Esoteric Ebb, one of 2026's most acclaimed role-playing games, may look like Disco Elysium, but its creator says the real blueprint was the immersive-sim classic Deus Ex. Designer Christoffer Bodegard spent eight years building the CRPG, and he's already hinting that his next project could go first-person.
The game casts you as the world's worst cleric, tasked with unraveling the mystery behind an exploding tea shop on the eve of a fantasy realm's first-ever election. Built to capture the unpredictability of tabletop role-playing, it launched in March to rave reviews and commercial success. For more on the genre, browse our gaming coverage.
The Deus Ex influence
While comparisons to Disco Elysium are inevitable given the art style, Bodegard points to Deus Ex as a core inspiration. What he took from it wasn't the setting but the philosophy of choice: the idea that meaningful decisions don't have to happen in dialogue menus.
In his view, the most satisfying choices are spatial and physical — go left or right, climb up or drop down, crash through a window or pick the lock. That immersive-sim thinking runs through Esoteric Ebb's design, giving players room to solve problems their own way rather than picking lines of text.
Who is Christoffer Bodegard?
Bodegard got into PC gaming on a DOS machine handed down from his father, a product of a Swedish program that put computers in many households. Disney's "The Jungle Book" was his first game, but Dragon Age: Origins, which he played just before high school, is what made him fall in love with RPGs.
From there he worked through top-100 lists until he reached Planescape: Torment, which he credits with raising the bar for the entire genre. That deep grounding in both Dungeons & Dragons and classic CRPGs eventually pushed him to build one of his own.
What's on his PC
Asked about his own library, Bodegard revealed a strategy-heavy taste. He's a self-described Paradox superfan currently sinking time into Victoria 3, and the game he's logged the most legitimate hours in is Europa Universalis IV, supercharged by the fantasy total-conversion mod Anbennar.
The oldest title installed on his machine is Heroes of Might and Magic 3 from 1999, which sits at the top of his personal favorites list and which he still plays via the Horn of the Abyss mod. The one game he'll never uninstall is Deus Ex. For more studio and developer stories, see our latest news.
What comes next
Bodegard is still exploring ideas for his follow-up, which he says will reuse the technology he built for Esoteric Ebb, though it won't necessarily be a sequel. He's openly interested in making a first-person game in the vein of Ultima Underworld, and jokes about attempting an "Elder Scrolls killer" done in his own style.
One telling detail about how he works: his tool of choice for writing branching dialogue is a heavily modified Notepad++, prized for being lightweight and fast. He argues that when adding a new choice feels tedious, writers simply add fewer of them, so keeping the workflow frictionless is part of why Esoteric Ebb offers so many branches. Read more hands-on impressions in our reviews section.
Is Esoteric Ebb like Disco Elysium?
Visually, yes, but its creator cites Deus Ex as the deeper influence, especially its emphasis on choices made through action and exploration rather than dialogue alone.
Will there be a sequel to Esoteric Ebb?
Not necessarily. Bodegard plans to reuse the game's technology for his next project, but he hasn't committed to a direct sequel and is weighing a first-person direction.
