While most survival games emphasise crafting and exploration, Dyscourse is about choice. Playing a plane crash survivor named Rita, you awake in the twisted wreckage on a remote desert island. Banding together with other survivors, Rita quickly establishes herself as the leader of this troupe, and must keep them safe and healthy until the opportunity for rescue arises.
In many ways, Dyscourse bears more resemblance to an adventure game than a survival game, with a structure that lies somewhere between The Walking Dead and the Stanley Parable. The game is split up into a sequence of days, with each day offering a new challenge and a series of choices to deal with it. Early on, for example, you must decide whether to search for water, explore the plane wreckage or attempt to build a signal fire. Each of these paths leads to a new location, with further decisions then branching out.
Dyscourse impresses with the range of potential twists and outcomes to its dynamic tale. The ultimate goal is to get all five companions safely off the island with you, but the chances of achieving this feat in your first run are slim. Some of the choices, such as whether you stay in your rickety shelter during a violent storm, or seek out a sturdier abode as the rain lashes down, are extremely difficult to make, and what initially seems like the best course of action may prove deeply unwise in the long run.
Moreover, you’re not simply contending with the wilderness; your interactions with other survivors affect your relationships with them too. Snub their viewpoint while sitting around the campfire, and they may be reluctant to work with you further down the line.
Conceptually and structurally, Dyscourse is fairly sound. There isn’t a whole lot to do aside from engage in conversations and make decisions, but that’s fine given Dyscourse’s aims. Unfortunately, it also falls down in some far more important areas.
Dyscourse seems uncertain whether it wants to be a light-hearted comedy or a compelling character piece, and the result is that it satisfies in neither category. Its characters are one-dimensional stereotypes – the depressed office worker, the conspiracy nut, the obese gaming obsessive and so on, while the bright aesthetics and often silly tone frequently clashes with the deeply tragic events that occur.
In fact, Dyscourse’s presentation generally isn’t great. The art is ugly, the animations basic and the squeaky mumbling sound made by characters when they speak distracts you from what they’re saying. Without strong characters to pull you into the game, there’s little reason to explore Dyscourse’s multiple narrative threads other than curiosity. As a consequence, although Dyscourse’s attempt at a dynamic survival story is admirable, it’s also ultimately in vain. RICK LANE
VERDICT
An interesting idea, but Dyscourse is let down by shallow characterisation and poor presentation.