Incline Disco Elysium - The Final Cut - a hardboiled cop show isometric RPG

[JarlFrank]

is that how eastern eu game devs look like
eew i suddenly like california

What the fuck is that even?

That guy should be punished for a total lack of fashion sense.

The girl's shoes are very nice though.
Cute toes.

 

[Molina]

My little consideration for Sawyer has just vanished.

 

[Dexter]

So, how does one get a piece of the mainstream awards pie? At least how do you get to be the one hipster choice they choose to show that they aren't completely corrupt?

You need to get an "in" with the Progressive SanFran/New York "game journo" clique that vote for this shit, audience score was like a negligible 10%, the rest comes from outlets like Polygon, The Verge, VICE, Venturebeat, EuroGamer, Ars Technica, Kotaku and the likes, a lot of which's staff if they're not outright Commies or SJWs themselves, have strong sympathies towards any apparent allies: https://thegameawards.com/voting-jury

Gone Home is a good example to follow and their connection with other game journalists both personally and through their "Idle Thumbs Podcast" back then, of which the Firewatch developers were also part of and got to benefit of later.

However, being tongue-bathed by these websites or even showered with awards doesn't necessarily mean particular commercial or popular success. While Gone Home and Firewatch were moderately successful, other pushes like for the "spiritual sequel" to Gone Home, Tacoma failed utterly, as did their push for Sunset or Where the Water Tastes Like Wine.

Even considering the four awards they just got, you need to also put their "success" in perspective, SteamSpy estimates they've sold somewhere between 100-200k copies for the past 3 months: https://steamspy.com/app/632470

For comparison, BONEWORKS, a VR-only game that released just 3 days ago and was mostly shilled directly to the audience sold between 200-500k copies in 3 days: https://steamspy.com/app/823500

This also came up in the "Steam Platform Discussion Thread" when J_C got butthurt that Disco Elysium wasn't nominated for "Outstanding Visual Style", since it's a user-driven instead of journalist-driven nomination: https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1723120578733145556

Disco Elysium is a tiny niche game and will likely remain this even compared to something like Pillars of Eternity 1&2, Tyranny or Torment no matter how many "awards" it gets and is not anywhere close to the user engagement or popularity of some of its "would-be competitors" in some of these user choice categories on Steam:

Spoiler

 

[RNGsus]

Have I mentioned I've met the developers?

 

[Alpan]

Not sure where the butthurt towards the ZA/UM people's attitude is coming from. The fact that the communist developers of this game -- a game funded in no small part by Estonian oligarch money, perhaps even as part of a money laundering scheme -- can openly proclaim their admiration for Marx and Engels is a reflection of capitalism's current power. Get on a stage and profess your love for Marx and Engels all you want -- because the reality is that by doing so, you will have shown yourself as a costumed curiosity, a bit of a novelty before the next event. Capitalism has never been stronger. I agree that this sucks (not because the alternative is idyllic communism, though), but it is how it is. Communists can have all the video game shows or message boards or Codex threads they like. Fuck does Capitalism care? (It doesn't care LOGIC [Easy: Success] -- because it has everything else.)

 

[Verylittlefishes]

a game funded in no small part by Estonian oligarch money, perhaps even as part of a money laundering scheme

what a twist

 

[RNGsus]

It's just that they made a really good game.

Yeah, I won't know until its at most $15. I do want to play it, eventually.

Not sure where the butthurt towards the ZA/UM people's attitude is coming from. The fact that the communist developers of this game -- a game funded in no small part by Estonian oligarch money, perhaps even as part of a money laundering scheme -- can openly proclaim their admiration for Marx and Engels is a reflection of capitalism's current power.

Its a consolation prize for all of Marx's predictions failing.

 

[Lacrymas]

 

[Alpan]

Marx wasn't wrong about a whole lot. It's just that he never quite imagined an armed revolutionary guard would interpret his ideas into an attempt at implementing utopian transformation. He made no such forecast. From his perspective, his connection to world events is actually rather tenuous. Historically he's closer to what Disco Elysium calls a moralist -- evolutionary, gradualist, believing in democratic means such as elections, worker party competition and so on.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

 

[Prime Junta]

Have I mentioned I've met the developers?

You're just jealous.

Spoiler

And I don't blame you.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

 

[Delterius]

Have I mentioned I've met the developers?

of course haven't you heard of the internationale

 

[Prime Junta]

That guy should be punished for a total lack of fashion sense.

That's Aleksander Rostov flaunting his Great Russian heritage.

(If the Estonian crypto-fash don't hate him already, that ought to do it.)

 

[Quillon]

Sawya throwin Cainarsky under da bus :reeeee

 

[Trashos]

I am all for freedom of speech, but communists (just like islamists) proven their hatred to any opinion that don't fit their paradigm and abuse state power to get rid of criticism. So I don't see a reason why they should be treated any better than "dissidents" of their regimes in countless prisons and death camps.

Freedom of speech is there to protect the speakers even when you hate what they are saying, and even when what they are saying can be considered dangerous for society. In fact, it has no much use in other cases.

Reconsider.

 

[Alpan]

I am all for freedom of speech, but communists (just like islamists) proven their hatred to any opinion that don't fit their paradigm and abuse state power to get rid of criticism. So I don't see a reason why they should be treated any better than "dissidents" of their regimes in countless prisons and death camps.

Freedom of speech is there to protect the speakers even when you hate what they are saying, and even when what they are saying can be considered dangerous for society. In fact, it has no much use in other cases.

Reconsider.

It's not as easy as that.

 

[JarlFrank]

I like how you made ZA/UM the niggers.

 

[Delterius]

reported for harvesting karl marx

 

[Trashos]

It's not as easy as that.

Translation: In certain cases Freedom of Speech can be bad.

You can take such a position, but then don't fool yourself that you believe in Freedom of Speech. You do not.

 

[CappenVarra]

everybody's ranting about marx this engels that, but for me the key takeaway is the start and the speech given by the award presenter - i'd never expect to see a real-world version of this classic

 

[Egosphere]

That guy should be punished for a total lack of fashion sense.

That's Aleksander Rostov flaunting his Great Russian heritage.

(If the Estonian crypto-fash don't hate him already, that ought to do it.)

He's dressed as a cossack. Which is ironic.

 

[Prime Junta]

That guy should be punished for a total lack of fashion sense.

That's Aleksander Rostov flaunting his Great Russian heritage.

(If the Estonian crypto-fash don't hate him already, that ought to do it.)

He's dressed as a cossack. Which is ironic.

Cossacks weren't/aren't all Ukrainian you know.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Have I mentioned I've met the developers?

You're just jealous.

Spoiler

And I don't blame you.

When is your cool article about helping ZA/UM finally coming out?

 

[Prime Junta]

When is your cool article about helping ZA/UM finally coming out?

Might be a while. It turned out too gonzo even by Codexian standards and I spiked it.

The short version is that I had a pretty fucking nasty 2017-2018, involving a few high points but more illness and death than is strictly enjoyable, with my collaboration with ZA/UM and Disco Elysium interleaved with it.

I would like to tell that story but I haven't yet figured out how to do it in a way that there wouldn't be possible splash damage that I don't want to risk. Just listing my interactions with them isn't very cool at all.