Alienation, critique and the failure of rationality in the analysis of Disco Elysium from the perspective of the Frankfurt School

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of Disco Elysium, one of the most acclaimed video games of recent years, based on the theoretical framework of the Frankfurt School and the concepts of alienation, critical theory and the failure of rationality in a post-revolutionary context. Disco Elysium depicts a desolate world in which the player’s moral decisions and dialogues are intrinsic to the existential tensions that characterise individual and collective alienation. The research examines how the game reflects the concerns of critical theory regarding social and political disintegration in capitalist societies. From the perspective of the visual arts, and more specifically of game studies, the study analyses the game’s narrative and textual content through its dialogues, characters and moral decisions, complemented by a philosophical interpretation based on the works of Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer and Herbert Marcuse. To contextualise the analysis, the findings are discussed in relation to postmodernist theories such as Byung-Chul Han’s burnout society, Bauman’s liquid modernity and Fisher’s capitalist realism. The analysis finds that Disco Elysium reflects an explicit critique of contemporary ideologies, pushing players to experience alienation through the decisions and narrative paths presented. Disco Elysium is therefore understood as a self-reflexive work whose interactive and narrative mechanics provide a critical perspective on the social tensions and ideological failures of the so-called hypermodern society.