Acclaimed detective RPG Disco Elysium coming to Xbox One and PS4 next year
"We think it really is going to lend itself very well to console play".
Developer ZA/UM is currently in the throes of porting its acclaimed detective RPG, Disco Elysium, to Xbox One and PS4, and says that it's due to launch on consoles next year.
Disco Elysium, which released on PC earlier this month, casts players as a less-than-upstanding detective, who begins the game in a dishevelled heap on hotel room floor with what rapidly turns out to be alcohol-induced amnesia - conveniently allowing for plenty of scene-setting exposition, and the opportunity for players to shape their anti-hero as they see fit.
What follows starts as a murder mystery - set in the dilapidated city district of Martinaise - and then rapidly explodes out into a sprawling open-world RPG that shapes and shifts depending on players' abilities and the choices they make throughout the extremely conversation-heavy, and impressively expansive adventure.
It's ambitious, inventive, but also messily unrestrained - too much so for Eurogamer contributor Malindy Hetfield, who felt it often found chaos where it strived for played freedom."Once the novelty wears off, I feel like I'm playing a game that insistently wants to prove to me how smart it is," she wrote in her review, "and that, above anything, is just really tiring."
Disco Elysium has resonated more strongly with others, however, so word of a console port has been in high demand. And now, speaking to Escapist Magazine, lead designer Robert Kurvitz has confirmed that it's in the works and coming next year.
"The immediate plan, and this is why I won't go on a holiday anytime soon," Kurvitz explained, "is to get Disco Elysium to as many people as possible."
He also revealed that the studio intends to be "very hands-on with the design" of the Xbox One and PS4 versions. "We don't want to hire a porting company. We think it really is going to lend itself very well to console play because you don't need to go over minute tactics and use a mouse because it's very narrative in its nature."