Life sucks, let's solve a murder
Disco Elysium is a game about failure. Society, infrastructure, the ambitions of almost every NPC, and - most of all - the protagonist. Oh boy, talk about a failure! The theme is common through all of the game's choices and narrative routes: this world is full of failure, and no matter how hard you try to "fix" things, there'll be plenty more failure left over.
Even you, the player, will face failure from random dice rolls and ... unforeseeable consequences. Unless you save scum and research beforehand, which is exactly what I did. I'm here for the story, game, not for you to withhold story from me. Anyway!
Points of interest in Martinaise, and its population's personalities, are all rich with fine, meticulous, artisinal details to unravel. There's so much fascinating history, and colorful commentary!, to read through. It's like Mass Effect's Codex but with dialog choices.
(And the protagonist's inner voices have plenty to contribute, too.)
Sometimes, actually quite often, Disco Elysium's side-stories are so intriguing and enthralling that you'll forget all about its primary thread. Which makes the murder-mystery plot's twists and turns extra surprising.
It's a really great story! With lots of meat on its bones, and lots of opportunities to be a detective, finding clues and following hunches. Aside from a handful of schedule constraints, the game excels at giving you a wide berth in where to go and what to do, letting you feel true agency in how the story unfolds.
Although its final two or three conversations are real walls-of-text, and droned on a bit for my taste.
The writing, the lore, and the voice acting of Disco Elysium aren't just individually excellent: they work together to weave a thrilling narrative adventure. From its opening moments to the final "solve," I could hardly put the game down.
Better than: my brief attempt at Planescape: Torment - Enhanced Edition, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Not as good as: ... The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I guess?
Darker than, but kinda like: an open-world Ace Attorney. With a character sheet.