Esoteric Ebb

Esoteric Ebb is a remarkably confident CRPG that wears its Disco Elysium inspiration on its sleeve while delivering exceptional writing and meaningful player choice. Though not entirely original, its execution is polished, thoughtful, and often brilliant. One of the strongest narrative-driven RPGs in recent years.

Esoteric Ebb is a gorgeously illustrated, dialogue-drunk RPG that marries Disco Elysium’s inner-monologues with D&D's gameplay bones. Its bureaucratic labyrinths, strange citizens, and bickering ability scores keep every conversation swaying between revelation and the ridiculous. Solid writing and solid technical performance make the whole investigation run smoothly. It’s a game for anyone willing to take the bad rolls with the good—and enjoy the story that spills out when the dice decide you’re not the hero today.

I cannot say enough good things about Esoteric Ebb, which is positively stuffed with them. Like a good mimic, it's got teeth. It is both familiar in its shape and size and astonishing in its surprising depth and riches. Do not let its appearance fool you: There is a lot more to love about this "Disco-like" than its vibrant surface and wit might initially convey.

Esoteric Ebb is incredible. Saturated with fantastic writing and memorable characters, its systems marry CRPG and TTRPG mechanics in clever ways.

A game that will feel like a remedy for those craving Disco Elysium. Those who can’t find an FRP group but still want to dive into a tabletop-style adventure can also pull up a chair and join in without hesitation. With a bit more production backing, it could have been a true contender for the top of its genre.

While Esoteric Ebb certainly doesn’t try to avoid the direct comparisons to Disco Elysium’s style, it manages to stand out through its original setting and entertaining set of mysteries. The ingrained usage of skill checks to help guide conversations and what the game reveals to players helps keep them engaged, with plenty of highly enjoyable quests and interactions to be had all the way through. There’s lots to enjoy here, particularly for those who like seeing how their choices affect the presented mysteries and obstacles.

The problem is that, in the areas where Esoteric Ebb differs most from its clearest inspiration, it's imitating something else. [Issue#422, p.112]

If you’ve been looking for a game that captures the soul-searching, booze-soaked, and intellectually sharp magic of Disco Elysium but set within a high-fantasy D&D framework, Esoteric Ebb is your answer. It doesn’t just mimic the "Disco" formula; it masterfully adapts it into a world of goblins, politics, and ancient **** Writing: A Masterclass in SatireThe strongest pillar of Esoteric Ebb is, without a doubt, its brilliant writing. In an era where many RPGs feel sterilized or overly cautious, this game is a breath of fresh **** of the most impressive feats is how it handles modern social commentary. To be clear: the writing is not "woke" in the derogatory sense. Instead, it is a sharp-witted critique of the entire ideological spectrum. The game doesn't preach; it deconstructs.Equal Opportunity Satire: The narrative is wonderfully cynical. It mocks the performative nature of "woke" culture and identity politics with the same bite it uses to lampoon "machista" tropes and rigid, traditionalist power structures.Nuance over Dogma: It treats the player like an adult. Characters feel like people with flawed motivations rather than mouthpieces for a specific agenda. It pokes fun at the absurdity of extremism on both sides, making the world feel lived-in, messy, and authentically human (or goblin).D&D Mechanics Meet Existential DreadThe "D&D sauce" isn't just window dressing. The integration of 5E-style checks and stats into a narrative-heavy detective story works surprisingly well. Your attributes don't just help you fight; they shape how you perceive the crumbling city around you.Final VerdictEsoteric Ebb is a rare gem. It’s funny, provocative, and deeply intelligent. It proves that you can have a politically charged game that remains balanced and hilarious by making fun of everyone equally. If you want a game that challenges your brain while making you laugh at the absurdity of the modern world through a fantasy lens, this is a must-play.

its so cheap for how great it is, best disco Elysium like game , its just perfect, it deserves 12/10 for being D&D as well but its only issue is that there is no voice acting but still amazing.

Wasn't expected the game to be this long and this interesting. Esoteric Ebb kept me entertained for at least 20 hours it not more. The universe, lore, characters and dialogues are well crafted and even though some dialogues can be too long, you can always skip it. This game manages to take inspiration from Disco Elysium with the inner voices and funny and unexpected answers, but in its own fantastic world. There are no voices so it's a lot of lecture, so this is to keep in mind.

there is value here, but the game is an absolute headache to navigate. every single conversation has to be five times longer than it needs to be. simple interactions just to say you want to leave a room or ask a party member to do things involve 2, 3, 4 redundant confirmations, as do the menu options for simple things like saving and exiting the game. the maps are extremely difficult to navigate, when you hit journal it opens the map instead of a journal. the map itself is useless, it does not show you where the entrances and exits are, it doesnt show you your location clearly, it doesnt really do anything, and for fricks sake, why is that what opens when i click journal? the game might satiate some people's need for the next ZA/UM game, but it feels like this writer is deeply in need of an editor and wanted to hit that "1 million word count" without caring for the user's experience. i find many parts entertaining, the writing is quite good sometimes, but it feels like this project needed more heads with more critical perspectives to come to fruition. i'm compelled to just go strength to avoid the tedium, but instead it just goes on about fascism if i choose that. the game desperately needs an option to just say "dude i do not want to read all of this redundant and hyper detailed text, i want to play the game" so that we can feel some kind of freedom of movement. the conversations run on so far and go so far off topic at times that i forget where i am and cant figure out where i need to go next. because of this, it would be extremely nice if the journal was actually a f*****g journal. disco elysium gave us full access to a history of everything we said for basically the entire game, this has been a feature in text heavy rpgs going back decades, so idk why that would be difficult to provide. overall, the game feels overwhelming, breaks immersion by not letting the player speak or act in ways that would make sense or be more efficient, and generally lacks cohesive pacing simply because the writer wants to pad the word count. i can tell a lot of effort was put in, but you need to know how to keep things concise. disco elysium suffered from this as well, but it's conversations and interactions did not overstay their welcome in the way this game does.

+ Game concept is interesting + DnD base - Writing is terrible - Woke, constant talks about patriarchy, privilege, the game is pushing an agenda - Men dumb, woman strong and smart - Visual style is not a good sight