Disco Elysiumis no stranger to the surreal. As a dialogue-heavy RPG, your choices and the people you meet can open up many opportunities for new thoughts to pop into your head like little morsels of contemplation, waiting for you to internalize in your Thought Cabinet.
Unlike typical RPGs, Disco Elysium’s gameplay isn’t about mix-maxing your stats, as Thoughts give you nothing more than minor stat bonuses. What makes them the most interesting is that they offer a ton of insight into Detective Harrier DuBois’s psyche before the case.
With that said, we’ll be ranking Thoughts based on not just their usefulness, but how well they encapsulate the absurdity and philosophical messages ofDisco Elysium.
The Problem and Solution sections of each Thought are excellently narrated by Lenval Brown and his smooth-like-butter voice, so we would recommendtaking a listen to their descriptions.
I will admit that while it wasn’t hard to find my top Thoughts, it was difficult to rank them because they are all so well-written, so some rankings relied on gameplay bonuses as tiebreakers.
WARNING: SPOILERS!
Disco Elysium: 10 Best Moments, Ranked
Disco Elysium offers one of the best narrative experiences in gaming and, within it, some of the best moments in fiction.
12Homo-Sexual Underground
Not Beating The Allegations
Temporary Research Bonus
Lasting Bonuses
Research Time
Acquisition
Stopped obsessing about sexuality
Allows Harry to discuss sexuality with Kim
Harry must pass the Composure check when first talking to the Smoker on the Balcony, then ask if he’s in the homo-sexual underground after he appears in the Whirling-in-Rags.
Maybe you should stop obsessing about your own – and other people’s – sexuality? Feels like it’s about time to do that. You’ve thought about this for eight hours?! Not only should you stop, you should tell Kim you’ve stopped obsessing about other people’s sexuality too. I’m sure he’d appreciate it. Unless you already got him killed because you were obsessing about your sexuality. (There’s no way of telling from within your brain, but for your own sake, please say you didn’t.)
Disco Elysiumis full of minor moments that make the game shine even more. Harry gains this thought just from a small conversation with the Smoker in the Whirling-in-Rags, and starts obsessing over it for eight whole hours.Other than providing small character moments, this Thought is absolutely useless.
It gives you no stat bonuses, nor does it affect the gameplay or story at all - it’s just there to take up space in your Thought Cabinet AND waste eight agonizing in-game hours to internalize, furthering the absurdity of obsessing over other people’s sexuality.
It even doesn’t give you any major revelations, either. When you talk to Kim, you can ask him ifhe’spart of the Homo-Sexual Underground. And since he’s so tired of Harry’s shenanigans, he gives him a straightforward answer, giving no further explanation.
Despite this Thought’s uselessness, it did give the fandom some details into Kim’s personal life, endearing him even more to the fandom. This opened up so many potential fanfics between Kim and Harry (not that canonicity has stopped anybody)
Besides, it’s a little out of pocket for Harry to just straight up ask Kim if he’s gay.
11Advanced Race Theory
We’ve Reached Competitive Racism
Learning Cap for Rhetoric raised to 5
+1 Conceptualization
Requires Harry to pass a Conceptualization check while talking to Measurehead.
Everything is calm in the eye of the racestorm. Your mind is lucid and bright. The mindbending phylogenetics appear more distant and, to be fair, a little ridiculous. The great Race Mystery has cleared up. All that’s left to do is to verbalize your thoughts.
Just when casual racism isn’t enough, Harry can gain this thought from talking to ultra-racist Measurehead, who unabashedly (and hypocritically) proclaims that he is racially superior despite the countless contradictions in his racist rhetoric.
But Measurehead’s racism is only funny because he is generally harmless in the game, and you get to beat him up if you pass a Physical Instrument check.
If you want Harry to obsess over the ridiculousness of race-science and eugenics, then I guess this Thought is for you.
10Magnesium-Based Lifeform
Mag It Up!
-1 Shivers: No shakes
+2 Volition: Magnesium receptacle glands
-1 Logic: No such thing, man
Talk to Cuno about the Magnesium in his Shack
Composure 5+
Some people say magnesium doesn’t really do anything and you just need to quit. What do we tell them? … We tell them: HELL NO. You’re about to become a magnesium-based lifeform. The age of the primitive carbon-man is done. No longer must mankind rely on slow-working background radiation to take us further into our genetic destiny. This is the era of guided evolution, and magnesium is the key. You are the first of your species. The next step in human evolution. An advanced magnesium proto-man who mags it up, drinks it down, and sniffs it sideways!
Magnesium is an pharmeceutical item that you can find in the town of Martinaise to heal your morale. It keeps your Morale up, making sure that you don’t fall apart at the smallest inconvenience.
One of the wilder Disco Elysium Thoughts,Magnesium-based Lifeform becomes unlockable when you ask Cuno about the magensium in his shack.That’s when Composure and Endurance encourage you to further Harry’s drug addiction and alcoholism.
This Thought makes Harry more composed and more well-adjusted, but that’s only because he’s furthering his drug addiction to level himself out, so much so that internalizing this Thought has him genuinely believing that he is becoming a magnesium-based lifeform. Disco Elysium’s Thoughts are truly wild.
9Ace’s Low
(Not) Too Slow
+2 Empathy towards Kim
+2 Empathy towards Kim Kitsuragi
+1 Esprit de Corps
After successfully shooting down the Hanged Man, Harry can acquire this thought by high-fiving Kim and waiting for an Ace’s Low (requires Interfacing ≥ 5).
For the rest of the world the Ace’s Low is just some cool Revachol thing, politically neutral. In Revachol it still holds revolutionary connotations. Also, have you looked at Lieutenant Kitsuragi’s clothes? He wears a bomber jacket, just like the ones worn by aeostatic brigades. And those cargo pants look like they could fit tools for hotfixing your burning aerostatic… you should ask him about this.
Elysium’s version of “up high, down low.” After shooting down the corpse and Kim gives you a celebratory high-five, you’re able to choose to gesture for a down low, which he, of course, is going to reciprocate.
Not only would this moment endear Kim to the player, but it also opens up opportunities for Harry to form a much closer friendship with him, adding a little bit of hope and positivity to Harry’s miserable alcoholic life.
Lieutenant Kitsuragi is indisputably the best character in the entire game, and evenone of the best supporting characters in any game. He’s been a real friend and partner to Harry, and this moment solidified their relationship for me.
This Thought is useful when you want to create a stronger bond with Kim,which would come in handy in the late game, especially during the Tribunal.
8White Mourning
It’s About The Ex-Something.
-1 Authority
+20% Zoom Out Distance
All MOT learning caps raised by 1
Available if Harry opens the hidden compartment in his Damaged Ledger, and reads the card inside it.
…and the little guy gets smaller and smaller as you rise above the doll house world. You see him out in the snow, on the streets, in the shop on the corner, and, finally, in a matchbox house. Sitting by the window, white flowers on the window sill. you may smell them from up here: it’s awful. A white mourning. A modern death. Divorce, or something similar. All you can do is put more distance between you and him, make him smaller. Make him less you.
A painful memory washes over you, and you faint. The game gives you a fake game-over screen where you talk to your Ancient Reptilian Brain.
This happens all because you read a note that your “ex-thing” left behind. And what did the note say?
Oh, nothing short of a love letter, that’s what. About how Harry has a “vast soul,” or how much joy he gave her, or worse yet: “kisses, kisses, kisses.”
The pain of a lost love like that is way too much for any one person to handle, and with Harry’s already fragile psyche, reliving that breakup almost sends him to an early grave.
The self-pity, the emotional turmoil that Harry goes through even passes toyou, the player. You feel his pain, and to save you from it, the game lets you distance yourself from Harry by letting you zoom out just a bit more.
The little guy is nothing more than pixels on a screen. He’s not you. You are not him. Snap out of it.
7The Bow Collector
Everything Is Interconnected.
-1 Authority: Hell on earth
-1 Hand/Eye Coordination: Hell on earth
+3 Shivers: The third presence
If Harry has >6 Conceptualization after opening the hidden compartment in the Damaged Ledger and did not throw away the card, he will gain this thought while speaking to the Ancient Reptilian Brain about the bow collector. May be acquired alongside White Mourning.
It’s early in the morning. The world is dark blue. The sparks light her face. A delicate composition of triangles. The street seems to grow longer, like in a dolly zoom. And there’s something in the air as you stand there and wave back at the shape growing smaller and smaller. Something that has always been there. A great see-through world. The tenderness you feel. The ghost of Revachol between you, carrying your signals. The holy messenger.
One of Disco Elysium’s best aspects is the beautiful prose written for the narration. They’re incredibly descriptive and immerse you into Harry’s psyche.
The Bow Collector is a thought that gives you more insight into Harry’s life before the case, before he was miserable, back when he was still with his ex. It describes the morning rituals they had together as he would walk with her every day to work.
For Harry, this was a positive memory despite his tragic heartbreak, but thinking about it is incredibly painful for him. Actively thinking about it reminds him of how much of a screw-up he is, which lowers his Authority and Hand/Eye Coordination as his performance plummets. But once it’s internalized,the solution brings Harry some clarity.
The Bow Collector is a Thought for players who want to learn more about the game world not through seeking knowledge via Encyclopedia skill checks, but through Shivers, which gives Harry a keen, instinctive connection with Revachol.
Even though it’s a skill that doesn’t do much during gameplay, Shivers makes Harry more connected with not just the city, but the people in it, showing the player snippets of Revacholian life.
6Wompty-Dompty Dom Centre
-1 Suggestion: Outsider
-2 Suggestion: Pretentious wanker
Encyclopedia passives give +10XP and +2 reál
Talk to Trant Heidelstam about the Feld building, specifically asking how its tape computers worked. He can be found admiring the mural on the boardwalk west of the fishing village after day 2.
You’re at home, stupid cop, not with the art crowd. You hate them, everyone hates them, even they hate themselves. It’s nauseating – an industry built on sprezzatura and sparkling wine. And, let’s be honest, tax evasion schemes. The Wompty Dompty Dom Centre is the heart of this unholy symbiosis of esthetics and tax optimization, and now that you’ve internalized it - you can have a piece too!
This Thought is perfect for know-it-all nerds who want to vainly prove to themselves just how much they know. As long as your Encyclopedia skill is relatively high (6 is a pretty safe number), you can gain a lot without much effort.
If you’re going for an intellectual build for Harry and want to receive passive income from being a smartass, then the Wompty Dompty Dom Centre is the Thought to put in your Cabinet.
You’ll have plenty of money on hand, and the extra XP gain also speeds up gaining skill points that you might need to either level up your other skills or reset White Checks.
There May Never Be Another Game Quite Like Disco Elysium
Revachol Dawn
5The Jamrock Shuffle
You’re A Detective. Detect.
-1 Esprit de Corps: Confusing behavior
Find better loot in locked containers
Open a bunch of locked doors, even if it’s technically B&E. Break into 3 places.
In a way, yes. You are treasure hunting. Most officers from Precinct 41 do what is called the Jamrock Shuffle – cracking open containers. Most of them are from Jamrock or Coal City, the poorest parts of Revachol that also overlap with the network of royal catacombs called Le Royaume, just beneath the streets. As children you would all go underground, hoping to find treasure, and come back with a rat’s tail or a used needle. That playful curiosity must still be in you. Who knows. Maybe one day the Orbe de Montagne, the Holy Scepter, and the Cocaine Skull will all be yours!
It’s like the game has become self-aware, rewarding players for, well, playing a video game.
Any RPG player would curiously wander around opening containers, whether or not they’re supposed to. If you have a good enough Physical Instrument level or have the right tool for the job, no lock can stand in the way of this master investigator.
This is an extremely useful skill for any player who loves opening things. Not only that, it gives a little bit of world-building insight into the other members of Harry’s precinct.
4Jamais Vu (Derealization)
You Should Know This
1XP for every orb clicked
All INT learning caps raised by 1
Gives a +12 bonus to the Conceptualization check discussing the fundamentals of reality with Joyce Messier
Talk to Lena about understanding your reality. She will refer you to Joyce, who you may converse with about reality.
Jamais vu. The opposite of déjà vu. Not already seen, but never seen. Everything that should be familiar appears strange and new. Like some half-forgotten day in your childhood, only now. That’s the feeling you’ve been having. And for who knows how long? You should go and ask Joyce Messier about this – what world are we in? This is the fundamental question.
This Thought occurs early in the game, particularly if this is your first playthrough, as most players would want a quick understanding of the world.
Every terminology, every place, name, and concept seems unfamiliar because the game’s world is similar to ours yet different at the same time. Harry’s amnesia-induced jamais vu allows the players to ask questions about the world without breaking immersion.
Jamais Vu is the most helpful Thought as it gives you 1XP for every orb clicked, encouraging you to actively go out and interact with the world, accumulating enough XP to make up for the skill point cost and then some. This Thought is essential for any first-time playthrough.
3Apricot Chewing Gum Scented One
Everything Makes You Think Of Her
-1 Reaction Speed: Living in the past
+2 Perception: Betrayal lingers, everywhere
Open the hidden compartment in the clipboard, smell your Ledger’s Note, check the Pour L’Homme Labourer Jeans for the Apricot Chewing Gum Wrapper, examine the wrapper and take a deep breath.
August 2nd. Early late summer. You’re getting off the streetcar in Le Jardin, east of the river. Her father and mother are middle class. The nylon of her little jacket rustles next to you, in the dark, like autumn leaves. Her heels click on the pavement. You’re walking up to the gate in front of her parents' house. She takes out her chewing gum and you kiss her. A feeling like electricity flows through your whole body. Immediately you know you’ve entered a completely different world.
In his teetering sanity, Harry can do some pretty crazy and strange things, including sniffing random old chewing gum wrappers while digging through his dirty ledger. But the endless possibilities of odd acts that Harry could do is precisely why we love playing as him.
What makes this thought stand out is that such a random, minor act could trigger a deep memory of his past. He remembers everything about that moment when his ex-something once chewed gum. The anger of whatever betrayal he feels makes him more alert to his surroundings.
It’s a Thought that is easily missable, and such beautiful prose written for a small Thought makesDisco Elysiumall the more deserving of its accolades.
