In the race to the bottom of Disco Elysium successors, Esoteric Ebb manages to stand out amongst the deluge. This D&D-inspired CRPG beckons you to roll the dice in a world rife with colourful characters and political intrigue. With phenomenal writing and a surprisingly gripping story, I found Esoteric Ebb impossible to put down.
The Brave New World
You play as Ragn Hemlin, a cleric of the city of Norvik, who’s been tasked with investigating a poorly timed explosion at a tea shop, just a week before the city’s first-ever election.
The world of Esoteric Ebb is brilliantly realised, with a vibrant and distinctive art style. Each location in Norvik, from tavern to dungeon, has nooks and crannies to explore aplenty. Curiosity is always rewarded with a new secret, a story branch, or a clue around every corner.
Rolling the Dice
All the staples of a D&D session are here interwoven with Esoteric Ebb’s politically charged narrative. So close to the election, you’ll no doubt be running into the many political factions vying for your vote. Every character you meet in Norvik has motives and opinions. Conversations can vary from silly to philosophical, but thankfully never boring, as dialogue makes up the majority of the gameplay.
Combat is also conducted through turn-based dialogue, and while this might sound like a slog, Esoteric Ebb manages to capture that edge-of-the-seat feeling with punchy writing and pacing. You’ll be armed with an arsenal of familiar spells and given ample opportunities to wield them.
The Cleric
As with any D&D game, it starts with a character sheet. However, unlike D&D, your six core ability scores don’t just determine stat modifiers on DC rolls. Taking direct inspiration from Disco Elysium, your ability scores will chime in on your antics as characters of their own. This is where Esoteric Ebb shines. The scores not only add a lot of humour, but also a lot of depth, and I found myself anticipating their commentary in every interaction.
Ragn Hemlin is a highly malleable protagonist. It’s a rare interaction that doesn’t have several interesting dialogue choices to pick from, with repeated actions reinforcing your playstyle, potentially unlocking unique dialogue branches. No spoilers, but even your class as a Cleric isn’t entirely set in stone. Esoteric Ebb encourages replayability with a dozen different choices to make each run.
Nat Ones
It’s hard to praise Esoteric Ebb without acknowledging that so much of its core mechanics are directly lifted from Disco Elysium. While executed very well, there is little to no innovation. In a way, it’s not fixing what wasn’t broken. Still, to argue that Esoteric Ebb isn’t incredibly derivative gameplay-wise (and somewhat narratively) would be disingenuous.
The dense worldbuilding, while impressive, also takes a toll on the narrative. Where a DM may cherry-pick from a source book, Esoteric Ebb rushes to tell you everything it possibly can about its world. The game often struggles to find a natural way to incorporate exposition, instead opting for an in-dialogue encyclopaedia that breaks the flow of conversation.
Esoteric Ebb also has difficulty tracking progress, with reactivity sometimes being slightly off with the information you’ve already acquired. Even so, these are very minimal faults and do not detract from the overall experience.
Verdict
It’s clear Esoteric Ebb isn’t trying to bottle lightning twice like many other Disco Elysium successors. It’s carefully crafted, with passion visible in every corner. It balances humour and heart beautifully, and captures a rare quality in CRPGs, making failure as compelling as success.
Like any good mimic, Esoteric Ebb sinks its teeth into you and never lets go. It’s an easy recommendation to any D&D and CRPG fan. Is it a natural twenty? Not quite, but it’s certainly a very high roll.
Platforms: Steam
Publishers: Raw Fury
Developers: Christoffer Bodegård
Played On: PC
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