Disco Elysium is a dialogue-heavy, choice-based RPG that opens up with the shot of a middle-aged man faceplanting his bedroom floor, white undies to the sky. A fatal hangover wiped his memory clean, so that’s all you get for an introduction. That, and “the expression”— a horrid, contorted smile he makes when he looks in the mirror.
In true roleplaying nature, you can play Disco Elysium in a myriad of ways. Be good, bad, dirty, or downright deranged. Your personality is expressed through dialogue choices, which drive both the main plot and side tasks forward. Our Disco Elysium guide won’t tell you how to play, but explore every possible outcome as you recover from this amnesia-inducing hangover and take control of the man with the white undies.
Table of contents
Disco Elysium Companion Guides
Below are our additional resources for Disco Elysium, check them out for more tips and tricks!
Disco Elysium Beginner Tips and Tricks
You’ve no knowledge of the man you’re controlling or the world outside this room, but that doesn’t mean you should plunge into Disco Elysium blind. Here are a few tips:
- Save scumming is a go. You can hard save and quicksave whenever you want by opening the pause menu. Use it. Hard save at the start of the day, quicksave before every interaction.
- Collect bottles: You may be an amnesiac alcoholic, but you’ll be a green one. Always keep the yellow plastic bag equipped and look for tare to collect and sell at Frittte.
- Highlight items: Progression is conditioned by how nifty of an explorer you are. You can highlight relevant items, like tare, dropped change, or lost military guns, by holding Tab on PC, R1 on PlayStation, RB on Xbox, or R on Nintendo Switch.
- Play dress-up: Clothes affect your stats. If you need an extra boost to pass a skill check, back out of the conversation, and put on an outfit that complements the stats you need to pass it.
How to Heal Morale and Health in Disco Elysium
There is no combat in Disco Elysium. Instead, tough dialogue scenarios can deplete your health and morale bars.
In Disco Elysium, health (orange) and morale (blue) are displayed in the bottom left corner of the screen. As you can probably guess, if the counter reaches zero, you’re dead. Morale is as important as health; a man’s dignity can only stoop so low.
You can purchase healing items in the Frittte Kiosk east of the Whirling-in-Rags, the hostel cafeteria at which you’re staying.
| Icon | Name | Effect | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Nosaphed | Restores one health point. | 0.90 |
 | Magnesium | Restores one morale point. | 0.90 |
 | Drouamine | Restores three health points. | 2.50 |
 | Hypnogamma | Restores three morale points. | 2.50 |
You can heal mid-dialogue in Disco Elysium. If you take a hit while in conversation, press the left arrow key or button to heal health and, the right arrow to heal morale. This works for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo.
Should You Consume Alcohol and Drugs?
The last time you did this, you lost your memory, belongings, and overall identity. Do you really need to ask?
Then again, I guess there’s the incentive of overriding skill caps and getting instant stat bonuses.
Fine. Let’s explore the pros and cons of Alcohol consumption and drug usage in Disco Elysium. Spoilers ahead.
Drugs grant a temporary stat boost. There are four drug types in Disco Elysium:
- Nicotine: Grants one intellect point, but damages your health. It unlocks the Boiadero Thought, which doubles the effect of Nicotine.
- Pyrholidon: Grants one Psyche point, but damages your health. It unlocks the Cop of the Apocalypse Thought, which doubles the effect of Pyrholidon.
- Alcohol: Grants one physique point, but damages your morale. It unlocks the Revacholian Nationhood Thought, which doubles the effect of Alcohol.
- Amphetamine: Grants one Motorics point, but damages your Morale. It unlocks the Lonesome Long Way Home Thought, which gives you one Psyche point.
The effects of Alcohol are temporary, so the stat boost wears off after a while. However, if you invest points in upgrading a capped skill while the effect is active, the level-up remains even after the effect wears off.
If you consume Alcohol, get +1 Physique, and get a skill to level up Physical Instrument while inebriated, it won’t reset when you’re no longer drunk.
While Drugs and Alcohol greatly improve your performance short-term, they affect the story in small, but impactful ways. If you care about Kim’s opinion and your superior’s performance review, you should stay away from them. Gameplay-wise, using them only makes you chew through all your medicine faster.
How to Earn Reál
If your 130 real bill for damages — an utterly trashed bedroom that predates your existence — in the Whirling-in-Rags is triggering your anxiety, here are a few tips and two spoilers on how to earn reál in Disco Elysium:
Tips:
- Negotiate: 130 reál is a lot of money. Negotiate with Garte to lower the price to 60 reál. If you want to play bad cop, threaten to arrest him while wearing the Horrific Necktie. He drops the price to 30 reál.
- Sell tare: Past the bookstore west of the Whirling-in-Rags, you can find a yellow plastic bag. Pick it up, open the inventory, and equip it. Look for tare (mostly bottles) from trash containers and the ground. These can be sold at the Fritte kiosk in exchange for a few reál. The hobocop life won’t make you rich, though.
- Ask for money: Nobody lends you money. Not even your station. That said, Lena, the woman in the Whirling-in-Rags reception, takes pity on you and offers a pin you can pawn.
- Pawn postcards, books, and clothes: Most items serve a purpose in the game, so I advise against selling them. Postcards, read books, and clothes you don’t need, are safe to go. South of the Whirling-in-Rags lies a pawn shop where you can pawn these items for reál.
- Accept bribes: If you’re willing to compromise your moral integrity, accept a bribe from Wild Pines representative Joyce, a woman on the coast west of the Whirling-in-Rags, or Evrart, the Dockworkers’ Union leader behind the strike. Joyce can give you 70 reál or more; Evrart hands you a 25 reál cheque.
Spoilers:
- Do nothing: If you wait until 22:00, Kim gives up and acknowledges you need a roof over your head. With a heavy sigh, he offers four spinner hubcaps he confiscated. You can pawn them at the pawnshop south by the Martinaise canal.
- Sleep on the Fishing Village: After day three, a bridge leading to a new area, the Fishing Village, is repaired. Here, speak with the Washerwoman to get free lodging.
How to Fast Travel
You can see the Disco Elysium map by opening the Journal. But just like your memory, the map appears to be wiped clean.
Inside the bookstore east of the Whirling-in-Rags, on the second floor, interact with the map on the left. Here, you can purchase a map for 90 cents or steal it with an interfacing skill check.
You can fast-travel in Disco Elysium: to the Church in the Fishing Village, to the Fisherman Shacks in the Fishing Village, or the Martinaise Waterfront. Here’s how it works:
- Stand near one of those three areas to enable fast travel.
- Open the map. If you’re on PC, just hit M.
- Select one of the three available areas: Church, Fisherman Shacks, or Martinaise Waterfront.
Just because something exists, doesn’t mean you should use it. I strongly recommend you make your way to every destination on foot. You never know what kind of cryptid mystery, crazy drunk anecdote, or pile of tare you’ll run into.
How to Pass Time
You can see the time of day in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Most NPCs are available until 21:00, but some only come out at night.
In Disco Elysium, time only passes when you are engaged in dialogue. Every time you choose a response or click “Continue”, time passes. Usually, 10 or 15 minutes go by.
Though I’m sure you can find enough interactions to keep you busy until nighttime falls, you can also pass the time by reading. You can purchase books from the bookstore. The prices range from 12 to 25 reál, but they’re worth keeping in your inventory.
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