This fantastic Disco Elysium Game Boy demake is like a trippy The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Publish date: 2023-06-07

The wonderful Disco Elysium is one year old (that went quick!), and while we wait for the console versions to come out, we have a rather unexpected port to play.

Disco Elysium for the Nintendo Game Boy is a lovely and well-thought out demake by user interface and graphic designer Colin Brannan in collaboration with GB Studio that can be played in a browser or on mobile, and even downloaded as a ROM to be played on an actual Game Boy.

I've had a mess about with it and it's a really great effort, a kind of fusion of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and the original Disco Elysium. Anyone who's played Studio ZA/UM adventure will get a kick out of seeing the original's world and characters reimagined on Nintendo's famous handheld, I'm sure.

The port includes the first part of Disco Elysium. The dialogue is cut back and there's no music, but you definitely get a sense of the atmosphere of the original game. And, as you'd expect, this Game Boy port includes all the substance abuse and descriptions of gore (including the lynching) of the original.

What is changed, though, is the skill system. For the purposes of this demake, the skills have been collected into their four categories, and you attempt skill checks to advance that skill. Failed rolls give +1 skill cap, and successes +1 skill point if you aren't at the cap. You do get to choose an archetype at the beginning of the game, though.

Anyway, Disco Elysium is due a PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch port at some point this year. Fingers crossed it's not too far away.

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