Esoteric Ebb review: a delightfully off-kilter fantasy RPG

Imagine this. You’ve died. You’re very sad about dying. But suddenly, you see a light – and oh, what’s this? You’ve been brought back into the world, to live once more… as an idiot. Perhaps that’s being too harsh to Esoteric Ebb‘s odd, bumbling protagonist. But that’s really the vibe here.

So what if you were brought back to life as a fool of a knight, wielding your curiosity, your empty-headedness and your stubbornness, to chart a strange and magical fantasy world?

An off-kilter fantasy adventure

In Esoteric Ebb, you awaken in a world riddled with mystery. How are you alive? Why have you been put on this earth? Who blew up the local tea shop? Most importantly, who are you voting for?

Your task is complex, and completely untraditional. In the vein of Terry Pratchett, you must spend time making kooky, odd friends in your new world, speaking in fun, bouncy dialogues or taking part in riddles to advance. This is a high fantasy adventure, but one filled with funny little conundrums, as well as perplexing beings.

You make friends with an all-seeing angel. If you pass a charisma check, you might even be able to ask her out. You also make friends with a snippy goblin and an in-disguise lich. You meet a zombie and a griffin (but don’t try petting it). If you put a bucket on your head, you can add to your strength, but infringe your wisdom.

Esoteric Ebb operates on silly rules, and it’s all the better for it. It’s the sort of game where high-level enemies can present a threat but can be taken down with a well-placed wad of grease, or where you might need a high level of finesse to survive a verbal battle with dwarf protestors, but can skip it entirely if you luck into passing a dexterity check to pinch an essential document from their pockets.

In multiple rounds of encounters, you can have entirely different outcomes depending on your character build. In one version of my encounter with the dwarves, I ended up dying in dice-rolling combat. In another, I simply walked up to the head dwarf, picked his pockets, and completed my quest.

That’s the magic of a good RPG, that it tailors itself to your every choices.

Going down the rabbit hole

Esoteric Ebb is a playground of choices. Every action takes time, so it’s not quite a free-for-all, but you can stroll through its magical world admiring the roses, point-and-click investigating every staircase or odd little pixel on-screen. You can select any dialogue option you like, learning more about individual characters and the lore of this very esoteric world.

No matter what you choose, you’ll forge a slightly different path to the next player. What’s more important to know is that the more questions you ask, the deeper the rabbit hole goes.

Esoteric Ebb holds its cards very close on your awakening, intentionally obfuscating the lore of this world, and the mysteries of your existence. You must discover it for yourself, making smart choices about where to explore and when to dive deeply with dialogue and exploration.

At first, your world seems black and white. You’re given point-by-point tasks and told your role. But as you chat to the people around you, the world expands. You learn about political factions and the upcoming vote that will determine your future – and the future of those around you.

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Does anything have any meaning at all?

You’re not really given clear answers, but you can make certain assumptions based on dialogue and the knowledge that’s delivered. You learn about the value of unionisation. The safety of nationalism. And what it would mean for the entire world to change.

All while trying to figure out why you were resurrected and what your life’s purpose really is.

Disco Elsyium inspires a layered dialogue system

The path of Esoteric Ebb is made richer by a novel dialogue system directly inspired by Disco Elysium. The game’s developer, Christoffer Bodegård, has leant into this comparison, describing the game’s genre as ‘Disco-like’.

What that means is that all of your thoughts and strengths are personified in the dialogue. You get a snappy internal monologue every time you interact with an object or person, with Constitution, Strength and Wisdom whispering their thoughts and moods into your ear.

Their dialogue also seemingly changes depending on which strengths you choose, and choose to buff, as you wander. The voices can evolve to be slimy and convincing, whispering sweet nothings in your ear, making you paranoid or curious.

While the game lacks the artful voice acting of Disco Elysium, strong writing and a sharp sense of humour elevate the experience, infusing each interaction with meaning and bite. There are very funny jokes in this game, and very good implementation of those jokes.

It’s not easy to make humour leap off the screen when dialogue is delivered in blocks of text, but Esoteric Ebb is clever enough to make it work. Even when you’re facing down a wall of text, you’ll glean some new insight about your new world, or encounter some funny double entendre.

This is a game of so many moving parts, where every element, like dialogue, is laid with care. It’s over-the-top and entirely colourful, with a biting wit being just one part of its flavour. Pair that with a lively world to explore, packed with secrets – go on, try to pet that giant lobster – and satisfying Dungeons & Dragons-style (or Disco-like) gameplay, and you’ve got a memorable, beautiful RPG experience.

Esoteric Ebb is a delight and a joy. It’s yet more proof that taking yourself less seriously is when the real magic happens.

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