#also the last paragraph is not a joke I truly believe the homoerotic subtext is integral to the plot of DE

[transhitman]

Ok Pathologic and Disco Elysium might both be really really depressing games but honestly I feel like that's pretty much where the narrative similarities end. Cause like. Both of them deal in themes of inevitable collapse and entrapment in fate but like DE has an underlying tone of hope and redemption. No ending in Patho is actually Good, all of them result in some kind of major loss. (Clara's ending isn't really "good" either, it just reinforces the status quo and perpetuates the cycle of destruction.) And no matter how well you play, you can't stop the deaths of the hundreds of random citizens. DE is much smaller-scale, so while you can't ever stop the Pale from spreading or affect the wider political landscape, the game very much tells you that yes, your actions matter. You help the citizens of Martinaise and your presence at the tribunal at least delays a massacre of innocent people. And most of all, if you play it right, Harry CAN become a better person. Even if he goes back to his previous life, it's Possible for him to be better and be happy somewhere down the road. Like the narrative of Patho deals in large-scale tragedy, and while DE has a lot of large-scale lore the story itself is about a very sad man trying to make a small part of the world slightly better. You know?

Also, I think DE is less of a tragedy in that the characters do have choices. Nothing is presented as entirely inevitable even when it technically is. In Patho they are bound to their fates both literally by the powers that be, and by the narrative structure. There isn't really compromise between the factions. The healers can not choose between different endings, they can only choose to allow one of the other healers to enact their own. Even in P2 where Artemy's whole thing is being torn between the town and the Kin, he still has to choose only one. They can not coexist. Whereas in DE, identity and political alignment are a lot more fluid. A major figure in the (arguably socialist) worker's union is a massive fascist. The Deserter is a communist but also vindictive and nihilist, lacking the community and empathy required to actually make things better. Kim is a centrist, but at the end of the day cares most about protecting people, not the will of the state he works for. And of course, Harry can ideologically align himself with communism completely, but he's still A Fucking Cop. Self-proclaimed belief and tangible function within the system are two separate things. That's not to say Pathologic lacks nuance of course, just that the two games handle these themes differently. Which is to be expected, as again Patho is more wide-scale apocalyptic, thus its characters must stand firm as representations of their factions. It's a big ol' game of chess with big ol' players. Group interest instead of individual motives. The characters of course do have Traits and Motives, but I wouldn't call it a character study in the way DE is with Harry. Zoomed in, DE has more room to explore the contradictions in its characters' belief systems.

All this to say that while these games appeal to a similar audience and certainly have a lot of superficial thematic similarities, I don't think the narratives or the framing of those themes are really all that comparable. Also sorry to say this, swinging a bat at a hornet's nest I know, but DE actually has yaoi and Patho does not. Artemy is not fucking that stupid twink, but that old man is definitely fucking Harry Du Bois god bless 💖