Where to get it

Steam

2015 · Adventure · Indie

Dyscourse

Dyscourse is an interactive choice-based narrative adventure game where you journey through a stylized world of choice and consequence. You play as Rita, an unfortunate art school grad turned barista, who is now stuck on a desert island with a crew of oddball travelers after a plane crash. That last choice you just made? It may end up being integral to your group’s survival, or it may lead you down a path to murder and cannibalism.

Released: 25 March 2015
Platforms: Linux Windows macOS
Genres: Adventure Indie Simulation Survival
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Survival
Country: United States
Languages: English
Time to beat: 1hmain story10hcompletionist

About

Dyscourse is a survival adventure video game developed and published by Owlchemy Labs. It was released on March 25, 2015 for Windows, OS X, and Linux. The game has he player take on the role of Rita, a barista stuck on a desert island after a plane crash. Along with five others, Rita has to lead the group to survive.

The game was funded by a Kickstarter campaign, raising over $40,000 from 1,816 backers. Inspirations for the video game are The Oregon Trail, tabletop role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and television series Lost.

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The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Dyscourse is a survival adventure video game. There are six characters in the game. Rita, an art graduate working as a barista and the game's protagonist; Steve, a pessimist; Teddy, a conspiracy theorist; Garret, a gamer; and George and Jolene, a couple with marital problems. The game is set on a desert island with the six characters being the only survivors of a plane crash.

The leadership of the group falls to Rita, allowing the player to make decisions about the group's actions. The choices have effects on the other survivors, including potentially triggering events that lead to their death. The game has numerous potential outcomes depending on the choices made by player, in which all, some, or none of the survivors are rescued by the end of the game. The player is encouraged to replay the game to make different decisions and in turn to obtain alternate endings.

Development

The game was developed by Owlchemy Labs. The developer's previous works included 2011's Snuggle Truck and 2012's Jack Lumber. Dyscourse was first conceived at an "IndieCabin" retreat with Owlchemy Labs founder Alex Schwartz, CTO Devin Reimer, and artist Carrie Witt. A Kickstarter campaign was launched on November 6, 2013 with a minimum funding goal of $40,000.

The Kickstarter ended on December 6 successfully, raising $44,134 from 1,816 backers. The developer described the game as "Lord of the Flies plus a choose-your-own-adventure book, with a dash of Lost, and a sprinkle of The Walking Dead (minus the zombies), crafted with the humour and style Owlchemy Labs is known for." In addition to The Walking Dead, the game's influences include the tabletop role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse and the video game The Oregon Trail. Taking between 60 and 80 minutes to complete, the game contains about 80,000 words of text, with a typical playthrough seeing around fifteen percent of these.

Reception

Dyscourse received "mixed or average reviews", according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic. Destructoid's Darren Nakamura found the game's brevity to be warranted. Don Saas, writing for GameSpot, praised the game's writing and its "storybook visuals". Steven "Bajo" O'Donnell and Stephanie "Hex" Bendixsen from the Australian television gaming program Good Game both gave the title three and a half stars, with the final rating being a seven out of ten.