Ossuary

I am a sucker for a good story. I am intrigued by Ossuary's spin on philosophy. One of Ossuary's best qualities, is that it seems to cover every angle and every side. Five Sides preferably (Including the roof). I really appreciate the amount of time it must have taken to compile all of the character dialogue. It is in depth and interesting (thought provoking). As I continue playing I will update my opinion. I am convinced my opinion will be the same however. Ossuary? Awesome, Very! ~kingofhearts2540~

I would liken this more to an interactive novel than a game. The dialog was interesting, but overall I didn't think it was worth the time I put into it.

What a game, it is one of its kind. It is a real gem that most of the people will overlook. Ossuary is intelligent, immersive, makes you think long after. The creator said in his notes that concept of discordianism is dear to him. Well, this game is now dear to me.

https://youtu.be/yQ88y6GNbVs Ossuary is one confusing game, but I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing. The main focus of the game is the 5 areas to this world, Prudence, Temperance, Justice, Fortitude and Order. You travel to these locations as people in the areas talk about what they stand for, but as you talk to more of them you realize what they speak of may not be as righteous as it sounds. You will use all 7 of the deadly sins to make people change their ways, solve mysteries, and uncover the truth behind this world. For a story driven mystery game, I give it 6 of the deadly sins out of 10

A very atmospheric exploration game. Lots of dialog, and a few puzzles, most of which are dialog-driven. The writing is great, and if you like games where talking to nearly every NPC can lead to results, you'll definitely enjoy it.

This game is hard to get into. The start of the game is dull and nothing really prompts you to continue playing, besides a few minor dialogue options. Though the game doesn't really change from this formula, I started to enjoy it more and more as I played through. With over 1,300 lines of dialogue, every character's personality is detailed enough that you'll want to explore all their possible responses. Direction wise, this game does not hold your hand. This is a game where you have to play it in one sitting, which is about a 3-5 hour playthrough. If you start playing it for a couple of hours and then come back to it weeks later, like what I initially did, you will have a hard time remembering what quests you were on and will most likely have to create a new save. The majority of the game is spent hunting for some important information amongst lots of insignificant choices making it hard to reinforce why what you're doing is valuable. On the other hand, the massive amounts of dialogue gives you lots of resources that you can use to piece together the game's backstory & gives you enough information to keep the game interesting though your journey. The interactions you have between characters give the game plenty of personality, and doesn't hold back mockery on how society builds off of outdated structures without questioning why they were made in the first place. (Like how the QWERTY keyboard layout survived unchanged from typewriters into the digital age, someone please help) Most puzzles are very simple to complete, but some of the optional ones require a bit of cross referencing to figure out. It you're still unsure if you should play this game or not, the demo does a good job introducing you to the mechanics.

Ossuary's description and video make it seem like a surreal/creepy horror game, but the gameplay heavily detracts from that feeling. You play as a person-like entity who wanders around and talks to other person-like entities. The unsettling vibe is undercut by game-y, boring 'quests' where you talk to Person A, who tells you to talk to Person B on the other side of the map, who then tells you to talk to Person C, then back to Person A. Then you are rewarded with an item that lets you talk to Person D, and so on. The sole mechanic in the game is using your Sins on different people to get the reaction you need to advance a quest. This is interesting thematically but is actually just dressing for a very old adventure game mechanic. Corrupting a soul with the sin of wrath is not fundamentally different from "USE [object] ON [subject]". Just as it does in adventure games, this boils down to a trial-and-error system where you end up mindlessly using every sin on every character, as the puzzle's logic is skewed and often only makes sense in retrospect. Ossuary's story is its strongest asset. It has a good theme, coherent design, and well-executed characters. As a satire of 1st world society it is a decent framework; unfortunately, the writing is weak. Much of it leans heavily on Discordian texts and similar 60's counterculture pseudophilosophies. This is what initially drew me to the game, being a fan of that sort of thing. But the writing here is largely referential in nature and brings neither the wit nor the insight of the source material. It reads like a creepypasta Principia Discordia fanfic. All in all, the biggest flaw in Ossuary is the tedious gameplay. The store page sells this game entirely on the ambience and aesthetic, but you'll spend less time going "wtf that's messed up!!" and more time going "uuuuuuugghhhhh why do I have to walk BACK to that guy". I give it a 2/5 fnord.

Ponderous, but not in a bad way. One should expect as much going into a game like this. Most of the game is talking to the little NPCs and corrupting them. Almost every one has a response for each one of the seven sins which gives them a life that is surprising with them being little black and white eggs with faces. There is some solid philosophical insight to be found here. More than one might expect in a video game.

Be prepared for a lot of text but if you're cool with that then I can't recommend this game enough.

One of a kind. Clever light puzzles, superb atmosphere and lots of good dialogues, almost text-based; overall, most of the game is "optional" but I've found myself wanting to uncover more and more. The setting and objectives are pretty straightforward and almost the whole map is open since the start, so it's more of a morbid curiosity about the strange ideas and the hypocrisy that populate this tiny world, other than progressing a plot. It's about the journey. If you're willing to play something different and make use of sins as a game mechanic: 100% recommended.