Disco Elysium
Video Game • 2019 • Film Noir Report
Yes
14
No
1
6
Darelz
You won't encounter it every playthrough, but it's possible to trigger a dialogue option informing you that the dog dies.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Yes
0
No
19
Yes
16
No
2
0
Sibelos
Cuno claims to have killed a pig and put it's head in his shack.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
16
Yes
1
No
18
Yes
9
No
4
2
incomprehensibeel
There’s a couple taxidermied birds.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
20
Yes
0
No
8
Yes
0
No
18
Yes
0
No
17
Yes
0
No
16
Yes
30
No
0
4
mistersandman
A side quest involves helping cryptozoologists find an insect.
1 comment | Add comment
2
lilpig
There is a parentless child in the game. It's unknown if their parents are dead, abandoned them, or if the child simply ran away.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
14
No
1
Yes
0
No
3
Yes
26
No
1
Yes
34
No
0
7
SeditiousSky
A child is abused off screen and there are descriptions of his abuse. The main character can also hit the same child. This can be easily avoided by backing down from him.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
10
No
6
3
lilpig
A young child alludes to having "combat trauma", and experiencing "close quarters combat". The protagonist gathers that he's describing beatings from his father.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
46
No
0
7
Darelz
It's a significant plot point.
1 comment | Add comment
8
Darelz
There's a lot of drug use.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
45
No
0
7
Broggly
The main character is addicted to alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs. Several other characters are drug addicts or recovering drug addicts.
3 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
2
Yes
0
No
3
2
Kapi
The character can take drugs if the player wishes. However there is no unconsensual drugging.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
1
1
An alleged rape is investigated in detail as part of a murder investigation.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
6
No
4
2
radicalsam
A specific Thought in the game mentions unwillful restraint by a police officer. This thought is not required to internalize and can be avoided by not internalizing the Rigorous Self-Critique thought if you encounter it.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
31
No
1
10
Darelz
There's lengthy discussion of an alleged sexual assault, which probably wasn't assault since the alleged survivor is confident it was consensual and other characters admit to fabricating the assault claim. You can also encounter a dialogue option which describes war crimes, including sexual assault.
3 comments | Add comment
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2
Yes
0
No
4
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
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12
Yes
0
No
1
Yes
0
No
16
Yes
20
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0
7
SeditiousSky
To avoid this, if your Necktie tells you to buy something, don't buy it.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
18
Yes
31
No
0
5
jasontodd
Yes you can choose to shave yourself, the shave is uneventful however if you fail the check to do it there will be mention of shaving injury and a reference to suicide
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
5
No
2
2
Sibelos
The thought cabinet artwork and some of the skill icons have elements of Body Horror (such as Drama, Savoire Faire and Reaction Speed)
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
17
Yes
9
No
6
2
woollymonkeybaby
Described in detail by a minor character. The violence is also anti-female and racist in nature. The scene appears in dialogue alone & is completely optional--the game will encourage you several times to back out of the conversation & will warn you that "things are about to get graphic".
3 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
11
Yes
22
No
0
1
lilpig
Some characters are shown to be tortured with a fictional, in-universe device that emits extremely powerful radio waves. The experience is described as "a thousand stations being blasted into your head all at once."
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
2
AnthonyLao
There are limited mentions of choking and auto-asphyxiation a (couple in relation to death), but there are no particular scenes that show nor detail choking.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
17
No
2
2
lilpig
There is a description of cannibalism in a character's retelling of a war crime. The game gives a warning that "things are about to get graphic" and you're offered an option to skip it.
2 comments | Add comment
2
fynnfynn
the protagonist can faint, a specific instance has to do with the apricot gum wrapper, but can be avoided if the gum wrapper is not investigated.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
17
No
1
7
babanene
None ever occurs, but a character can express concern that his genitals may have been shot off
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
1
No
13
Yes
39
No
0
8
Darelz
The story revolves around a hanged man.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
13
Yes
0
No
8
Yes
0
No
14
Yes
0
No
13
Yes
12
No
5
4
babanene
No seizures are ever explicitly shown, but the protagonist can pass out to a black screen at different points in the story and they are described as seizures.
1 comment | Add comment
7
ulixes
A few times the protagonist's tie is described to feel especially tight like he can't breathe, but it's not actually physically restrictive, just anxiety
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
23
No
1
9
Broggly
It's possible for the main character to shoot a child, resulting in an immediate game over. A gunshot is heard and the screen cuts to black.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
Yes
1
No
7
6
AnthonyLao
There are children who make comments about sex and rape involving themselves in an immature manner. This can be uncomfortable, but they are not sexualised.
1 comment | Add comment
4
AnthonyLao
To the point of death, no. There are no cultist connotations to this sacrifice neither.
1 comment | Add comment
1
lilpig
All non-human characters survive to the end of the game. There are some offhand mentions and vague depictions of dead animals.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
3
No
0
Yes
13
No
0
3
flowerclown
Never by otherwise likable characters though. To avoid: don't tell your tie you don't want to drink. Don't tell Evrart you're ultraliberal. If (SPOILER) your companion is shot, the option to say it also has a chance to appear in a conversation with Cuno, the chance increasing the higher your Rhetoric is; the only definite way to avoid it appearing afaik is savescumming if Kim gets shot.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
12
No
0
5
mistersandman
The game kicks off with the revelation that the main character has lost his entire memory due to excessive drug and alcohol use.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
1
No
0
Yes
2
No
11
1
rudes
The thought "Rigorous Self-Critique" has a solution that describes a situation involving the player character that could be construed as kidnapping.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
16
3
Shutter
No, but a child will allow you to destroy her sandcastle to obtain evidence. She seems unbothered by this.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
17
No
2
5
Darelz
There's a brief bit of dialogue which implies a minor side character is cheating on his wife. But cheating isn't something displayed or actively discussed.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
32
No
1
4
Broggly
A man is found dead, and investigation reveals that he had two teenage daughters.
There is another family where the father a few years ago.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
2
No
22
7
Pear
there’s a glitch when you try to touch the door of the apartment behind the fence of the yard and Kim is 10x louder for no reason
1 comment | Add comment
0
Sibelos
Not sure if this counts, but the inland empire skill icon kinda looks like a bunch of holes/stars in the head.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
2
No
17
9
Darelz
There aren't literal ghosts, but there is a notable amount of discussion of ghosts and ghost imagery.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
20
Yes
4
No
1
0
Sibelos
Mannequins can be seen in the Doom Commercial Area, however they do nothing.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
19
Yes
3
No
0
Yes
2
No
16
6
jasontodd
The player character can take a bath in his hotel room, the screen is blacked out during it and he engages in conversation with his internal monologue
1 comment | Add comment
2
fynnfynn
It doesn't happen in game, but is alluded to with the item descriptions for the yellow flare-cut trousers and the white satin shirt. Urine is also a not entirely uncommon topic for the game at other times.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
41
No
0
11
jasontodd
In the beginning of the game there is a check you are expected to fail which results in throwing up. The check has to be succeeded in order for the plot to continue and it can be failed multiple times.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
19
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
19
No
0
Yes
0
No
10
Yes
6
No
19
11
flowerclown
Arguably? The game encourages you to be an awful cop for comedy. The corruption of the police force is very often acknowledged as a bad thing, though.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
2
Yes
0
No
2
Yes
0
No
4
2
lilpig
There's a situation that almost, vaguely, meets this condition, but no. And nothing falls into the reductive "bisexual woman cheats on her boyfriend with another woman to satisfy her hidden desires" trope that I assume this question is referring to
1 comment | Add comment
1
fynnfynn
No, but there is a mention of an old, confused woman being taken to a mental care facility.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
19
Yes
5
No
1
Yes
16
No
1
5
Darelz
You don't see it, but there is dialogue alluding to the use of needles.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
13
No
4
6
Broggly
At one point it's possible to have part of an autopsy briefly described in text
2 comments | Add comment
7
Sunnymatsu
There is one line that uses the term "autism" in a derogatory way, but no on-screen violence or abuse towards autistic people.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
19
No
1
Yes
32
No
0
9
Rinley
A character is said to have been threatening it before the start of the game, and there is an optional sequence where a character physically threatens to do so.
4 comments | Add comment
Yes
2
No
6
Yes
0
No
15
Yes
14
No
0
3
morganyu
It's implied that the main character was going to commit suicide by hanging the night before the story begins. During the main storyline, a character threatens to shoot herself with a gun when she is confronted by the player, and if the player fails a Rhetoric check, she will die. The main character can also shoot himself in an failed Authority check in the task "Prove your authority to Titus Hardie".
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
5
lilpig
The protagonist can engage in violence, some of his choices to act violently being more irrational than others. There is at least one side character that seems to experience severe psychosis and threatens violence.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
20
No
0
4
lilpig
Given the bleak state of Revochal, numerous characters suffer from PTSD relating to violence, sexual activity, poor upbringings, etc.
(SPOILER WARNING from this point of my comment onward) The protagonist suffers from PTSD, and spends most of the game struggling to remember the traumatic event. He becomes very distressed and launches into panic attacks or states of distress whenever something happens that reminds him of this event. His traumatic event is not related to drugs, physical violence, or sexual violence.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
30
No
0
7
morganyu
If you get a Game Over by losing all your Morale, your character has an emotional breakdown, leading him to quit his job as a cop and give up on the investigation.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
23
No
4
8
oddmoose87
The main character regularly disparages his body.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
4
No
13
4
jasontodd
At one point you can enter a rather small tent, though there is room for four people in it and space to move.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
5
No
1
1
lilpig
Yes. The main character regularly insults and is horrified by his own body. Some of it is needlessly harsh, and some of it is well-informed, as years of alcohol/drug use have done considerable damage.
There is no body dysphoria relating to gender identity presented in the game.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
34
No
0
9
Darelz
There's a scene where a character may commit suicide depending on the decisions you make. There's also discussion of suicide beyond that scene.
2 comments | Add comment
2
lilpig
No one in the game has or appears to have DID. This includes the protagonist, his mental health issues are unrelated to DID.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
12
3
ulixes
In one specific scene where you are following footprints in a bunker, you get in a confrontation with some flashing lights, the plot is vital to the story.
2 comments | Add comment
2
The game is full of curses and slurs, some are relevant only to the fictional world of the game others are very real world, in some versions of the game, "f****t" is uncensored.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
8
No
7
3
absolutesquash
When talking to "The Sunday Friend," passing a skill check will allow you to hear a baby crying, and then comment on it.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
3
No
8
3
lilpig
It is broken, but not too severely; there are some subtle nods to the player that are explained away as the protagonist's quirky way of thinking and interacting with others. For example, the protagonist is accused of speaking in "trees" by another character, acknowledging that the gameplay is a series of dialogue trees.
2 comments | Add comment
0
Sibelos
MAJOR SPOILERS: One character has been watching everyone in Martinaise.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
18
Yes
16
No
1
5
Darelz
It's ambiguous whether it's an abortion or miscarriage.
3 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
14
Yes
0
No
7
Yes
15
No
1
5
Darelz
As mentioned in another comment, there is a character who either has an abortion or miscarries prior to the events of the game - it's ambiguous which it is.
1 comment | Add comment
1
lilpig
There's a description of a baby crying at one point in a game, and you meet a character that is pregnant.
2 comments | Add comment
5
TheLozberg
R slur is used in at least one conversation, uncensored - other ableist language is used.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
25
No
1
12
Darelz
Not out of spite for LGBT people though: it's because a lot of the key characters are actually LGBT, and one of the game's key themes is mortality.
There's one LGBT character whose death is inevitable, and three whose life/death is dependent on your decisions.
1 comment | Add comment
12
SeditiousSky
There is no explicit antisemitism, however, lines of internal dialogue if your character is a fascist occasionally use terms like "Deformed money lenders" and "foreign money lenders."
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Yes
38
No
0
11
flowerclown
Race and gender/sexuality based. Unavoidable, but it's always portrayed as a bad thing. The worst example of this is when you yell a racist slur at your companion if you fail a check. (To avoid this, don't ask him to dance.)
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
17
Yes
0
No
19
15
Darelz
No, however the game contains fictional racial slurs.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
29
No
0
2
Sandphin
LOTS of fat-hate in this game.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
21
Yes
45
No
0
12
Darelz
The f slur is used in a censored form.
4 comments | Add comment
6
01101101ute
There's a character who dresses androgynously, and your character can ask him some questions about it, and why he's dressed "like a woman." He answers very casually and your character leaves it at that, curiosity sated. It's not written as a joke, but it does edge near it just from your character being a little ignorant.
2 comments | Add comment
2
lilpig
All of the (often fictional/stand-ins for existing races) minorities are represented well by the game. The game's narration and narrative explicitly denounce racism as you encounter (or participate in) it.
There is some intentional, in-universe misrepresentation of minorities. The game's equivalent to an Asian person is shown in a conical hat, frolicking in a field of saffron on a racist "Yellow Man Mug". Again, the game's narration explicitly says that it's a bad, racist mug.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Yes
0
No
11
Yes
0
No
21
0
Sibelos
Maybe? It is said that the Main Character has had sex, but it's unclear if he was a virgin prior to it.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Yes
0
No
9
2
incomprehensibeel
main character is mostly naked (underwear and socks) upon waking up at the beginning of the game, and you can touch a corpses penis, but no visual depiction of genitals.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
12
No
0
6
lilpig
A "femme fatale" character is sometimes referenced sexually. This is done through crude flirtation, or in the case of more unsavory characters, misogynistic rhetoric
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
27
No
0
3
lilpig
Sex is described and alluded to by multiple characters. The higher your "electrochemistry" skill is, the more likely the protagonist is to have sexual thoughts. There are no outright sex scenes.
1 comment | Add comment
3
rudes
Player character ridicules himself for crying at times, and some other characters comment on it with one being an antagonistic child. There's also a moment where another character sees him crying from afar and simply comments "My god...", but this is open to interpretation as the game progresses. The latter scene is also a result of passive skill checks after failing active checks while talking to a character named Acele and easily avoided.
1 comment | Add comment
1
incomprehensibeel
I have seen speculation that some difficulties the main character has could be a result of his (minor spoiler warning) having had polio as a child
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
2
ColleenPoggers
No, but it is asked is by two characters in certain scenarios in response to the playable character’s strange behaviour.
1 comment | Add comment
2
lilpig
Yes. There are two characters depicted who are explicitly shown to have symptoms of a neurodegenerative condition. The main character suffers from amnesia and acts unusually, but doesn't seem to have a form of dementia
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
19
No
0
4
morganyu
Your character is effectively homeless, he doesn't remember his home address until you internalize a thought related to figuring it out, and the places of residence he stays at in the story are explicitly meant to be short term. There is also a thought called Hobocop, which can be acquired when he humors the idea of sleeping on the streets.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Yes
0
No
1
Yes
0
No
19
Yes
17
No
8
12
Darelz
This depends on the decisions you make and what you consider sad. A lot of bad things happen over the course of the game, but I think the overall message is one of hope.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
30
No
0
10
Broggly
Evidence of a car crash and the wreckage of a car are found. The actual car crash isn't depicted but using the Visual Calculus skill shows still images of the car on the path it took just before the crash
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
18
Yes
12
No
0
Yes
0
No
17
Yes
10
No
1
4
absolutesquash
Not shown, only mentioned. A character drowned before the events of the game.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
35
No
0
4
mistersandman
(Spoilers) During the tribunal, innocent and unarmed people can be shot by mercenaries. The main characters can also shoot back at them. If chosen, the main character can threaten gun violence to intimidate others.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
29
No
1
7
Rinley
Among other things, there is a decomposing body with highly realistic descriptions and behaviors, and is investigated in detail.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
0
No
17
8
babanene
There are references to a potential future event involving a nuclear bomb, but it is never shown. It is mentioned that in the past a nuclear reactor went critical in a populated area.
1 comment | Add comment