Esoteric Ebb

Ever since Disco Elysium, a very specific hole has sat unfilled: the talky, brainy, gloriously weird CRPG where your own mind is the real battlefield. Esoteric Ebb walks straight into that hole and makes itself at home — and after around ten hours with it, I’m happy to report it’s one of the most confident, funny, and characterful RPGs I’ve played this year.

The worst cleric in Norvik

You are The Cleric, an expert in esoteric events and a glorified government goon, dropped into the strange post-arcanepunk city of Norvik five days before its first-ever election. A tea shop has just exploded; you wake in a morgue with half the river in your boots, surrounded by rotting apples, corpses, and one zombie, and no one wants you to solve the impossible mystery you’ve been handed. What follows is a sprawling web of factions to play against each other, devils and drunk sphinxes to debate, and a conspiracy you can crack, botch, or bumble your way into absolute power over.

It’s written with real wit and confidence — genuinely, laugh-out-loud funny in a way almost no RPG manages.

Trust the dice, argue with yourself

Two systems make it sing. First, the dice: this is a tabletop RPG at heart, and rolls decide whether you wrestle a dwarf, pick a lock, or keep from looking like a fool. In true TTRPG spirit, failure is frequently the better story — a botched roll spirals into something far more memorable than a clean success. Second, and most delightful, your Ability Stats have opinions. Each one interjects mid-conversation with its own conflicting viewpoint, so every decision becomes a tiny argument inside your skull. Add reality-shaping cleric magic (mind control, speaking with the dead, reading thoughts) and the “Questing Tree” that doubles as quest log, skill tree, and mind map, and you get a build system where your character’s personality and playstyle grow together.

Where it shows its seams

It isn’t flawless. Combat is easily the weakest link — clerics treat violence as a last resort, and honestly the game does too; the turn-based scraps are functional rather than thrilling. It’s also extremely text-heavy and, more limiting, English-only, which is a real barrier for a lot of players. And as a largely solo-developed project, a few rough edges surface here and there. None of it dents the core much: this is a writing-and-choices game first, and on that front it’s stacked.

Verdict

Esoteric Ebb is a triumph of tone and reactivity — an achievement in game storytelling that earns its Disco Elysium comparisons rather than just borrowing them. The Steam consensus backs it up hard: Overwhelmingly Positive, around 95% of 6,000+ reviews. If you love narrative CRPGs, dice, and dialogue that bites back, this is an essential buy at $24.99. If you need action or can’t play in English, temper expectations — but for everyone else, clear a weekend and go ruin your DM’s day.

Reviewed on PC after roughly 10 hours of play. Review key provided by pressengine.net.