GNOSIA – Review

Our Score: 8/10

Faced with a strange and deadly menace known as the “Gnosia” and having no idea who among them is truly the enemy, the crew of a drifting spaceship devises a desperate scheme for survival. In order to rid the ship of Gnosia, the most suspicious of them will be placed into “cold slumber” one by one.

The Gnosia is a deception. They’ll go close, fool and deceive, and then eliminate one victim at a time, all while pretending to be human…

What is Gnosia?

Gnosia is a Sci-Fi Social Deduction RPG in which you will interact with a range of distinct personalities in order to locate the Gnosia among them. Players must utilise any knowledge they can obtain during the conversations to figure out who they believe is Gnosia, and then vote to put them to sleep. Your powers will grow as you play, but so will the crew. It will become increasingly difficult to establish who is telling the truth as the number of crew members, Gnosia, and numerous “roles” grows. To ensure your survival until the finish, work with or against other members of the crew.

Gameplay

Play through “loops” over and over, triggering rare occurrences to solve mysteries in a completely new story. During talks, some occurrences will unlock new commands for you to employ. Take on a number of roles to build different types of characters. Your statistics will influence how well you can persuade or deceive the group. As well as your chances of getting selected for cold sleep. Interact with an intriguing and diverse group of characters and take part in randomly generated events, each one distinct to its topic. In the form of special “Notes,” character events will provide information about your crewmates.

Gnosia is not only a single “mafia” game, but also a temporal loop. You’re trapped in a never-ending round of suspicion theatre. The mystery deepens as more crew members join in, Gnosia hides in greater numbers, and special crew duties become available.

Using the experience points obtained while looping, your own character can improve these attributes. You’ll eventually gain talents that you can employ in arguments; for example, rather than merely agreeing that someone is suspicious, you might exaggerate how dodgy they are in the hopes of drawing the group’s attention to them. Others, of course, can use these powers as well, and focusing too much attention on oneself could backfire, making you appear suspicious—or even a delectable prey for the Gnosia.

Look and Feel

Gnosia is a great-looking Visual Novel. It’s loud and it’s bright which tends to subvert its darker and malevolent theme. The art style is quite good looking with the various other visual elements fitting the theme too. Since you will be reading a lot, the font used is easily legible. It doesn’t strain the eyes during prolonged sessions.

Final Verdict

Gnosia is a fantastic single-player Mafia-style visual novel. With so much intrigue, a time loop mechanic, and incredibly interesting characters, this game packs quite a punch. Once you’re invested in the game it can be hard to put it down.