What Disco Elysium Got Right (From an alcoholic's perspective)
I finished Disco Elysium for the first time about a month ago, and I have never seen alcoholism depicted so graphically "real" in a game.
I (27) am a currently recovering alcoholic after 7 years of addiction. I've had my current liver transplanted to me, and dealt with the horrors of both active recovery and the pit that is addiction to alcohol, as well as homelessness & abuse, and Disco Elysium captures the essence of the depraved details in a shockingly accurate way.
From the dull pain in your right abdomen, to the flush face and yellowing of the eyes, to the tantalizing descriptions of what alcohol smells and tastes like to Harry, it honestly brought back many bad memories, and even some current truths. I've never been slapped in the face with such harsh yet understanding stances on addiction from a video game before.
So many other games seem to just make alcoholism a joke or a simple character trait, so it's amazing that a game I slept on for so long could actually end up helping me with my own journey of discovering who I really am without the alcohol, as I did with Harry on my first and only playthrough so far (sober).
Any current or former addicts have had this game make an impact on them?