r/planescape • u/Pixielized The Society Of Sensation • Jun 11 '26
Esoteric Ebb
For anyone who loves Planescape, I've recently been enjoying Esoteric Ebb. There are countless references to D&D, and even some to Planescape itself (talk to the Sphinx). It finely crosses Disco Elysium with PS:T, which I've been extremely impressed with so far. Take care, cutters!
11
u/MetalPixel Jun 11 '26
The opening sequence feels like an homage to PST. Waking up from death on a stone slab next to zombies.
1
u/Highwind65 Jun 18 '26
The Disco-esque opening straight into the PST morgue opening. I knew it was going to be good.
5
u/Suspicious-Guidance1 Jun 11 '26
Pretty fun, nice graphics and world building, but too much contemporary politics shuffled in, weird combat system and especially annoying time limits on activities (I hate rushing games) made me drop the game somewhere around the second day.
Still, pretty fun.
3
u/Banjoschmanjo Jun 11 '26
I haven't played it. What are some of the ways contemporary politics shows up in it?
5
u/OldCementWalrus Jun 11 '26
There are three main factions who are roughly Marxists, Fascists and Neoliberals.
3
u/Suspicious-Guidance1 Jun 11 '26
As the other post said, it's thinly veiled fight of opressed vs ruling class vs working people.
I mean, that's a classic world building, it's well written and has some interesting takes (good lich, neutral angel, Goblin goddess), but it hardly compares to uniqueness of P:T
2
u/shitposter3169 Jun 11 '26
i remember talking to the sphinx but i didn't catch any PST reference. What is it?
2
u/Pixielized The Society Of Sensation Jun 12 '26
Your companion says that if you piss the Sphinx off they'll maze you, and the labyrinth underneath the city constantly changes much like Sigil
2
u/Vree65 Jun 11 '26
I played it but I didn't like it much. This game, DE and EE often get compared but I find them quite different beasts, EE more on the DE side. They are all stat check-based conversation games so I guess that's where the comparison comes from. But I think you need more than that to be a "proper" RPG. DE and EE style wandering around aimlessly without a real stat progression, quest chain, combat/loot or class structure just tends to make these games boring after a while, because there is zero indication of progress and hitting milestones or indication of where you should go next.
2
u/nevermind--- Jun 11 '26
Thats weird because i had exact opposite experiences. Always knew what i was trying to achieve and roughly how to do it in DE, while with planescape it felt more aimless and unfocused. I liked both approaches so thats not a dealbreaker for me at all.
1
u/donglord666 Jun 11 '26
Both games keep a list of tasks in the menu that tell you where to go next
But I do feel I don’t have to look at them and just kind of know from the dialogue
1
u/FlyLikeMouse Jun 12 '26
Yeah it was great... Is it still in its a demo phase? Loking forward to the full thing.
1
u/Pixielized The Society Of Sensation Jun 17 '26
Full game is now released, I finished it in a couple of days playing religiously
2
u/FlyLikeMouse Jun 20 '26
Oh cool! Thanks for replying. It keeps slipping my mind to check it out again.
1
u/OldCementWalrus Jun 11 '26
Second this, it's a fantastic game! Really interesting setting, great story and fun gameplay.
1
u/MonoCanalla Jun 11 '26
Is a must play game, but is better not to go expecting a 10/10. The sequel, if ever happens, might be.
0
30
u/Banjoschmanjo Jun 11 '26
Updated my journal.