11. Disco Elysium (2021*)

the two main characters of the game stand in front of a giant piece of graffiti that reads 'something beautiful is going to happen'
  • * released on the Nintendo Switch in 2021; original PC release in 2019
  • Final score: 35 points
  • Total placements: 2 lists
  • Highest placement: #1, Bill
a mockup of the Disco Elysium converastion interface features a character named 'Bill Harris' saying the following: “Although Disco Elysium was not in fact released until 2019, its intertwining of a world with whom History is not yet done and a personal narrative of a guy dragging himself (while never quite picking himself up) through a soul-crushing breakup will forever mark it as my definitive personal touchstone for approximately 2015-2017. A script that can even make room for Cuno, Electrochemistry, Cunoesse, Kim, the Deserter, and the Insulindian Phasmid is a major accomplishment for the Switch's era; a script that demands each of those characters to support everything that it needs to say---about the rich internal dialog playing out within us all, the long arc of history, and how we get through it day by day with each other---is a defining accomplishment for all eras.” Below his text two dialog options are available: '1. (Whisper.) “Are women bourgeois?”' and '2. Oh god, that’s bad. Surely I can think of something better.'