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What Is 'Lovely Lady RPG' And Why Are People Comparing It To 'Disco Elysium'? The Indie Video Game Explained
It's hard to overstate the impact that Disco Elysium had on RPG games, with a recent release very much in the vein of the game capturing the attention of indie gamers this past month.
Lovely Lady RPG is a video game created by Mia Cain, which follows a story that opens in a manner similar to Disco Elysium. The protagonist wakes up in a room with no recollection of who she is or how she got there. The only thing that she seems to be equipped with is a "cosmic orb" embedded in her chest, which the anthropomorphic mouse-lady keeps as she wanders around a setting akin to 1930s Britain.
But even as Lovely Lady RPG continues to gain players and fans, other internet users have criticized what little they have seen of the game's writing, joking about how it resembles Disco Elysium if it were made for Redditor.
So what exactly is Lovely Lady RPG, and why is it receiving mixed criticism from people around social media lately? Let's explain.
What Is 'Lovely Lady RPG' And Who Made It?
Lovely Lady RPG is an indie role-playing game created by Mia Cain, a developer who published the game on Itch.io in early September 2024. The game follows a transgender anthropomorphic mouse-woman as she wanders around town and talks to other people, trying to regain her memory.
The official description of the game reads as follows:
Ok listen up. Lovely Lady RPG is a game about wandering around and just sort of seeing what happens. After waking up with a hole in her ceiling, a cosmic space Orb embedded in her chest, and no recollection of basically anything, Ghost sets out to continue her life as best she can.
How Did Fans React To 'Lovely Lady RPG'?
Many internet users gave rave reviews to Lovely Lady RPG posting screenshots and excerpts of the game's dialogue. Much of the gameplay appeared to have strong sapphic tones, showing the female protagonist expressing their attraction to other women in the game. X users @Devon_OnEarth and @neuroshmancer made posts about the dialogue, calling it "Game of the Year" and the "realist" 'ish they've seen all year.
Also on September 21st, Tumblr user @garbagewitchy posted a Sickos Ha Ha Yes meme depicting who they called the "problematic squeaker."
Why Are Some 'Disco Elysium' Fans Criticizing 'Lovely Lady RPG'?
Several internet users made posts about how they saw Lovely Lady RPG as a worse version of Disco Elysium, the well-received RPG with a similar serif font sidebar dialogue box that received critical acclaim after its 2019 release.
On September 23rd, 2024, X user @bobo_circus quoted a tweet about the game, writing, "Making a game for annoying gay people with that exact disco elysium sidebar is really nasty work," while X user @guydebordgyatt wrote, "Disco elysium if instead of having the best writing anything ever had it had the worst writing anything ever had."
The most damning criticism of Lovely Lady RPG seems to be that it's too "Reddit," a derogatory categorization internet users use to describe things that are dated, corny or out of touch, among other sentiments.
The game has been out for just shy of a month, so there's still time to see where general consensus on the game lands. For now, it seems as though it has divided players between those who love it and those who can't help but cringe at some of the snippets they see of it making the rounds.
For the full history of Lovely Lady RPG, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
