Starting Disco Elysium can feel overwhelming. You wake up in a trashed hotel room with no memory, and suddenly you’re supposed to solve a murder case. Don’t worry. this Disco Elysium beginner’s guide will help you understand the basics and start your detective journey with confidence.
Table of Contents
Unlike most RPGs, Disco Elysium focuses on talking, thinking, and making choices rather than fighting enemies. It’s a psychological detective story that rewards creativity and curiosity, where failure often leads to the most interesting stories. Your detective is fundamentally broken, and the game builds its entire experience around that brokenness.
What Makes Disco Elysium Different from Other RPGs
Before diving into specific tips, you need to understand what makes this game special. Disco Elysium doesn’t have traditional combat. Instead, you’ll spend most of your time talking to fascinating characters, exploring your detective’s shattered psyche, making choices that shape your personality, and reading exceptional dialogue that rivals the best detective novels.
The game encourages you to embrace failure as part of the story. When you fail a skill check, don’t immediately reload your save. Failed attempts often lead to hilarious moments or unexpected story paths that successful players miss entirely. Your detective is supposed to be a disaster, so lean into that chaos.
Think of failure as another way the story unfolds. Sometimes the most memorable moments happen when everything goes wrong. The game knows your detective is a mess and builds around that reality rather than fighting it.
A pro tip: Save your game often, but don’t reload every time something goes wrong. The game is designed to work with your failures, not against them.
Creating Your Detective: Character Basics
When you start the game, you’ll need to create your character. This choice affects how you experience the entire story, so it’s worth understanding your options.
Understanding the Four Main Stats
Your detective has four main attributes (Intellect, Psyche, Physique and Motorics) that control everything you can do. Each attribute governs six different skills, and understanding these groups helps you plan your character.
Choosing Your Starting Build
You have 12 points to spread across these four stats during character creation. Creating a custom character usually works better than the preset archetypes because presets sometimes leave you dangerously weak in important areas.
A balanced detective with 3 points in each stat gives you options in most situations without excelling at anything specific. This works well for first-time players who want to experience everything.
A smart detective build with 5 Intellect, 4 Psyche, 2 Physique, and 1 Motorics opens up incredible conversation options and internal monologue. You might struggle physically but can solve most problems through clever thinking.
A tough detective with 4 Physique, 4 Psyche, 2 Intellect, and 2 Motorics survives dangerous situations better and intimidates effectively. You’ll have strong Health and Morale pools, making early game less stressful.
Essential Game Mechanics Every New Player Should Know
Health and Morale – Your Lifelines
You have two vital stats in the bottom-left corner that determine survival.
- Health (red bar) shows your physical condition and decreases from injuries or accidents. Your Endurance skill determines maximum Health. If this hits zero, you die.
- Morale (yellow bar) represents your mental state and drops from emotional trauma or embarrassment. Your Volition skill controls maximum Morale. Zero Morale means mental breakdown and game over.
Heal both by clicking “+” buttons above each bar using appropriate inventory items. Always heal when either bar gets critically low.
Skill Checks Explained (White vs Red)
Most challenges use skill checks where the game rolls two dice, adds your skill level and bonuses, then compares against a difficulty number.
White Checks are common and can be retried. When you fail, the option gets locked until you improve the relevant skill or meet specific conditions that unlock it again.
Red Checks are one-time opportunities during crucial moments. Failure permanently closes that path for your playthrough, but the game always provides interesting alternatives. Don’t stress about failing – sometimes failure leads to better stories than success.
Rolling double ones always fails regardless of skill level, while double sixes always succeeds. This unpredictability keeps even skilled characters humble.
How Time Works in Disco Elysium
Time in Disco Elysium only advances during conversations, reading, or specific interactions. You can explore freely without worrying about deadlines since walking around doesn’t consume time.
If you need to advance time, sit on benches (when Kim isn’t present), read purchased books, or review case notes. Some events are time-sensitive, so occasionally you’ll need these methods to reach specific hours.
Your First Day Survival Guide
Your first day in Martinaise can be tough, but these strategies will help you get established and start making progress on your case.
Making Money Early On
You start completely broke but desperately need money for your hotel room and supplies. The most reliable income source is collecting tare (empty bottles and cans).
Find a yellow plastic bag near the hotel, equip it, then search trash bins and collect scattered bottles. Sell everything at the Frittte convenience store. You can also sell postcards found while exploring and complete small tasks for NPCs who offer payment.
Finding and Using Equipment
Every piece of clothing provides skill bonuses or penalties that can determine success or failure on important checks. Always examine clothing stats before wearing items, and don’t worry about looking ridiculous if the benefits help you succeed.
Explore thoroughly to find better equipment. Essential early items include the map from the bookstore (enables fast travel), healing items for Health and Morale, and your detective ledger for tracking progress and passing time.
Working with Kim Kitsuragi
Lieutenant Kim becomes your partner and makes everything easier when you maintain a good relationship. Be respectful and professional when possible, though he’s understanding of your situation and won’t abandon you for minor mistakes.
Kim goes to bed around 9 PM, giving you time for solo activities you might prefer to do privately. Ask him questions about the world, your case, and your behavior – he’s an excellent source of information and his reactions help guide decisions.
For detailed information about individual skills and their unique personalities, check out our comprehensive Disco Elysium Skills Guide that covers which skills to prioritize for different playstyles.
The Thought Cabinet System
The Thought Cabinet represents your detective’s evolving mental landscape. When you encounter interesting ideas during conversations or exploration, you can equip them in Thought Cabinet slots to process them over time.
While researching a thought, it usually gives temporary skill penalties representing the mental effort of grappling with new concepts. After some in-game time, thoughts become internalized, replacing penalties with permanent bonuses or special abilities.
Valuable early thoughts include “Actual Art Degree” for experience bonuses and “Jamais Vu” for learning benefits. You can forget thoughts to free slots, but this costs skill points and prevents relearning them.
Important Tips for New Players
Save your game frequently since auto-save isn’t always reliable. Create multiple save files and save before risky actions or drug consumption to avoid losing hours of progress.
Explore thoroughly by holding Tab to highlight interactive objects. The game rewards examination of every detail, and thorough exploration reveals useful items, money, and story information.
Don’t rush through conversations. Take time to read all dialogue options since the exceptional writing contains clues, character development, and world-building that makes the experience richer.
Pay attention to your internal skill voices throughout the game. These aren’t just flavor text – they often provide helpful hints about approaching situations or finding solutions you might miss.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Don’t reload saves after every failed skill check or uncertain choice. The game is designed to work with failures and imperfect decisions, often creating more interesting moments when things go wrong.
Keep healing items available and don’t let Health or Morale get critically low. Death ends your investigation permanently with no recovery except reloading saves.
Avoid focusing entirely on one skill type while neglecting others. Some capability across different areas gives you more options and prevents getting stuck when facing challenges outside your specialty.
Don’t skip or skim the extensive text. Disco Elysium is text-heavy by design, and the writing contains essential clues, character development, and world-building that enriches the entire experience.
What Kind of Cop Will You Be?
Disco Elysium is unlike any other game you’ve probably played. It’s complex, weird, and absolutely brilliant. This Disco Elysium beginner’s guide should give you the foundation you need to start your detective journey with confidence.
Remember that there’s no single “right” way to play. Your choices, failures, and successes will create a unique story that’s entirely your own. The game encourages experimentation and embraces the messy reality of being human. Every decision you make shapes not just the story, but who your detective becomes as a person.
Take your time with this game. Explore thoroughly, read everything, and don’t be afraid to fail. The city of Martinaise has many secrets to reveal, and your broken detective has a case to solve, somehow. The journey of rebuilding your identity while solving a murder case is one of the most unique experiences in gaming.
Whether you become a brilliant intellectual, a tough physical presence, or something completely different, the important thing is to enjoy the journey. Welcome to Revachol, detective. The investigation awaits, and it’s going to be one hell of a ride.
