Attributes

Attributes are a mechanic in Disco Elysium. Chosen at game start, they determine your starting skillset, as well as the general flavour of the playthrough.

General[]

The player's choice of attributes will impact their Skills, with every skill under the attribute starting with a value equal to it.
With every attribute set to 1, the player has a total of 8 points to distribute, potentially being able to set the attributes to 3-3-3-3.
However, the game encourages the player to try out a diverse skillset, emphasizing some attributes at the cost of others. This can be done through the archetype selection, meant to offer preset configurations that deliver a particular game experience. Note that there is no archetype specializing in the Motorics attribute, as it is generally considered secondary (though still very useful to have).
The highest an attribute can go is 6, considered a "Genius"-level ability.

List[]

Intellect[]

Raw brain power, how smart you are. Your capacity to reason.

Psyche[]

Sensitivity, how emotionally intelligent you are. Your power to influence yourself and others.

Physique[]

Your musculature, how strong you are. How well your body is built.

Motorics[]

Your senses, how agile you are. How well you move your body.

Archetypes[]

Thinker[]

Extremely intelligent. Very bad with people. Knows interesting facts, comes up with original ideas.

5 Intellect, 1 Psyche, 2 Physique, 4 Motorics
Signature skill: Encyclopedia

Sensitive[]

Very psychological. A magnetic personality, but unstable. (Might begin to lose his mind.)

1 Intellect, 5 Psyche, 4 Physique, 2 Motorics
Signature skill: Inland Empire

Physical[]

Extremely physical. Interacts with the world through his body. Gets things done, but dumb as a rock.

1 Intellect, 2 Psyche, 5 Physique, 4 Motorics Signature skill: Hand/Eye Coordination