Trivia / Disco Elysium

• Accidental Downer Ending: At least one ending states that Revachol is going to be consumed by nuclear fire in twenty years, and it will be up to Harrier to stop it. ZA/UM was the subject of a hostile takeover that resulted in the firing of the original creators of the setting and refusal to let them use it in any capacity, leading to a protracted legal dispute and a proper sequel to Disco Elysium becoming less likely by the day.
• Acting for Two:
  • Mikee W. Goodman plays the most characters by far, including the voices in your head (which also counts as Talking to Themself): your Ancient Reptilian Brain, Limbic System, and Spinal Cord. In the waking world, he also plays two of the three homeless drunks, Idiot Doom Spiral and Don't Call Abigail. In The Final Cut he also voices the Horrific Necktie.
  • In the ravers' tent, Tariq Khan voices both Andre and Egg Head. He also voices Rosemary, Evrart Claire, and Glen.
  • In the final scene of the original, if Kim isn't present, Dot Major as Jean Vicquemare and Cuno.
  • In The Final Cut, the narration and all of the different skills are voiced by Lenval Brown, which in total make up roughly half of the game's entire script.
    • The Final Cut also has both Titus Hardie and Kortenaer voiced by Mack McGuire. The two end up interacting during the Tribunal.
    • Tegen Hitchens voices five characters in The Final Cut, including Joyce and Lilienne, who interact briefly when Joyce docks her boat at Lilienne's jetty. She also voices Lena, de Paule, and the Working Class Woman.
    • Mark Holcomb voices the Smoker on the Balcony and Tommy Le Homme.
• Amateur Cast: Apart from the podcasters in the original cut of the game, none of the game's voice cast are known names, and some aren't even professional actors. Lenval Brown, who voices your skills and thus has by far the most dialogue, is primarily a jazz singer, while Kim's voice actor Jullian Champenois is likewise a singer/songwriter, who had done a few commercial voiceovers prior to landing the role.
• Banned in China:
  • The Final Cut version of the game was refused classification in Australia, which barred it from being legally sold there. The original version was digital release only, so did not require a submission to the Australian Classification Board, but The Final Cut, which is being released as physical copies in addition to digital, did. The banning was based on the fact that the Australian content authorities ban any game which uses illegal drugs as a powerup, and Disco Elysium allows the player to use speed to boost their Motorics stat. Eventually, the Australian Classification Review Board would overturn the original refused classification rating, allowing The Final Cut to be sold regularly, as the game developers were successfully able to convince the Review Board that the use of drugs was non-graphic, thematically appropriate for a story about an Addled Addict, and caused drawbacks for the player as well.
  • Ironically, the game was not banned in China itself, and instead became extremely popular in the Chinese market due to a high quality localisation and its deep, resonant story. However, the name of the Communism ideology was changed from the correct Chinese word (gongchang zhuyi - 'common-good ideology') to the made-up term kangmi zhuyi (kangmi is just gibberish that sounds like the English word 'commie') in order to get around Chinese censorship rules concerning politics.
• Children Voicing Children: Little Lily's Final Cut voice actor, Honor Davis-Pye, was about 11 years old during its production.
• Dawson Casting: Cuno (at least in the original cut) and Cunoesse are both voiced by adults; reasonable, given the things they say.
• Descended Creator: Lead designer/writer Robert Kurvitz sings backing vocals on the OST's only track with vocals ("Burn Baby Burn").
• Development Gag:
  • The player having the option to ask Lena if she wants to join them and Kim in solving the case, and her politely declining in turn, citing that she is afraid it would be too much of a hassle for them to help her get around in her wheelchair, is some very pointed meta-commentary on the fact that Lena was indeed at some point in development planned to be a potential third party member but was ultimately cut because her wheelchair caused too many problems with the existing level design and navigation.
  • Torson & McLaine was an early working title and invoked a Buddy Cop feel, but it was eventually dropped to explore other options. Talking to your precinct over the radio and Espirit de Corps will eventually reveal that you have two detectives in your precinct, Mack "the Torso" Torson and his partner Chester McLaine, and they are quite active in your precinct.
  • One of the names you can suggest for the dance club is No Truce with the Furies, which was the game's original title before it was changed to Disco Elysium.
  • The entirely of the Fortress Accident "radio-game" studio is in reference to the long-term development of Disco. Self-deprecating takes on their lack of experience, overly high ambitions and skewed ratios of artists-to-programmers are all explained through dialogue with Soona and multiple notes found in the Doomed Commercia Area.
    • Of particular note, Soona will describe the "Valley of the Heads": an unfinished aspect of Fortress Accident's game where players would be able to make thousands of distinct and unique companions by combining different detached heads to different headless bodies. She notes that the biggest hurdle after writing the absurd number of possible characters was giving them all voice actors — the latter referencing how the original release of Disco only voiced a handful of its thousands of lines of dialogue (a compromise that would be rectified in the higher-budget "Final Cut" update, which provided full voice acting for every single dialogue sequence).
• Executive Meddling: In early October 2022, founding ZA/UM cultural association member Martin Luiga revealed that Aleksander Rostov, Robert Kurvitz, and Helen Hindpere had "involuntarily left" the company at the end of 2021, thus removing the main creative leads from any sequel.
• Fan Translation: Robert Kurvitz's novel Sacred and Terrible Air (a Stealth Sequel to Disco set in the same universe) was translated into English after the official translation fell through due to Kurvitz being ousted from ZA/UM.
• Promoted Fanboy: Studio ZA/UM decided to crowd-source the game's translation and localization into other languages, letting fans apply as translators in return for official support and some compensation, making them officially credited contributors to the game.
• Schedule Slip: The game was originally set for a late 2017 release, but this was pushed back to an undetermined point in 2018. The game was then pushed further back to late 2019, where it eventually saw its release.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: Skills were intended to be represented with icons, but the concept artist quit before that could be finished, so that job fell to the art director, who is far better at drawing humans and thus made fantastical portraits instead. This eventually led to the skills exhibiting separate personalities, arguing with each other, and serving as a troupe of narrators, which has become the defining feature of the game.
• Sleeper Hit: No one expecting the game to stand out, especially as 2019 was a year already stuffed with critically acclaimed titles from both the West and East. However, in spite of its unconventional design it became a critical and commercial darling and in addition to several mainstream gaming publications naming it their Game of the Year, it wound up not only being nominated in four categories for the 2019 Game Awards, including Best RPG and Best Narrative, but also winning in all four. The game even saw continued success in 2020, where it won three BAFTAs, and, thanks to a translation patch, saw great sales on the Chinese market.
• The Other Darrin: The Final Cut swaps out many of the original voice actors for new ones. Notable examples include Lena, who trades a British accent for an American Southern one, and the Chapo Trap House voice actors were all replaced.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The game was originally pitched with a combat system, but this idea was dumped early in development. The few instances of violence in the final game are handled by the same systems and skill checks as the dialogues.
  • There was a much wider emphasis on policing and the fantastical elements when it was going under Torson & McLaine, with the aforementioned combat being prominent and the setting being more Urban Fantasy.
  • Lena was originally planned to be a full-on third party member, who was actively aiding you and Kim in your investigation and participating in conversations. The idea was eventually dropped when it was realized that a having a character in a wheelchair following the player around caused too many problems with the level design. This receives a brief nod in-game, where you can make Lena the offer to join you, though she'll politely decline.
  • For The Final Cut, a makeover for PSY, PHY, and MOT skill portraits to closer match the existing duo-colored INT skill portraits was planned. The portraits in question can be found on the Displate page, but are ultimately absent in the game proper, likely due to mixed reception surrounding some of the portraits.
• Working Title:
  • The game's initial working title was Torson & McLaine, this was later changed into...
  • No Truce with the Furies, before finally being changed to Disco Elysium in early 2018. The poem "Reflections" by R. S. Thomas, which the line is taken from, is still quoted at several points in the game.

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