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GNOSIA

A hugely innovative single player social game, Gnosia blends Among Us with visual novels to create an entertaining (if slightly repetitive) experience.
GNOSIA Game Cover
91%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
grinding, optimization
94% User Score Based on 1,077 reviews
Critic Score 80%Based on 3 reviews

Platforms

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GNOSIA Game Cover

About

GNOSIA is a single player role playing game with horror, mystery, anime and science fiction themes. It was developed by Petit Depotto and was released on January 23, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and very positive reviews from players.

Gnosia is a detective game set in the world of science fiction, and it takes about 15 minutes to play, and each time you play it, the role of the main character and each character changes.

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94%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,077 reviews
story239 positive mentions
grinding46 negative mentions

  • Unique and engaging single-player social deduction gameplay inspired by Werewolf/Mafia/Among Us.
  • Strong character development with diverse, memorable personalities and AI behavior.
  • Compelling sci-fi time-loop story told through events unlocked across loops.
  • Addictive progression system with stats and skills leveling to influence debates.
  • Beautiful and distinctive watercolor art style paired with a fitting atmospheric soundtrack.
  • High replayability due to randomized roles, interactions, and customizable settings.
  • Repetitive gameplay and dialogue can lead to frustration and tedium especially mid-to-late game.
  • Randomness (RNG) in triggering story events and character interactions may require grinding or guides.
  • Early game difficulty with limited player influence can feel unfair and off-putting.
  • Some story threads are vague or underexplored and progression pacing is slow.
  • Minor UI and technical issues including lack of cloud saves, clunky menus, and controls on some platforms.
  • The game's nature and mechanics are niche and may not appeal to players seeking a traditional visual novel or multiplayer social deduction.
  • story
    668 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Gnosia offers a unique take on social deduction games by integrating a slowly unfolding, time-loop sci-fi narrative with engaging characters, revealed through multiple playthroughs and varied story events. While the story is praised for its intriguing plot, memorable cast, and emotional payoff, progression can feel grind-heavy and fragmented due to the RNG-dependent event triggers and repetitive gameplay loops. Overall, the story is compelling and well-crafted but requires patience to fully experience, making it especially rewarding for players who enjoy character-driven mysteries intertwined with roguelike mechanics.

    • “What sets Gnosia apart from other mafia/werewolf games is that it is a single-player, story- and character-driven social deduction game.”
    • “Gnosia is an absolute banger of a game, with great character writing, a decent amount of backstory for each of them, and a great story to go with it.”
    • “Beautiful art style, beautiful soundtracks, beautiful story.”
    • “On the downside, the game feels a bit slow as you go through the same loops, trying to trigger a specific event that will move the story forward.”
    • “The story is drip-fed to you, and if you spliced all the cutscenes together it's really a short story rather than a novel.”
    • “The game also does not tell you what the conditions for unlocking these events are until you've done them, so you're just playing rounds over and over waiting for the next story event to happen by accident.”
  • gameplay
    456 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay is a unique single-player social deduction loop inspired by werewolf/mafia mechanics, blending RPG stats and character personalities to create strategic and engaging debates. While initially complex and occasionally opaque, it becomes addictive and rewarding as players unlock new skills and story elements, though it can grow repetitive and grind-heavy after many loops. Overall, the gameplay strongly intertwines with the story and characters, offering a fresh, compelling experience for fans of social deduction games despite some criticisms about pacing and RNG influence.

    • “In the first loops it might look like everything is random and the game relies heavily on RNG, but as you go through more loops you learn slowly about the mechanics and skills and how it all works.”
    • “The characters and the gameplay are so well interlinked and polished that it's worth playing just for that.”
    • “The social deduction gameplay is super fun and very well designed.”
    • “Extremely boring game with lackluster story and gameplay mechanics.”
    • “The gameplay is abysmal.”
    • “The gameplay gets too formulaic after a while.”
  • music
    126 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in this game is widely praised for its unique, atmospheric, and immersive qualities, often described as haunting, futuristic, and emotionally impactful, greatly enhancing the overall experience. While the soundtrack is considered amazing and fitting to the game's mood, a few users note it can become repetitive and occasionally harsh on lower-end audio setups. Overall, the soundtrack is regarded as a standout feature that complements the art and story beautifully.

    • “The soundtrack is amazing, especially the main theme "Call of Ender" which gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it - at that point I knew I was in for something special.”
    • “The soundtrack, too, is wonderfully understated—atmospheric and occasionally haunting, helping to reinforce the game’s melancholic tone as you loop endlessly through scenarios, uncovering more about your crew and the Gnosia virus.”
    • “Edit (wrote this at the early hours of the morning): the music, absolutely outstanding such a varied and eerie vibe to it, very fitting in keeping the theme of the unknown and unsettling atmosphere of the world.”
    • “The game ost is far too repetitive.”
    • “It's the same song over and over.”
    • “It's just not enough variety of music.”
  • graphics
    77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's graphics are widely praised for their stunning, unique watercolor art style and intricate character designs that blend sleek sci-fi backgrounds with painterly textures, creating a distinctive and immersive visual experience. While the visuals primarily consist of still frames and static backgrounds, the art’s beauty and atmospheric aesthetic strongly complement the story and characters, enhancing the overall appeal. Many reviewers highlight the graphics as a standout feature, often alongside the equally praised soundtrack.

    • “Gnosia has lovely watercolor artwork, a touching story, and an unconventional soundtrack that strengthens the whole experience.”
    • “The painterly textured character art in contrast with the metallic, sleek spaceship backgrounds gives this game a very intricate, flamboyant, and bizarre look—making the visuals wonderfully distinct.”
    • “The art style is absolutely stunning and unique.”
    • “Graphics are okay — still shots on static backgrounds, but the story ended up making up for everything else.”
    • “While its visuals are made of still frames and text, the majority of the game focuses on logic, and it's good at that, but it's hard at times to really understand the thinking of the AI.”
    • “Hopefully it gets remastered with proper voice acting, a graphics overhaul, and an expanded story.”
  • emotional
    53 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game delivers a deeply emotional experience through its compelling time loop narrative and richly developed, diverse characters, often eliciting strong feelings such as attachment, sadness, and warmth. Players frequently praise its touching story, surprising emotional twists, and heartfelt moments that blend humor, mystery, and poignancy, making it a memorable and immersive journey. While the ending is sometimes viewed as abrupt, it still provides significant emotional impact, leaving many players moved and eager to replay.

    • “Completing it left me breathless, but the story itself is impeccable, truly emotional with getting attached to the characters.”
    • “Truly, after playing this game for so long I fell in love with Setsu... I thank this game for creating such a sublime and splendid character and I shed a tear at the true ending.”
    • “I'm at my second playthrough and I still managed to get emotional and fully involved in the story, and keep finding myself wanting to replay it over and over because that's just how good the game is to me.”
    • “I've seen a more boring story in a Chinese novel, and even that felt better than this; at least I experienced novelty and horror then.”
  • grinding
    48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is often described as tedious and repetitive, especially in the mid to late stages where unlocking specific story events requires significant stat farming and meeting obscure conditions. While some players find the grind frustrating and slow-paced, others appreciate the gameplay loop and character reveals, feeling the payoff at the end justifies the effort. Overall, grinding is a divisive aspect that can detract from the experience but is integral to progressing the narrative.

    • “I'd recommend not grinding it as fast as I did.”
    • “The game has a low story-to-gameplay ratio and is quite grindy to unlock the various story and lore bits.”
    • “Also, to learn those quirks you'll have to make different "combos" of roles and characters just to get a new scene, and by the end of the game this starts to get really tedious because the game doesn't give you any clues as to what exactly you need to do.”
    • “There are occasional moments where you feel like you're grinding more than you're discovering, and the lack of control over when key plot beats occur can make the experience feel aimless for brief stretches.”
  • character development
    33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The character development in the game is widely praised for its unique, creative, and visually striking designs, each with distinct personalities that enrich the story and interactions. While the narrative depth unfolds gradually, the well-crafted character interactions and intriguing time loop concept add emotional engagement and freshness. Some minor criticisms note occasional uneven designs or repetitive elements, but overall the characters are seen as a major strength that brings the game to life.

    • “The character design, the lore behind them, history, interactions, sfx, and even the gameplay mechanics, even though it's a visual novel style, is just so well done—a true diamond and one of my all-time favorites.”
    • “The art direction and character designs are great, and each character's storyline weaves into others' in interesting and unexpected ways.”
    • “Each character feels unique and has their own personality, supported by impressive programming where stats and tendencies make the loops feel like a genuine mystery to solve.”
    • “The art is beautiful, but I must say that some characters have a terrible character design (yup, the gray alien is a complete waste of screen) and that was a disappointment.”
    • “There are a few iffy designs or eye-rolling moments (mainly Comet I think, but the general art and other character designs are great), some bad endings that are brief and subtle but maybe uncomfortable.”
    • “One of the game's biggest strengths to me were the art style, the futuristic colorful and also some strange character designs and of course the story with the main gameplay loop falling a little flat deep into the loops due to it feeling a little grindy at that point with me trying to get the last of the character notes.”
  • atmosphere
    21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game boasts a strong, immersive atmosphere marked by distinctive characters, charming worldbuilding, and a haunting, understated soundtrack that enhances its melancholic and tense tone. Its unique art style and narrative create a compelling, suspenseful environment reminiscent of but more immediate than similar titles, effectively drawing players into the gameplay loop. Overall, the atmosphere is praised for being captivating, eerie, and integral to the game's compelling experience.

    • “Alongside a seriously immersive atmosphere, the characters pull you in completely.”
    • “The soundtrack is wonderfully understated—atmospheric and occasionally haunting, reinforcing the game’s melancholic tone as you loop through scenarios, uncovering more about your crew and the gnosia virus.”
    • “The atmosphere and tone are brilliantly set up, with interesting story and diverse play styles that integrate deception and strategy into the gameplay.”
  • replayability
    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers extensive replayability through diverse character behaviors, customizable roles, and randomized elements that keep each playthrough fresh. Its deep narrative, memorable characters, and evolving storylines encourage players to explore various outcomes and uncover lore over multiple sessions. While some event triggers may require patience, the overall design ensures long-term engagement and repeated enjoyment.

    • “Every character genuinely has its own list of affinities, changes its stance depending on what is going on, stat checks, or abilities, and acts on their beliefs without any cheating. It genuinely creates a lot of replayability for me.”
    • “Tons of replayability, fascinating characters and story, unique and subtle soundtrack, and utterly addictive gameplay make this game a special gem among the sea of visual novels to choose from.”
    • “There is a lot going on underneath the hood here, and it culminates in a unique experience that definitely leaves room for replayability.”
    • “No replayability value at all.”
    • “Getting some of the event dialogue to proc is a little tedious, but at the same time there is a lot of replayability if you're not going for story beats.”
    • “The loops being randomized definitely let it keep much replay value; in the end, I do recommend this game if you want something to keep you entertained in a 'I want to pick apart the lore' kind of way; just be wary, it'll take some time for it to make sense.”
  • humor
    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's humor is well-crafted, blending clever, situational jokes with emotional depth, resulting in moments that are both funny and touching. It features memorable character-driven comedic events and unexpected humorous twists that keep the tone engaging without becoming boring. Overall, the humor strikes a balance between lightheartedness and sincerity, enhancing the story and gameplay experience.

    • “It dares to be well written, with humor that lands, with situations that pull you in, while accomplishing so much else.”
    • “Several of the special character events made me laugh pretty hard.”
    • “It can be funny and clever, but it also never bores you with long flashbacks or something like this.”
  • optimization
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization revolves around strategically allocating and leveling up various stats like logic, charisma, performance, stealth, and intuition, which directly impact gameplay effectiveness such as debating, lying, and detecting deception. Players can customize their build to suit different play styles, enhancing specific skills to overcome challenges or avoid suspicion. This system offers a flexible and engaging way to optimize character abilities for success in different scenarios.

    • “You allocate stat points to skills like logic, charisma, performance, stealth, and intuition, all of which influence how well you can debate, lie, detect lies, or avoid suspicion.”
    • “There are some stats that you can increase by gaining experience after each loop: charisma, intuition, logic, charm, performance and stealth.”
    • “By the end of the game, I basically only lose if the enemy exploits my lowest stats, like getting attacked due to my low stealth or getting caught in a lie due to low performance.”
    • “This ties into the fact that you get to choose your own stats and build and decide the approach you want to take; I went extremely high in intuition (spotting lies), performance (telling lies) and logic, but was generally weak in terms of keeping below the radar and lost a bunch of sessions because I made too many folks angry even when I was right about something.”
    • “For crew stats, I went for stealth, charm, and intuition but when I play as the gnosia, I went for charisma and performance and for skills, logic!”
  • stability
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is a buggy port, causing stability issues for some users, though others have reported playing without any glitches or bugs. Overall, stability appears inconsistent across different experiences.

    • “This is an unfortunately buggy port of an otherwise fantastic visual novel.”
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17h Median play time
18h Average play time
7-26h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 9 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

GNOSIA is a role playing game with horror, mystery, anime and science fiction themes.

GNOSIA is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, iPhone and others.

On average players spend around 18 hours playing GNOSIA.

GNOSIA was released on January 23, 2022.

GNOSIA was developed by Petit Depotto.

GNOSIA has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked GNOSIA for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

GNOSIA is a single player game.

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