Disco Elysium - how and what:
4 Attributes 1-6, you get 12 points to distribute. The dice are 2 W6, double 1 auto fails, double 6 always passes skillcheck. Checks range from easy to impossible (roll 20), attributes, skill and dice roll add together.
Skills can be raised with skillpoint from earned XP after level caps are hit. Up to the max of the governing attribute. Ex.: Your Psy is 2 -> Authority skill can be raised by two points. Gives you 4 and now you can calculate your odds. Medium checks are 10 I think.
This cap can be breached with consumables and "thoughts".
Health and Morale serve as "hitpoints" - two skills govern how much you have. Consumables can restore. Pretty impossible to die, imo. Apart from start scene. Maybe when you pick a whackier build?
UI is point and click and highlight PoIs. PoIs only show if you're having enough skill to notice.
Dialogue plays big role. XP wise and story-wise. You can OCD pick all the options but the game might come around and break that wall. It should give you a line to get back and save face tho. Sometimes you will be asked about lore and whether you remembered it, but you probably won't be punished for forgetting stuff. There is quite the amount to digest.
Setting is kinda like hangover after roaring 30ies. It's not a historical setting tho. It's completely fictitious with historical elements. Think alternative Earth. It gets quite whacky at some point, which I didn't expect, but when it came I was intrigued. Like some French-Belgian artsy bande-dessinée.
It is mostly a detective story. It can be depressing at times I guess. I wasn't fan of lost memory detective trope but the game does seem to make a point about its distinction to "Déjà Vu" at some point. A nice nod to a classic.
At some point I felt stuck but pulled a lever I had hesitated to which opened new place to visit and some stuff resolves quite neatly and drove the story heavily onward. Don't hesitate to pull the lever.
And that's it. I'm in the middle of it. The story got an urgent twist. The setting became real whacky (in metaphysical sense) but it shouldn't affect the detective work too much. Or does it? Might be down to what kind of character you make.
Some stuff you simply dont pass the check for. Most can be rerolled when you raised the skill points. I don't really do it scientifically. I put stuff where I seem to lack punch or where I want my strenghts to be.
There is thought cabinet - game events can give you thoughts to equip that give boni/mali while reflected and usually boni when concluded. They can be equipped and "forgotten" (gone, gone) in the thought cabinet. Soemtimes they help advancing story.
Overall I like it so far. Equip some time to play. You will read quite a bit.