Gnosia

is a 2019 visual novel social deduction role-playing game developed by Petit Depotto. It was originally released in June 2019 for the PlayStation Vita, and was ported to the Nintendo Switch in December 2020, with a Windows version released in January 2022.

Gameplay

This game uses a visual novel role-playing game format mixed with an RNG social deduction game. It is single player and utilizes a timeloop structure to create new situations. Aboard a spaceship, the player and several NPCs must deduce who on board is a Gnosia, an alien-like creature that will kill the regular humans on board. The player works with the NPCs to suss out and nominate the potential Gnosia suspects and put them into cryo-sleep. The player can also be Gnosia, in which case they know the other Gnosia on board and will work together to try to eliminate the humans. The number of Gnosia as well as the number of NPCs on board as well as the player's role, is determined prior to each loop beginning. In addition to regular humans and Gnosia, there are other roles, including the Doctor (who can investigate the recently frozen NPCs and determine if they were human or not), the Engineer (who can investigate non-frozen characters to determine if they are human), the Guardian Angel (who can protect high-risk targets from elimination by the Gnosia), and the Bug (who is essentially playing for themselves, trying to stay alive to the end of the round and seizing victory for themselves, destroying the universe).

Throughout playing these loops the player will encounter many events with the other characters, which provides additional backstory to them as well as the universe they are in. In order to get to the ending of the game, the player must encounter all of these events first, many of which are locked behind a specific set of parameters for each loop. The game allows for an "event search" function on the ruleset screen, which lets you make it more likely to run into the events triggering.

Development

''Gnosia''s development first began in 2015 by four-person indie studio Petit Depotto. It was originally planned for the PlayStation Mobile, but was in announced in 2017 instead announced to be developed for the PlayStation Vita. Mebius released the game in Japan for the PlayStation Vita on June 6, 2019, and Petit Depotto self-published a Japanese Nintendo Switch version the following year on December 17, 2020. The Nintendo Switch version was published internationally in English on March 4, 2021 by Playism. A Microsoft Windows version was released on January 23, 2022 in English, Japanese, and Chinese, following a delay from 2021.

Reception

''Gnosia'' received generally positive reviews from video game critics. It received a score of 82 on MetaCritic based on 39 reviews, ranging from a perfect 100 from Digitally Downloaded to a 40% from Switch Brasil. Mollie Patterson of Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the game's single-player adaptation of a typically multiplayer affair, stating: "arguing against the computer in an attempt to determine who is the human-killing alien in your group is far more dynamic and exciting than you’d ever expect this type of game to be." Nintendo Life's Trent Cannon found joy in the "clever, varied game design," deeming it perfect for both short or long gaming sessions.

Heidi Kemps of GameSpot offered both compliments and criticisms, lauding ''Gnosia's'' "intriguing story that slowly reveals its truths, keeping you interested in coming back for more," while lamenting the lack of character dialogue during discussions. Heather Johnson Yu of HeyPoorPlayer echoed Kemps' sentiments, both negative and positive, with a glowing addition that ''Gnosia'' was "my contender for GOTY 2021." The limited dialogue options were a dealbreaker for Igor Rangel of Switch Brasil, who considered the immersion "shallow" and suggested voice acting to offset the response issues.

Notes

References

External links

*{{official website, http://d-mebius.com/gnosias/

2019 video games
Nintendo Switch games
Playism games
PlayStation Vita games
Role-playing video games
Single-player video games
Social deduction video games
Video games about time loops
Video games developed in Japan
Visual novels
Windows games