Gnosia [Switch]

[brat-sampson]

Interesting little one this. Originally released on the Vita only in Japan a couple of years ago, it just came out in the West on the Switch. Essentially it's a fully-fledged single-player version of Among Us/Warewolf/Mafia in an Anime/Sci-Fi aesthetic with some overarching Visual Novel-style plot. You're in a time loop, waking up with a selection of characters some of whom are actually Gnosis, creatures that look and behave just like people but actually wanna kill them for... reasons, I imagine. These must be voted out to death (or Cold Sleep in this case) at a rate of one per day after a round of debates where characters can call each other sus, deny it, back each other up, etc. No tasks, just sheer bluffery. Every night though, if there are Gnosis left, one innocent crew member will cark it. Crew wins if all Gnosis are voted out, Gnosis win if they equal the no. of remaining crew. Then you start a new loop, up to 15 characters again, randomly assigned again. Throw in an engineer who can select one person each day and discover if they're human or not for sure, but will the be believed against a Gnosis claiming actually *they're* the engineer? And numerous other roles that come up as time goes by, the guardian angel, the Bug, the human who actually wants the Gnosis to win so lies all the time, etc.



Loops themselves are relatively short, and the whole system's based around a system of stats that you can level up (each NPC has a set stat layout that remains fixed, whether Gnosis or Human) which affect your ability to influence people, how much people like you, how good you are at lying, how long you can remain silent without being suspicious, etc, etc.  I was expecting something like 999 or Danganronpa but really it's a very different thing with almost an almost audible number of cogs ticking away underneath. There is progress overall, with a full twisty Sci-Fi story, but it's slow, and based on unlocking Events with each character over many many loops dependent on you/them being in the right roles in the right scenario etc. There's even a hint system for what to 'aim' for if you're going too many loops without progress. Luckily the main gameplay... loop is pretty addictive when you get into it and the AI does a great job at considering all the variables. It's like each loop is a fun little* mini-detective game of logic where if this person claimed this then that means Y must be lying, but why would they be casting so much doubt on X then unless *they* were in on it too, or maybe they're trying to... and so going back through the arguments made can be really helpful even if at other times, especially near the start it can feel more like luck, especially as investigating too visibly or trying too hard but failing to get a Gnosis caught can just lead to your own death that night.

Shoutout as well to the characters, who are a great mix, from a mute to a Grey to a dolphin in a chair, and have a solid variety of Male, Female, and NB (you can set yourself to any as well).



Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HfLVBQWXHo

Dev Interview:

https://www.polygon.com/features/2021/3/2/22309639/gnosia-imposter-game-vita-nintendo-switch

*each run is only about 15m if that

[Consignia]

It does look quite fun. How visual novely is it, i.e. how much of the game is spent character portraits talking as opposed to the gameplay? I find I tire of visual novels recently, so I'd hope it'd have a decent mix. I do love the zero escape games though.

Looking at the price, I reckon it's something I'd keep eye on if there's a discount.

[brat-sampson]

It's definitely more Phoenix Wright than Steins;Gate. They made a Mafia simulator with a plot, rather than a plot with occasional rounds of Mafia. I mean the Mafia part is also pretty much all dialogue and menu selections, but that's kinda what Mafia *is*, so hard to avoid it. There's no Tasks like in Among Us, so it's really just choosing when to chime in about how someone's Sus, when to keep quiet, whether to back up or deny other people's assertions etc, but there's nothing really 'happening' outside of that. Loop starts and Bam, you're in the meeting room either unveiling a new mechanic or preparing for the first vote. Votee goes bye bye, it's night time, level up or make some choices, see what happens overnight and Bam, day 2, meeting room again. It really just throws you in, but there's no penalty for losing or making wrong decisions, you just get less experience than if you win and Bam, another Loop. I went in kind-of expecting a VN and currently I'm mostly impressed by the AI and game complexity, and I'm still relatively early on. Guard Duty just got introduced (two humans who know FOR SURE they're each human and can choose to reveal this or not, and Gnosis can't fake it) and haven't seen a Bug yet.

[brat-sampson]

Ok, Bugs... So bear in mind it does layer all this stuff in gradually, so it's not as bad as it sounds, but yeesh. So. If a Bug is still alive at the end of the game, regardless of which side won, the Bug wins and the universe is destroyed. Also Gnosis can't kill them, but they can be voted out and also they die if Investigated by an engineer, so engineers should prioritise trying to hunt out and destroy bugs. Also Bugs can claim to be the engineer.



Yeah.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Great thread, thanks for this. It sounds really interesting.