Dyscourse
- March 25, 2015
- Owlchemy Labs
- 4h median play time
Get on Steam"Dyscourse" is a single-player simulation game featuring fabulous visuals and a good soundtrack. As Rita, a plane crash survivor, players navigate choices that determine their group's survival on a deserted island, leading to diverse, emergent stories with over 120,000 words of unique, replayable content. Humorous and sometimes dark, the game forges your story through critical and interpersonal decisions.
Mac OS
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Reviews
- The art style is charming and visually appealing, enhancing the overall experience.
- The game offers a wide variety of choices that significantly impact the story, encouraging multiple playthroughs.
- The humor and quirky character interactions add a fun element to the gameplay.
- The game is very short, with a typical playthrough lasting around an hour, which may not justify the price.
- Character development is lacking, with many characters feeling like one-dimensional stereotypes.
- Some choices feel arbitrary and do not lead to meaningful consequences, diminishing the impact of player decisions.
- story190 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 74 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The game's story is characterized by its branching paths and the significant impact of player choices, allowing for multiple playthroughs to explore different outcomes. However, many players find the narrative to be clichéd and lacking depth, with some expressing disappointment in the limited decision points and character development. While the art style and humor are praised, the overall storytelling experience is seen as inconsistent, with some players feeling that it fails to fully engage them.
“The great thing about this game is that there are so many ways to go through it and see a story unfold... who lives... who dies... all the zany situations... and all in a nice relaxing game atmosphere with easy mood music that still suits the scenes.”
“Dyscourse is a wonderfully unique little game, with gameplay somewhere between a 'choices matter' consequences game and a choose-your-own-adventure/visual novel with storyline branching, character affinity, and multiple endings.”
“Going through the story once hasn't taken me more than 2 hours, but don't let that make you think this game is small-- it's packed with tons of different paths to take in the storyline, with each path revealing a different part of the story.”
“How can you have a story-based game with just no interesting story?”
“The short days (1 day consisted of feeding 2 people and sleeping) and poor storytelling deterred me as a player.”
“The story is horrendously generic (plane crash, desert island, etc.), and none of the characters do a lick to improve on that.”
- graphics80 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising its charming and unique art style that enhances the overall experience. While some players find the visuals delightful and fitting for the game's quirky tone, others criticize the graphics as basic and lacking depth. Overall, the art direction is often highlighted as the game's strongest asset, despite some dissatisfaction with character designs and animations.
“The art style is beautiful, and things can get pretty crazy pretty quickly.”
“The art style and colors are masterful, and the original soundtrack is beautiful.”
“The game's graphical style and aesthetic is its strongest asset, and there's some good elements of storytelling here.”
“The game has a charming art style, but I found everything else about it to be quite lacking and simple.”
“Really basic graphics, basic story.”
“Didn't like the controls, wasn't fond of the graphics, and the 'language' was just... strange.”
- gameplay42 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 81 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Dyscourse is characterized by limited mechanics, primarily revolving around dialogue choices and simple puzzles, leading to a short experience of about 1-4 hours. While the game offers branching narratives and multiple endings, many players feel it lacks depth and complexity, making it more of an interactive story than a traditional game. The addition of a 'day rewind' feature allows for some replayability, but overall, the gameplay is seen as simplistic and somewhat tedious, leaving some players wanting more for the price.
“However, the addition of a 'day rewind' feature after you've played through the story once, allowing you to reset to any given day on your current adventure, will please those wanting to test out different permutations of the plot mechanics and achievement hunters alike.”
“Dyscourse is a wonderfully unique little game, with gameplay somewhere between a 'choices matter' consequences game and a CYOA/visual novel with storyline branching, character affinity, and multiple endings.”
“Dyscourse is a great game, one of the best games I have ever played. You get to choose your path, your choices will affect the gameplay. If you end up getting the game, I suggest playing it again; you might get a different ending, maybe you end up with another survivor, or maybe you lose a fellow survivor.”
“If it's not on sale, the price is perhaps on the high side – having clocked four hours of gameplay, I doubt I'll go back for more.”
“Although you can explore different branches of the decision tree, the gameplay itself is quite limited and the story really doesn't change much (though the particulars do).”
“Absence of gameplay: it's pretty tough to call this game a game; there isn't really anything game-like involved with it.”
- humor42 mentions
- 95 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding it hilariously over-the-top and charming, while others criticize it as shallow and unfunny. Many appreciate the entertaining dialogue and cartoonish style that lighten darker themes, though some feel the humor falls flat or fails to resonate emotionally. Overall, the game offers a blend of silly and grim humor, appealing to those who enjoy quirky characters and slapstick elements, but may disappoint those seeking deeper comedic writing.
“It's hilariously funny and over the top.”
“The writing is really entertaining; the humorous dialog combined with the cartoonish style definitely help to keep the mood light, even when you're dealing with stuff like murder & cannibalism.”
“This game has a great story, great artwork, very funny stereotypical characters, it's a replayable game and the choices you make in this game totally reflect the reality of what it would be like if you were stranded on a desert island.”
“Some rather blatant and therefore unfunny references here and there, along with occasionally unwitty writing. It seems that this style isn't in vogue nowadays, so no sweat.”
“Some rather blatant and therefore unfunny references here and there, along with occasionally unwitty writing. It seems that this style isn't in vogue nowadays, so no sweat.”
- music32 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the soundtrack for its ability to enhance the atmosphere and mood of various scenes. While some describe the music as enjoyable and fitting, others feel it could have been more developed to elevate the overall experience. Overall, the soundtrack is often highlighted as a strong point, contributing positively to the game's charm and storytelling.
“The great thing about this game is that there are so many ways to go through it and see a story unfold... who lives... who dies... all the zany situations... and all in a nice relaxing game atmosphere with easy mood music that still suits the scenes.”
“The art style and colors are masterful, and the original soundtrack is beautiful.”
“Music adds a lot to the mood of each scene, and the writing is smart and charming.”
“The music isn't great.”
“I don't know why, but I hate everything about this game: the graphics, the animation, the music, the plot, the characters, dialogues.”
“Along with the soundtrack, the voices sounded quite condemned and therefore dramatic; I spent some time trying to imitate it.”
- replayability32 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 66 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
Overall, the game offers a mixed but generally positive view on replayability. Many players appreciate the short playthroughs and branching paths that lead to different outcomes, enhancing the replay value significantly. However, some users feel that the game's repetitive elements and limited novelty may hinder long-term replay interest.
“Dyscourse has very short sessions; however, the utilization of branching paths and multiple endings encourages replayability.”
“Each playthrough is short - around 15-30 minutes each, but with a lot of replay value due to the amount of choice throughout the game, resulting in many different stories and outcomes.”
“An incredibly short game, but you get to have many decisions that can radically change the game's story, so the game definitely has a lot of replayability and it has some charm too.”
“Plus you can't really speed through a lot of the game that you've seen so many times already, so the replay value is a little low for me.”
“However... the game does claim to have a large amount of replayability, but I have yet to find it.”
“It's not as funny as it might be, but it manages to eke enough out of its cookie-cutter characters to raise its replay value.”
- emotional10 mentions
- 80 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The game struggles to evoke genuine emotional responses, with characters often appearing bored and humor that feels more slapstick than impactful. This lack of emotional depth and meaningful choices diminishes its potential, especially when compared to more successful titles from Bioware and Telltale. Overall, the narrative's predictability and clichéd elements hinder its ability to resonate with players.
“The lack of emotional impact when making a choice or dealing with its consequences contrasts with its superior competitors from Bioware and Telltale games.”
“Unfortunately, it is not very funny nor is it very touching, despite subject matter and dialogue that suggests that it is trying to accomplish both of these things.”
“Maybe the lame, rote, predictable, cliched, boring story just doesn't lend itself to a long lifespan of playability.”
- atmosphere8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is noted for effectively supporting the storytelling and character design, yet opinions are divided, with some players expressing dissatisfaction. While some appreciate the relaxing mood and music that complement the narrative, others rate the atmosphere poorly, indicating a lack of personal enjoyment. Overall, the atmosphere is seen as a mixed bag, enhancing the experience for some while detracting for others.
“The great thing about this game is that there are so many ways to go through it and see a story unfold... who lives... who dies... all the zany situations... and all in a nice relaxing game atmosphere with easy mood music that still suits the scenes.”
“The atmosphere really supports the storytelling and the character design, but I just kind of didn't like that atmosphere.”
“Atmosphere - 4/10”
“The atmosphere really supports the storytelling and the character design, but I just kind of didn't like that atmosphere.”
- character development8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is criticized for being weak, with some character deaths feeling cheap and coincidental, seemingly forced to fit the narrative. While the atmosphere and storytelling are supported by the art style, which some players found initially unappealing but grew to appreciate, the character designs themselves remain a point of contention. Overall, the game does not excel in graphics or character design, impacting the depth of character development.
“It does suffer with some character development and deaths that are a bit cheap and coincidental and just try to fit the story.”
“The atmosphere really supports the storytelling and the character design, but I just kind of didn't like that atmosphere.”
“It won't blow you away with graphics, animations, or character designs, but the art style itself is a change of pace from what one would typically see.”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be somewhat tedious, particularly after the initial playthrough, as it lacks tension. However, the achievement system serves as a motivating factor to encourage replayability and exploration of different paths.
“Besides the artistic graphics style, I found this game tedious.”
“I've played through three times (and my sister played it halfway through once). The thing is, the game lacks tension and can be really tedious—especially after the first playthrough.”
“That's not to say it doesn't sometimes get tedious to replay, but the achievement system in place is a really good motivator to unlock particular paths.”
