What does the game Disco Elysium have to say about left-wing melancholy?

Abstract

 This paper discusses the game Disco Elysium as an aesthetic manifestation of the so-called “left-wing melancholy”. It is a theoretical study that investigates the digital game as a cultural object capable of expressing collective sensations around political frustration and socialist memory. The object of investigation is the game's narrative and fictional universe, especially its references to the revolutionary past and contemporary disenchantment. The aim is to analyze how the game embodies political affections linked to the defeat of the left in the 20th century and the persistence of its utopian spectres. To do this, the article mobilizes an immanent analysis of the work based on a selection of its explorable locations and characters, articulating the concepts of left-wing melancholy from Benjamin (2012), Traverso (2017) and Dean (2013) with narrative passages from Disco Elysium. The main results indicate that the game, although set in a melancholic and fragmented scenario, offers moments of beauty, hope and symbolic reconstruction, opposing the paralysis of resentment. The figure of the amnesiac detective becomes a metaphor for historical investigation and the reconstruction of meaning. In summary, the article argues that Disco Elysium not only reflects the melancholy of the left, but proposes overcoming it through action and re-enchantment with the world.