Disco Elysium and the myth of the male loneliness epidemic

[Content warning: This story contains discussion and depiction of depression, suicide, mass violence, misogyny, and loneliness.]

Disco Elysium was released in 2019, and since then, there’s been an influx of “Disco-likes” trying to recapture its rare magic. One reason the dystopian detective RPG lives on is its unabashed exploration of protagonist Harrier “Harry” Du Bois’ deep-seated mental health issues.

In recent years, figures from podcasters to prime ministers have been embroiled in new conversations about men’s mental health, specifically, the male loneliness epidemic. This talking point is often used as a tool of misogyny to blame women for being too selective and not providing entitled men with sex. Often, the knee-jerk response to that argument is to blame men for their loneliness — some feminists have termed it, cheekily, the “male consequences epidemic.” While this view rightfully assigns men agency and acknowledges their privilege, it sometimes lacks perspective for the systems driving this behavior.

The entire framing of this conversation is wrong, though. There is no male loneliness epidemic, at least not in the simplified way most people have come to understand it. Loneliness across genders has been on the rise for decades as people spend more time at work and less time at home. While some studies have found gender disparities in loneliness, meta-analyses find similar rates of loneliness between men and women, and they highlight how both age and class account for larger loneliness gaps than gender.

Despite Disco Elysium predating this reckoning, its characters, worldbuilding, and mechanics offer a valuable lens for unpacking the myth of the male loneliness epidemic.

A world of broken men

Disco’s male characters offer snapshots of working-class men who struggle with social isolation caused by broader societal issues. In the aftermath of a thwarted communist revolution, the game’s fictional setting of Martinaise has no shortage of broken men. They’re plagued by union-busting corporations that employ paramilitary groups, drug smuggling rings, and in Harry’s case, an unsolved murder mystery and an existentially bad case of amnesia.