Mechanically, Disco Elysium is shockingly similar to the Quest for Glory series. You choose one of three archtypical character builds (or roll your own) and dive into a freeform world where many of the “puzzles” are optional, there are multiple paths through the story, and most challenges can be solved in several different ways.
There are differences and significant quality-of-life improvements of course!
The stats are simpler, which leads to more concise storytelling. The game shows you the odds of success, and tells you what to do to increase them pretty well. It even uses “showing you the odds” as a story beat in and of itself sometimes.
It also encourages you to try things. Consequences are interesting and realistic. Rather than achieving some optimal outcome as an old Q4G game would, Disco Elysium encourages you to steamroll ahead and accept whatever interesting consequences arise from your actions.
