned out to be, but we just got in the motor carriage and left.
Kinda tempted to reload a save from before I encountered Ruby cuz I’m pretty sure there’s shit I missed, I was playing things kinda safe cuz I was sorta RP Harry as trying not to fuck things up and I think that bit me. Also I’m bummed I never got to meet with Steban again, don’t think I timed that right.
Anyway I’ll probably do a fash play through in a month or so.
spoiler
One of the strangest storytelling decisions this game makes is that it has a bloomer stuff in it, but it's all hidden. The TL;DR is that Revachol is at the end of history, but time hasn't stopped yet.
deep spoilers
There's a conversation you can have with Klassje, after you read deeper into the story she tells you in your interview and realize that she's hiding things from you (and that Harry didn't notice because he's too attracted to her), where she talks about The Return. It's kept vague what The Return is, presumably so that you can fill in the blank (is the The Return of Communism? Monarchy? Independence?), but it's clear that it's a belief that the people in Revachol take seriously, and that gives them hope for the future.
The Return might be an upcoming coup being organized by Harry's boss, an RCM captain who's famous enough that Kim knows and looks up to him. This future event is revealed by having a high Espirit de Corps during the game's last conversation, and if Harry isn't fired from the force, the captain will be going down a list of who's going to be part of it and who will not. Harry will be part of the coup if the captain thinks that he'll "side with the people".
Socialist Infra-Materialism is real in the game's universe. You can learn from the Phasmid that the thoughts of people are creating a kind of climate change, which is proof positive that in Disco Elysium pure idealism can effect the physical realm - so why couldn't a large group of sufficiently motivated people bring better material conditions into reality by believing in them?
The final scene with the communist book club is the most hopeful scene in the game - a few people who are barely relevant, stacking matchboxes for an hour, into a shape that will almost certainly collapse. But for a few glorious moments, the boxes hold their physically impossible shape. That's what we in the writing community call a METAPHOR, and in this case it's for the seemingly impossible act of building socialism.
spoiler
I don’t remember anything about The Return. Maybe I missed the dialogue for some reason. But yeah, the fact that the matchboxes stand for just a little bit longer the second time after you’ve lent a hand is possibly the most inspiring part of this game and it’s hidden behind a thought and a time-sensitive quest