D&D-skewering, Disco Elysium-inspired RPG Esoteric Ebb had me trying my best to be a cleric while my Intelligence stat kept telling me to become a wizard-king
Waking up in a morgue in the updated demo for Disco Elysium-like RPG Esoteric Ebb, the first thing I did was check out the other body lying in there with me. It's hard to tell what's a brand new interaction compared to my run through Esoteric Ebb's original demo versus pre-existing stuff uncovered by a fresh character build—I went all in on Intelligence and Wisdom this time.
While I couldn't determine a cause of death, I did discover that this guy didn't have insurance: He was marked as a viable candidate for some good old fashioned D&D-style resurrection magic, but nobody had done the deed.
"He clearly did not have an RF. A Revive Fund," my Intelligence chimed in, calling to mind the interior adventuring party/Greek chorus of Disco Elysium's personified skills. "Nor did he have family members with enough ready cash. Or maybe he was just an unlikable fellow. Who knows?"
My altruistic Wisdom suggested I revive this man with a valuable third-level spell slot, which the more pragmatic Intelligence immediately shot down. How will I get anything done if I try saving every lost life I come across? More ominously, what if they don't want to come back? Either way, it's a moot point for the demo. I'd have to pack on way more levels than this preview had room for and find a scroll of Revivify out in the world to boot.
But the interaction is illustrative of everything that's got me excited about Esoteric Ebb, evidence that it's not just crying "Disco Elysium" for attention from a hungry RPG community, but that it can back it up with the thoughtfulness, charm, and dense, replayable design that Disco's legacy calls to mind. This body, one of the first things I saw in the starting room, is a potential game-spanning mystery, an "ooooh, I gotta come back for that" little tease that'll have me making tracks for the morgue the second I unlock Revivify in the final game—even if it's just to quicksave, resurrect the guy to find out he's an ungrateful asshole, and promptly quickload.
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Since the last time I checked in with Esoteric Ebb, lead developer Christoffer Bodegård secured a publisher, Raw Fury, leading to this updated demo, a new trailer, and a sheen of "we have a budget now" over everything. Esoteric Ebb already had a lovely cel-shaded art style, but everything has more depth and detail now, like when a cartoon gets a theatrical movie and all of a sudden there's shadows and way smoother animation. Esoteric Ebb's soundtrack is also noticeably expanded, with a vibe of "chill beats to fail skill checks to" that calls to mind Tunic or Hyper Light Drifter's dreamy soundscapes.
The new demo consists of two core quests, same as the original: Deciding what to do with a group of protesting dwarves and the Pinkerton half-orc trying to get them to go home, and a sort of dialogue boss fight with a goblin queen that resembles the first Evrart Claire scene from Disco Elysium. The playable area of the town has been expanded, though, while the game has gotten a bit more forgiving and approachable. Character creation is more clear about how to effectively build the cleric, including helpful sample builds, and the dice rolls seemed to go my way a bit more this time around.
Even though you are a cleric—that's even what people call you despite your optional insistence on a skill check-gated, possibly misremembered given name—you can build your guy however you want. Max out Strength and Constitution like a dumb brute fighter, or go all in on Charisma and Dexterity like a wannabe rogue, the game takes note of this and has a bit of fun at your expense. My brainiac Intelligence kept insisting I was actually a wizard, unlocking new dialogue options to that effect. It even opened up choices to insist I would become wizard-king of the city, or to express support for the cryptofascist "rule by wizards" political party in the upcoming elections.
Esoteric Ebb has a "D&D rules pushed to their logical conclusion" sensibility that's half-Planescape and half-Shrek. One conversation implied that character alignment is a genuine force that can impact the world, while a lecture on magic hell law from a Lawful Evil imp is still my favorite conversation in Esoteric Ebb so far. Esoteric Ebb is very much imitating Disco Elysium from its user interface to some of its core conceits, but its more zany sense of humor, as well as its clever use of Dungeons & Dragons tropes and mechanics, have the potential to send things in an interesting new direction. Esoteric Ebb does not have a set release date, but you can check out its demo for yourself and wishlist it on Steam.
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'He was forsaking his young family — wife Marilyn Rovell, a singer with the group the Honeys, and young kids Carnie and Wendy — for his strange kind of creative peace. Four years passed, and he never left the house. His weight ballooned to 350 pounds from eating entire birthday cakes as a late-night snack.' 8 Brian Wilson and Mike Love of The Beach Boys perform onstage at the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on February 12, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images In 1975, a 'devastated' Marilyn brought in Landy, a psychologist known for his unconventional 24-hour treatment of celebrities. Wilson, who reportedly feared being committed to a psychiatric hospital, completely surrendered. Their first session took place in Wilson's bedroom closet, where the artist felt safe, the Los Angeles Times reported. Landy was successful. He padlocked Wilson's fridge, put the star on a diet and shooed away drug-enabling pals, The Telegraph reported. 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'I was asked . . . if I would be Brian's lawyer, and I agreed,' said Mason. 'At that time, Brian was, I think, doing better, but he had a lot of issues. . . . Brian came to my office at least once a week. We started having Beach Boys meetings at my office once a month, and we all insisted that Brian come to those meetings without Landy.' 'Brian was my client. . . . [But] Brian did check in with Landy after our meetings, after our phone calls. Too often I would get a call back from Brian saying, 'I know I said that, but I have to change my mind.'' Mason wrote that Landy was eager to insert himself into every part of Wilson's life. Wilson was controlled by both prescription drugs and the 'Landy handlers' who 'secretly or openly recorded everything Brian and anyone else said' for the doctor. No decision was made without Landy's approval, leaving Mason bewildered and frustrated. 'Ultimately, it led me to say to Brian, 'I can't work with you if Dr. Landy is in a position to change your mind or to second-guess me,'' said Mason. 'And he said, 'I understand that.' But then, Dr. Landy called me and said, 'You told Brian that he can't work with me … so you are fired.' 'That's a shame, but that is the kind of control Dr. Landy had over Brian Wilson,' said Mason. After Mason was fired in 1990, Landy continued to tighten his grip. At one point, he was co-credited as a songwriter on several tracks. Wilson was 'an obsession' to Landy, Mason wrote. 8 Wilson died in June of this year at the age of 82. Getty Images But in 1991, the Wilson family took legal action to appoint an independent conservatorship. The goal was to stop Landy from further influencing Wilson both personally and financially, the Los Angeles Times reported. In 1992, Landy was barred by court order from contacting Wilson. 'The court ordered Landy to disassociate from Brian,' said Mason. 'Ultimately, Landy's license to practice psychotherapy in the state of California was revoked. And Brian's second wife, Melinda, was able to keep Brian motivated to perform.' 'He did a lot of shows,' said Mason. 'He wrote songs, he did a lot of work. His health seemed to be pretty good. I saw Brian a number of times after I wasn't his lawyer, and he looked good. He felt good. He was in a good mental state.' Landy passed away in 2006 at age 71. Wilson died in June of this year. He was 82. In his lifetime, Wilson admitted he didn't entirely regret his association with Landy. Mason doesn't either. 'I have to say that, in Brian's case, I don't think there was a better outcome,' Mason explained. 'Had Landy not become involved, Brian would have become an ineffective vegetable. He was taking too many drugs and couldn't find focus.' 'I don't think that, at that point, back when Landy came in, either Brian's ex-wife Marilyn or his daughters were able to motivate him to be independent. Drugs and alcohol have led to the demise of too many people. Many people we see end up dead from the process.' 'Saving Brian's life probably necessitated a Eugene Landy who could come in and force him to take control of himself,' Mason continued. 'I think they were the best years of his health, but the worst of his years with Dr. Landy.'
