Tabletop allows players to immerse themselves in foreign worlds, experience adventures, and shape stories themselves. That’s why there are also many video games that attempt to recreate this feeling through various genre combinations. Our tech author Jan Hartmayer has now found a game that hits the mark for him.
I am always on the lookout for games that share my love for tabletop and merge the two media together. Baldur’s Gate 3 was an absolute masterpiece for me, for instance. Recently, however, there hasn’t been a title that captured me as much as that RPG did.
But then I found Esoteric Ebb. An unobtrusive isometric single-player RPG that was meant to end my long dry spell. Right when I opened the Steam shop page, I felt that the game is unique!
In short, the game is a mix of Dungeons and Dragons and Disco Elysium. This means: There are very, very many dialogues, your actions have consequences, and a dice roll including your skill values decides whether a certain action succeeds or not.
The simple game principle and the hand-drawn art style convinced me in no time, and I just couldn’t put the game down.
Time Pressure and a Mystery
The game is divided into five days, and you must solve the explosion of a tea shop within that timeframe. Every dialogue and every interaction consumes valuable minutes that you need to manage wisely. Some NPCs, for example, only talk to you at night. You also have to sleep 8 hours a day if you want to avoid drawbacks in the form of exhaustion.
Furthermore, Esoteric Ebb knows how to keep its many dialogues meaningful, understandable, and still challenging. No sentence feels out of place, and many meanings only become clear later or in a second playthrough. It is the kind of dialogue and the accompanying worldbuilding that you can discuss with friends for hours.
Similarly, the sarcastic humor is perfectly tailored for me. There were several moments when my character took damage because he failed (yet again) during a flirting attempt. But not because my counterpart beat me up. No, the situation was so embarrassing for the main character that he and I would have preferred to sink into the ground together.
Moreover, the characters and the world are written in such a way that they feel alive. No NPC feels like lifeless filler. Everyone has a daily routine and pursues their own goals day by day.
Not for Everyone
Even though the game was a remarkable experience for me and nearly perfect with its compact D&D-like story, there are points that may be a no-go for some:
- The game is currently only available in English, and the dialogue can be very challenging, so you should have a good command of the language.
- There are no voiced lines. The entire game is strictly speaking an interactive D&D book, with some gameplay functions on top.
- If you have no interest in background information, you are in the wrong place. Esoteric Ebb likes to elaborate on how its world and characters are constructed. This can quickly become dry and tedious.
Nevertheless, I strongly advise every D&D, Disco Elysium, and pen-and-paper fan to take a look at the unknown Esoteric Ebb by Christoffer Bodegård.
The title is not only beautifully designed but also brimming with passion. Every dialogue feels unique. I just wish that the game, with its approximately 25 hours of gameplay, had been longer. For those who still don’t play Dungeons and Dragons but want to start, our author Sophia has tips: Start D&D for free and quickly? With these 8 essentials, it works
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!