Disco Elysium is a true RPG and a lot of fun. It can be difficult to figure out what you’re supposed to do and when. While we have some spoiler free tips, they don’t give you the direct answer. The hard thing about a game like Disco Elysium is that you can approach it in so many ways that there isn’t a universal best way to play it, especially considering how skills impact chances of success for various quests.

To that extent, we’ve put together a helpful FAQ and mini-walkthrough on the story so that you can get answers to the questions you have about the game.

Is there combat or jump scares?

There are no major scary bits, although there are a few “sudden surprises” that aren’t quite jump scares – like the screen blacking out or something like that.There is no combat. All of the game is done via text. So even if you have a weapon, you can’t use it until the game wants you to. There is one “fight” in the game.

What if you don’t have enough money to stay the night?On the first night, your partner will help pay if it’s late enough and you haven’t got the funds. Lots of NPCs will give you the money for rent the first night, including the lady on the boat from West Pines. After that until you unlock Cuno’s shack or the Fisherman’s village shack, you’ll need to come up with $25 each night to stay at the hostel. You can do so via taking the voucher from Everett, collecting tare with the sack or looting areas like the abandoned mall.

How long do I have to complete the story?You have something like 7 days before the tribunal. That’s the only time based event. By the tribunal you should have explored all dialog options with the “Hardy boys” and obtained your gun. The game will warn you when you’re getting close that it’s happening if you’ve yet to get your gun. If you don’t have your gun by then, you can still “survive” but it’s going to be much harder.The tribunal automatically happens after you find Ruby. Make a save before then.

Where is the badge?

On day three, find the sunken vehicle on the west side of the map and then watch the tide recede. Your badge is there.

Where is the gun?

You have to finish Everett’s quest line and he arranges for you to pick the gun up behind the fishing village. The earliest you can get the gun is Wednesday.If the bad outcome for Ruby occurs, you can get her gun as well.

Where is the shoes?

At the end of the first night, you’ll find the other pair of shoes up on the balcony of the hostel.

Where is Ruby?

She’s behind the mural. You won’t have the option to find her until you show the bullet in the Fisherman shack.

Once you find her, the tribunal will automatically occur next.

In her bad ending state, you will obtain a gun.

Do I have to have both people sign?

You can listen to your partner’s advice and have the group of three hobos sign the document and forge a signature instead. Earliest this can happen is Wednesday. Try to do it before 19:00 so you have time to get your gun.

How do I locate all the armor pieces?

The armor pieces are as follows:

Boots: They’re on the corpse. You’ll need to have gotten the corpse down, done the field autopsy and then come back without your partner for a “second examination” where you remove the shoes. Then you need to clean them in the kitchen.

Gloves: Fishing village. A girl in a shack will tell you she buried them.

Helmet: On the isle, last place you visit.

Pants: Don’t exist.

How do I solve Egghead’s Riddle?

It’s a maze. Keep selecting options until you get it. Once complete, Egghead talks normally. This is a requirement for the finish of the programmer’s quest.

How do I get my partner to leave me alone?

There are two instances you’re alone. One is when he brings the corpse back and the other is every night, when you go to bed he goes to bed, leaving you alone.

What are outcomes of the tribunal?

There is no peaceful outcome.

You either take the mercenaries out.

You don’t.

A specific amount of Hardy boys will be taken out if you fail to take them out fast enough.

Your partner can get injured.

You will be injured.

You must conceal armor pieces to avoid engaging them.

Best to approach it with the armor on and with your gun obtained. It happens on day 5.

If your partner is injured, Cuno has a chance to be your partner the next day.

How do you get past Measurehead?

You have two options. Internalize the thought you get from your conversation or pass a physical check. Measurehead gets you into the shipping area which is how you access the union boss.

What is the progression for the main plot? Any kind of walkthrough?

The progression goes investigating the scene of the accident. Lower the corpse. Do a field autopsy. Then you will need to speak with the union boss to get access to Tidus to talk to them, who will send you to speak to Klaasje and some back and forth. You’ll then discover you need to speak to Ruby.

Wednesday, you can go to the Fisherman’s village. There you can find a bullet in the shack the washerwoman allows you to sleep in. This will have you investigate further up the coat. Behind the mural you’ll find a path to Ruby. Ruby has two states: flees or bad ending for her, you can allow either.

On day 5, a tribunal is held. I think it can happen up to day 7 before it enters a fail state, but it’s best to have most of the story wrapped up by day 5. You can continue side questing after, but the main story completes after the tribunal with the only option to continue forward being going to the island and a few NPCs will disappear so if you haven’t done their side quests, that’s that.

You’ll go to the island after that and then the game is done.

What’s the password for the production schedule?

On day 3, Wednesday, go to the Church. Walk around inside until a dude in the rafters shows up. Then ask him for the password.

What are some of the sidequests?

Finding out about the Lorrys.

Find your badge.

The Church w/ the Ravers in the tent.

Cuno is a sidequest of sorts, with a fail state (he won’t talk to you anymore).

The stranger on the balcony of the apartment. This leads to the game’s LGBTQ friendly option.

Is there an LGBTQ relationship?

The man on the balcony asks you to meet him after a certain time. When you find him, he runs off and introduces you to his friend. Then you can meet him again in the hostel. He gives you the “Homosexual Agenda” thought, which after you’re done “thinking about it” your character then can explore a minor relationship with him.

Nothing makes sense. Is this Earth? Is it limbo? What about the ex?

It’s another world, included within a Russian novel.

Fans have thought that the game is limbo, they could be right.

You don’t get much conclusion about Harry’s ex, other than it’s why he’s so far gone.

What is the ending? How do I get the “best ending?”

The ending occurs once you begin traveling to the island. There you’ll meet the real killer and have a chance to speak to a bug. The actual ending is as follows:

Harry went on a binge drinking spree. Pawned his gun after crashing his car through the snow. He wakes up in the hostel room, no clue who he is or where he’s at. He meets Kim and they begin investigating the local murder. The victim is a mercenary hired by West Pines because the Union has gone on strike, therefore their shipping supply route is currently down until the strike ends.

Harry uncovers bits and pieces of his past while exploring the city. He eventually finds out that the victim wasn’t hung, but was shot instead. In looking for those clues, he finds that he was shot while in a relationship with a local. She in turns points Harry towards someone who is super clingy with her. After Harry locates Ruby, he returns to city center where a tribunal occurs with a various amount of causalities.

Injured after that event, Harry and Kim are told to travel to the one place they haven’t located. There, they find the vantage point of the shooter and then locate an ex-communist who was the one who fired the shot. He had not left the island for an extremely long time, because he was under the influence of a “Cryptid” who has been making the revolutionary go mad.

When you return to the island, you find your team who you told to sit at the sidelines and debrief on everything you’ve done – your accomplishments, failures, etc. and some expose on the history of Harry.

There is only one ending. Discovering the Cryptid is the only “optional” part. Your partners are the ones who bring up past choices and give their opinions on them.