The studio's aware of the issue and appears to think they've fixed it, but as it stands this isn't a very fun experience - which is a shame, because I was pretty excited to finally see what all the hype was about and from what little I have seen, I think I could get really into this world. Unfortunately, the controller interface is a practical disaster. The ability to select dialogue options will literally flicker in and out of existence, to the point I've had to jam on the d-pad upwards of ten times just to regain permanence. Sometimes, you'll be going through a string of conversation and everything is working perfectly, only for you to linger on one option while the voice acting finishes out and the highlight will disappear right as you confirm the selection, forcing another jamming of the d-pad.

The voice over, while quality, also feels a little unnecessary at certain times and truly unpredictable in others. One character so far appears to have been randomly selected to not have any lines read aloud, while two others have just...stopped speaking mid-conversation. It's impossible to know whether that was a bug or intentional because the internal dialogue continued to have voice over, and it hasn't happened with any other character before or since. That being said, if you like the voice acting enough to wait around for it, sometimes you'll be waiting for quite a while, as I've seen lines load in as late as 6 or 7 seconds after the dialogue's displayed on screen. This is what I mean by unnecessary, it unintentionally slows the flow of conversation, and when paired with the stage directions from the original text it has a weird disassociative quality, since the voice actors aren't always performing what the descriptors say is happening while the models already aren't performing those actions.

But the worst is when you just can't tell if it's you or the game, which is where I'm at right now with the Volumetric Shit Compressor. I've equipped it, I've gone and talked to people, I've received the splash screen that gave me the solution dialogue for it...but the screen wouldn't let me do anything. I jammed on the d-pad, I pressed all the face buttons (including the X button it was requesting I press to accept) and nothing at all was happening. Eventually, I paused the game, went back to the dashboard, back to the game, unpaused and the splash screen went away...but now it seems I have the thing equipped, and yet I still can't do anything with the dead body. When I look at it in the menu, it's assigned a slot, it says BREAKTHROUGH IMMINENT, it has a lightning bolt going to it, and a little box in the bottom right corner with an X button icon next to no descriptive text at all and when I press X a bunch the lightning bolt just randomly jumps from the left to right side of the VSC icon at occasional intervals.

I'm guessing something broke with the game and I'll just need to start over, but as the controller experience has gone so far it's just hard to trust that this game understands what you're asking of it, or even what it's telling you. One other weird quirk that exasperates this as well: you move your character freely with the left stick, yet the only way to interact with objects is by highlighting them with the right stick. First of all, the game's a bit finnicky about what it will or won't be highlighting based on where you're standing, but second of all if you highlight anything while you're moving your character won't interact with it until you've come to a full stop on the left stick, re-highlighted with the right and re-selected it with X. The game helpfully shows most interactables as soon as they appear on screen (as well as the ability to hold L1 to expose anything that might not be made obvious), but this also just makes the left stick feel even more in the way because selecting an object or person automatically drives your avatar to that interaction, leading to a situation where I'm basically walking into a new environment, then zooming the camera out as far as it can go and navigating with the right stick.

TL;DR I'm very excited that Disco Elysium is finally playable on (Sony) consoles, but as it stands this is a pretty grim way to play this game. Hopefully that patch clears certification soon and brings the fixes this game desperately needs.

That's a real bummer, but I'm sure they'll get it right. They seem super committed to this release and to improving the game, and it's not like similar games haven't had decent console interfaces so either with this patch or a future one they'll iron it out. If The Witcher 3 could fix its movement then this game can surely get controls that work well.

Sucks that it released with these issues but I have high hopes that they'll be patched sooner rather than later. As much as we all hate the fact that developers rely on fixing games with patches these days, games got released broken like this all the time in the past and there wasn't a solution. At least now there's the possibility of fixing it.

Thanks for the warning, duder!

Oof. I wonder if any of these dialogue bugs are present on the update they did for PC as well.

That's really unfortunate to hear. I played the original release on a controller using Steams remapping stuff and it worked really well! Controls were basically just using the Right stick to control the mouse movement and LT/RT worked as LMB/RMB. Then various face buttons opened different menus (you know, kind of what you'd expect). Inventory stuff was kind of a pain, but because of the way time is advanced in the game, it was never a big issue.

I've been enjoying this so far and haven't had any issues as of yet on the PS4, outside of the widespread voice acting issue (which is a shame but not a deal breaker). However, I'm only a few hours into the game, and my understanding from both posts here and elsewhere is that things get worse as you go.

One thing that happened here one time so far that made me irrationally irritated (because it isn't a big deal but it ALWAYS bugs me when it happens in games or movies): the voiceover of a line referred to something as the 9 day something, and the text read the 11 day something. It was SUPER ODD (it's not really spoiling anything so far as I can tell, but I kept it vague just in case).

@nodima: This game will be on my wishlist when it's released for Xbox, so thanks for sharing your experience.

Regarding the delayed playback of voice-over lines, are you playing on PS5? I'm curious if that's happening in spite of the fast storage.

Also, the thumbstick controls sound real annoying and remind me of Felix the Reaper on Xbox. I played that game for around 8 hours, and it felt awkward the entire time. Is the left thumbstick your only option for general movement? You mentioned the character will move towards interactive objects. Can you move by "clicking" an empty part of the environment, or does it have to be something interactive?

@serryl: This wasn't addressed to me, and I'm only on a PS4 pro, but as far as the "delayed" voice over is concerned, it really starts to feel it is intentional. You see the words on the screen, for example, as your character is performing an action (like opening something). The action is occurring and it seems as if the dialogue is waiting for either that sound or action to finish...if that makes sense?

As for the movement, yes, the left stick is the only means for free movement, but you can highlight all interactable objects (although this at times ALSO seems finnicky), and if you can manage to select the one you want, you can click on it and your character will walk to it, making it a solution for some of the stranger pathfinding parts. Having said that though, AFAIK the only way to "run" is with the left stick...if you click on something in the distance, you get to enjoy your character sloooooowly walk towards it.

That's funny because point and click games and RPGs solved the walking-to-object speed issue like two decades ago.

@theonewhoplays: I didn't even think about that, but you're 100% correct and that is nuts.

Yeah, I’m coming off Full Throttle Remastered, Kentucky Route Zero TV Edition, Detroit and 13 Sentinels in the past 3 months, all of which are P+C to varying degrees and felt much better than Disco did right out of the gate.

I have it another brief shot and whatever happened with the shit compressor definitely just broke the game progression so hopefully that patch hits soon. Kinda weird that of all the things to not have nailed down before their big debut on consoles, it’s interaction with menus during dialogue.

I realize this game on Playstation has a whole slew of MAJOR problems, particularly starting with Day 3 (progress halting problems) but honestly the thing driving me INSANE right now is the utterly terrible menu interface, both its design and how impossible it is to even move around comfortably in them. I had to reload because I just accidentally forgot a thought because it is so damn fiddly.

I don't know if anyone playing the Playstation version of this is stil playing it, but I finally hit the dreaded Day 3 bug extravaganza. While I don't really agree with the histrionics going on on the subreddit given this past weekend was a holiday, it is kind of crazy that the devs haven't said ANYTHING yet because some of the bugs are just insane. There is one that, as far as I can tell, has impacted EVERY person playing on PS4 or PS5, and it's so glaring and obvious it makes me wonder if the game was play tested at all on that day and beyond? It's wild stuff. I hope they get the stuff fixed soon, because while I've been doing basically everything I can AROUND those quests, I'm overall enjoying things so much, I'd like to do so without constant caveats.

I'm also wondering if the 1.2 patch will even address these issues on the Playstation, because as far as I can tell they aren't mentioned in the initial tweet, and I'm not sure they started coming up until after that announcement was made and the devs effectively went radio silent. I'm sure they know they exist by now, gamers being what they are, so maybe that's why they vanished? Just in complete all hands on deck panic mode right now, maybe?

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I am on day 3 and while I have not run into anything game breaking, I have run into a couple of side quests not being able to be completed so I just stopped playing and am waiting for the patch. Really hope they get it fixed soon; this stuff worked on the PC version forever ago so hopefully it's not hard to fix. I can live with the control issues since this was designed as a point and click game with a mouse, but I need the progression stuff fixed, because it seems like the deeper you get the worse it gets.

@heelbill: Yeah, there's a work around for the car glitch that I stumbled into, but I still want to complete it for the sake of where I SUSPECT it will be going with the story. To me, it is the most glaring of the glitches because it doesn't even load with textures! Like, that, and when I heard this was universal on Playstation, was when I was like "They might not have play tested this outside of Day 2."

It's a shame, because the game is as great as advertised (I started it on PC but was sharing said PC at the time so didn't stick with it and it finally clicked with me here). Also, while I'm not really bothered by the VO not activating at times...it's absolutely WILD to me that that was one of the bullet point advertisements for this edition and it takes like...less than an hour to hit your first instances and then they are literally everywhere from there on. I don't like speculating on dev stuff because I'm largely clueless on how any of it works, but it at the very least FEELS like it was not play tested enough and/or was kind of sent out a little under-baked.

Haha, yeah, I started the PC version roughly a year ago when the pandemic first hit and was really digging it but fell off due other games and I have been waiting for this Final Cut since they announced it not long after I started playing it.

I have the car glitch, and another glitch that involves an object you are able to interact with after talking to someone being able to be highlighted but not actually interact with it.

I already purchased the game but I’m playing a few others, so I’m going to wait until it gets patched up before I really delve into it. I only got to the main hotel restaurant and met Ken.

The music in the hostel cafe is so good. Sometimes I pop in just to hear it.

1.2 dropped and...it's worse? Started a new game and went to the character creator, where I could randomize and revert but could not move the cursor up and down or change the values on anything. Backed out, popped back in and that worked. Started the game, got to the bit where the reptilian brain says "no ex-wives are contained within it," and watched the highlighted response immediately blink out...and then I couldn't even pound the d-pad to make the highlight reappear. Spent about two minutes just mashing the pad and flicking the left stick up and down, smacking circle and X at random out of curiosity. I could scroll the dialogue with the right stick if I wanted to!

Truly disappointing. As a console gamer, this is beginning to rival Cyberpunk 2077 for me in terms of "what the hell is going on here?" Give me framerate drops, graphical glitches, I'm fine with that. But the game at a core level seems as moody as the internal monologues.

They've has enough time.

I still have no idea why they put out a poor ps5 version when they "didn't have time" to finish the switch xbox ports. Finish all of them and put them out when they're ready.

I wouldn't be surprised if this comes out on gamrpass day 1 after all these issues. I wanted to get this on switch since it seems good for portable play but I'm hoping ms out this on gamepass so I can play it on xcloud.

@lapsariangiraff: nope, no bugs. i finished the game on pc yesterday and didnt experience any of the bugs mentioned.

Also I wasn't given the option to play on playstation as it was refused classification and banned in Australia. But I had no issues buying it on Steam. Go figure haha

It sucks that patch 1.2 didn’t fix a lot of the issues on PS4/PS5. I bought the game at launch on PS5 to take advantage of the discount, but now I’m probably just going to hold off until they properly patch it.

I know ZA/UM posted an update about what will be coming in patch 1.3, which should fix most of the issues hopefully!

Patch 1.3 is being worked on right now. We don’t have a launch date, but we wanted to tell you it’s coming, and tell you what y’all could expect.

• Tons of Voice Over fixes
• Improved Kim pathfinding
• Fixed controller interaction during Seafort Dream
• Fixed controller interaction with The Pigs
• Fixed Sandcastle interaction
• Fixed car interaction
• Fixed instances where the tide never receded near the swings
• Fixes pawnshop healing interaction
• Fixed Thought Cabinet freezes
• Fixed save game bugs
• Fixes for Cutscene locks and edge-case interactions with controllers
• And little bit this and that, general house cleaning after stormy development!

Patch 1.3 is up if you have the patience to try again.

Edit: Sandcastle interaction works. I got the car interaction to work on 1.2. Kim is better about following you around. I heard my tie talk to me for the first time so feels like VO works as intended. It also has a handy controller layout and Cliff Notes guide on the pause screen. I did have one interaction require me to select it twice, but it didn't feel like it was happening every other time like before and I can live with a bit of jank playing on a controller.

I just wonder if now there will be later stuff that isn't fixed yet since most people had problems with day 3 stuff. They said they were continuing ahead with patch 1.4

Anyone still playing available to comment on the PS4 version now?

I was really looking forward to sitting through this on the couch but everything I've read suggests its not in good shape.

@junkerman: As of the most recent update (1.0...6? I think) it seems eminently playable. I haven't given it much time until this evening when PSN went down and I was cut off from my beloved MLB The Show and it feels vastly different. The dialogue is less awkward, the control works as intended and I really have no complaints.

I also have to say I'm already gleaning how impressive the design of this game really is as well. I've gone for the same empathy-heavy build every time I've booted this up, and while this is only the second save I've made any significant progress in (read: talked to more than a couple of people, solved more than a handful of tasks) I feel like I've having a vastly different experience. This game is pretty cool, who'da thunk it?!

@nodima: Good to hear. I put it aside eventually when I was hearing about the problems some of the patches were giving people, and just decided I would either wait until it was more stable or just play it on my new PC. My dilemma is, I was on day 4, so I don't know if I want to start over completely...but I also have an old brain that can't remember a lot of where I left things off even though it was only a little more than a month ago.

Either way, I look forward to jumping back in in some capacity.

There's not really an hour count available for PS4 players as far as I can tell, but I'd wager I'm around 10-12 hours. About 1/3 of the way through Day 3? Something I find both intoxicating and daunting about this game (now that it plays flawlessly!) is this feeling of both getting nowhere and everywhere all at the same time. I'll spend 2 hours feeling like I'm just being spun a bunch of nonsense, only to stumble into a conversation that answers two or three questions, and sends me spiraling back to another three or four people that were waiting for answers about this or that...

Still, the game is buried in such an uncanny valley of reality and unreality that it's always hard to understand exactly what I'm being sold here. As both a former music critic, a leftist and an admitted functioning alcoholic I have to say that...this game fucks with regards to your ability to roleplay that specific person, and yet...that the honest options often nearly kill you or send you spiraling into a depression are both wild and sometimes unappealing as a gameplay mechanic. I think I've drifted from Art-Cop to Sorry-Cop to Bland-Cop or whatever they want to call it? Maybe that just reflects on me.

I'm really into the flowery writing style - reminds me of the stuff I wrote in high school creative writing classes a decade ago, only this (these?) guys have clearly been reading literature and not merely being angry at the cards the world dealt them. That being said, and I might've said this somewhere above, it's pretty easy to read the dialogue faster than it's delivered - which, for better or worse, is pretty methodically - by the voice actors, and so I've developed a technique of figuring out exactly where in a sentence I could cut the acting off without feeling stilted or demeaned. This is why I hate playing games with subtitles on, it really invites people like me to get pedal-happy and treat conversations as freeways rather than the neighborhood streets they're designed to be.

Which I guess is all to say, now that I'm finally a little deeper in...my only adjacencies here are the Mass Effect series and Witcher 3 off the top of my head, and so I find myself a little lost in this malaise of crackpots, gerrymanderers and idealists because those games very aggressively confined story arcs into 30 to 90 minute little micro-tales with the world just kind of naturally wrapping around them. Here, I feel like I'm still constantly learning what people want to get out of Disco Elysium's reality, which is sometimes exhilarating and sometimes...just...a lot.

I'm sure this all got typed and talked about ad nauseam at the time of the game's release, but being as my only exposure to that discourse was the relatively...ahem...controversial approach this very website took to it when it first came out I'm constantly left wondering if my impulsive application of skill points to things that usually are but sometimes aren't in my character's base skill set is a gift or a curse. The early game sets up enough game over potential for the sort of character I've built (empathetic, deductive, super into experimentation and self-deprecation yet physically incapable of surviving it) that I've more and more found myself taking the safe choice out of confrontations - hence, maybe, the devolution from Art-Cop to Balance-Cop(?)?

Anyway, I like it a lot.