Disco Elysium: How to pass time? Disco Elysium guide, walkthrough
Accelerating the passage of time in the game Disco Elysium will make it easier for you to wait for important timed events. From the tutorial you will learn how to easily spend your free time and force a quick change of the current time.
Last update: 06 August 2024
Is there an easy way in Disco Elysium to speed up the passage of time? On this page of our guide, we explain whether it is possible, and if it is, how to fast-forward time. This may help you go straight to events that you know will take place on certain time of the day. The two main options here are using books and benches encountered in the world of the game.
On a separate Is there time limit? page of our guide, we explain what actions cause the time to pass, how each day is structured in the game, and how to recognize tasks that have a time limit.
Reading books
- Reading books is the main and the best way of enforcing passage of time.
- The easiest way of getting a book is visiting the bookstore - it is found west of Whirling-in-Rags, the hostel where you've begun the game. The store is open for business during daylight hours.
- In the store you can approach various shelves with books. The basic option here is buying a book - nevertheless, know that a single book can cost even up to a few reals.
- Sometimes, you can make an attempt to steal a book - a skill check has to be completed to do that and we strongly recommend saving your progress before attempting this, as the check cannot be repeated.
- If you have a book (any kind) already, open your inventory and go to the interactive objects tab. Select a book from the list and press the interaction button.
- Reading a fragment of the book should fast-forward time by several minutes. Additionally, it's worth reading through the entire book to get an XP bonus associated with it. You can repeat the process any number of times you like, and each interaction should cause the time to pass. Repeat the action until you reach the desired time.
Resting on benches
- Benches are found in different locations of the world, and for example, one can be located in a square neighboring Whirling-in-Rags.
- Unfortunately, by default, Kim will prevent you from using this technique, instead encouraging the main character to continue with the investigation instead of idling the time on a bench. Resting on a bench is possible only if Kim is currently not in the party. To remove the unwanted company, you can send him away in the final hours of the day after returning to the hostel room or the Shack on the coast (before interacting with the bed).
Unique story events
- Some quests may contain scenes where the passage of time is accelerated by a large amount. An example of such an event is an attempt to wait for the owner of the vehicle drowned in ice in the western part of the map (screenshot above) This interaction causes the time to fast-forward even by up to a few hours.
Such situations may be undesirable, as you may "waste" a part of the day that you could have used for something more fruitful. We recommend saving the game and checking the clock after each major event. Scenes that fast-forward time are best left for later hours and should be activated only after completing all of the important tasks from the day.